Age of Empires by Age

What is Age of Empires?

Read more

Overview

---

How do I clean Age of Empires?

Age of Empires may store excess, temporary data on your computer that can take up valuable space. It may also store private data such as passwords or browsing history in the registry or on the file system. The easiest way to erase this data is by downloading AppCleaner, it is 100% free and about 1MB in size. A portable version is also available.

Clean Age of Empires
with AppCleaner

If you want to clean Age of Empires manually, you can follow the steps outlined below. There are three locations in the file system where Age of Empires stores data that can be cleaned.Additionally,Age of Empires stores private data in five registry keys.

Registry

To clean the registry from data stored by Age of Empires, you can use the Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) which is installed by default on all Windows operating systems. First of all, open regedit.exe by carrying out these steps:

• Hit the Windows key , usually located in the lower left of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys.
• Windows XP/Vista/7: Click Run...
• Type regedit.exe
• Hit Enter

Now use regedit.exe to delete the registry keys:

1. • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
   • Expand SOFTWARE.
   • Expand Microsoft.
   • Expand Games.
   • Expand Age of Empires.
   • Click 1.00.
   • Right-click Zone in the right pane.
   • Choose Delete from the context menu.
   • Click Yes.
2. • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
   • Expand SOFTWARE.
   • Expand Microsoft.
   • Expand Microsoft Games.
   • Click Age of Empires.
   • Right-click Zone in the right pane.
   • Choose Delete from the context menu.
   • Click Yes.
3. • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
   • Expand SOFTWARE.
   • Expand Microsoft.
   • Expand Microsoft Games.
   • Expand Age of Empires Expansion.
   • Click 1.0.
   • Right-click Zone in the right pane.
   • Choose Delete from the context menu.
   • Click Yes.
4. • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
   • Expand SOFTWARE.
   • Expand Microsoft.
   • Expand Microsoft Games.
   • Expand Age of Empires.
   • Click 2.0.
   • Right-click Zone in the right pane.
   • Choose Delete from the context menu.
   • Click Yes.
5. • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
   • Expand SOFTWARE.
   • Expand Microsoft.
   • Expand Microsoft Games.
   • Expand Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion.
   • Click 1.0.
   • Right-click Zone in the right pane.
   • Choose Delete from the context menu.
   • Click Yes.

Files

To clean your file system from files stored by Age of Empires and to gain free disk space, examine the following file system locations. First of all, open a command prompt window:

• Hit the Windows key , usually located in the lower left of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys.
• Windows XP/Vista/7: Click Run...
• Type cmd
• Hit Enter

Now list all the files stored by Age of Empires that can be cleaned:

1. Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Documents/My Games/Age of Mythology/*.txt
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\My Documents/My Games/Age of Mythology/*.txt
2. Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Documents/My Games/Age of Empires 3/*.txt
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\My Documents/My Games/Age of Empires 3/*.txt
3. Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Documents/My Games/Age of Empires 3/RM/*.dmp.txt
   • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\My Documents/My Games/Age of Empires 3/RM/*.dmp.txt

Among the files listed in the previous steps, there can be two files which are essential to Age of Empires and must not be deleted. To identify them:

1. Type dir %ProgramFiles%/Microsoft Games/Age of Mythology/*Readme.rtf
   • On 64-Bit also: Type dir %ProgramFiles(x86)%/Microsoft Games/Age of Mythology/*Readme.rtf
2. Type dir %ProgramFiles%/Microsoft Games/Age of Mythology/*Readmex.rtf
   • On 64-Bit also: Type dir %ProgramFiles(x86)%/Microsoft Games/Age of Mythology/*Readmex.rtf
3. Type dir %ProgramFiles%/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/*Readme.rtf
   • On 64-Bit also: Type dir %ProgramFiles(x86)%/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/*Readme.rtf
4. Type dir %ProgramFiles%/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/*ReadmeX.rtf
   • On 64-Bit also: Type dir %ProgramFiles(x86)%/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/*ReadmeX.rtf
5. Type dir %ProgramFiles%/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/*ReadmeY.rtf
   • On 64-Bit also: Type dir %ProgramFiles(x86)%/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires III/*ReadmeY.rtf

Once you have identified the files stored by Age of Empires that you want to clean, delete them using the del command or Windows Explorer.