3 ms·

There's also no mechanism for the OS to offer the user the ability to purge registry entries when a program is uninstalled, so the registry just bloats further

• rvba 3y ago
  Registry bloat was one of the reasons why reinstalling Windows used to speed up computers in the 95-2000 times.
• nullindividual 3y ago
  This is no different with most Linux distributions or macOS. When applications are deployed and create configuration files (system-wide or user), they're often not removed when deleting the application.
• RajT88 3y ago
  Installers are supposed to do that. But they have to be well-written installers (many aren't). And anyways, lots of installers are written by companies which want to leave their footprint behind even if you do uninstall. Finding orphaned registry entries is hard - it's not always clear what application put them there, and how to determine that the application is still installed.