# How do I get rid of Kazaa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685 "2003-04-23T21:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/1 "2003-04-23T21:05:39Z")
Ok, I unistalled Kazaa and even used Ad-aware, but everytime I connect to the internet I still get the Kazaa connecting box on my status bar. How do Icompletely remove Kazaa? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/2 "2003-04-23T21:10:09Z")
First make sure that Program Files \> Kazaa is dead empty. delete any remaining files/subfolders. The use Start \> Run \> regedit and Edit \> Search for and remove any keys referencing “kazaa”. That oughta do it. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/3 "2003-04-23T21:13:46Z")
Further, you might try: Start \> Run \> msconfig \> Startup Uncheck any box related to Kazaa (or any other program you don’t want starting automatically). ---
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/4 "2003-04-23T21:35:30Z")
Thanks for the ideas but none this worked. Anybody have any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/5 "2003-04-23T21:49:05Z")
Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and take a look at what’s running. Start killing running processes (if you have XP or NT or anything listed for other versions) if you have) one by one until the kazaa icon goes away from your system tray. Don’t kill explorer.exe or any that are called SYSTEM processes, but all the others can go. Then use Find Files to track it down and delete it. Do a search for it in regedit too and kill associated keys. Then reboot. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/6 "2003-04-23T21:50:15Z")
Ignore the “if you have)” bit there. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/7 "2003-04-23T21:53:28Z")
You may have something in the Registry. If you know a lot about the Registry you can try to track it down and edit it out. I would highly recommend Spybot. I’ve tried both Ad-Aware and Spybot and had more success with the latter, also free. Google “spybot search destroy download”. ---
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/8 "2003-04-23T21:54:48Z")
Nothing that I could end task on would close it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/9 "2003-04-23T22:00:40Z")
Yes, it’s definitely in the Registry. Look at the contents of this key: HKEY\_USERS\S-1-5-21-725345543-842925246-1202660629-1003\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. ---
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-kazaa/170685/10 "2003-04-23T23:12:17Z")
QED, how do I look at the contents of that key?