Completely Removing Microsoft Money from your system

You may need to completely remove Microsoft Money if you need to reinstall it, or if you don't want to use the product any more. The first thing to do, before doing anything is to take a safe copy of your Microsoft Money file if you're wanting to keep the data. This is the one with a .MNY extension on the filename. You could delete the Microsoft Money file if you're absolutely sure you never want to see the data again. See Article 357 for more information on permanently deleting your data files.

Before attempting to uninstall Microsoft Money, make sure you're not running the program. This includes running the program using MoneyLink, Microsoft Money for the Pocket PC, Insights (Money Plus) and on earlier versions, Money Express. The first two should also be uninstalled before you attempt to do this to Microsoft Money.

The standard uninstall procedure from 'add/remove programs' will remove most of the product, but some things could get left behind.

Complete Removal Including Files & Registry

After running the uninstallation, and you're using a version of Money which uses the system pack (Article 126), remove this using 'add/remove programs' next.

Microsoft Money is installed, by default, in the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money" directory, unless you're using Money 2005 or 2006, and then it is, by default, in the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money 2005" or "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money 2006" directories. If any of these are left behind after the uninstallation, then you should delete these directories. In addition, there is a shared directory at "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Money" - this also should be deleted.

Microsoft Money also stores some of it's information in the registry. The main registry key used is "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Money". This is a common registry location across all the versions of Microsoft Money (that use the registry). In addition, Money will use the local user registry key at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Money".

Making changes to the registry should be done at your own risk, and shouldn't be attempted if you don't know what you're doing.