Can I safely use regedit to remove Windows NT entries from Windows xp registry?

I run Windows XP Pro, SP3.
In the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_SOFTWARE, there are over 100 entries for, or references to, Windows NT.
Can I safely remove all NT entries from the XP registry? If not, is there a short answer to "why are they necessary?"

Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

Definitely not - NT stands for New Technology and it's the name given by Microsoft code writers from the outset in 2001 for many files and crucial Registry entries.

The Registry is a good place to leave alone but if you do anything in there, start by choosing Export from the File menu and noting the name and location of the backup you're about to create - you may need to revert to the original settings afterwards. In my system, the entire Registry only takes up 322Mb of hard disk space - you won't save much by deleting a tiny part of it.

You're welcome. We're all learning and the great thing about this subject is no-one will ever get to the end of it and stop learning.

I missed out on twenty years of it by believing the rubbish the chosen few put out that lesser mortals weren't special enough to work with computers so I didn't touch one until 1986. I'm 65 now and fixing PCs and their systems has been my sole living for over ten years since closing my other business.

I come here to learn first and put something back second and I hope you'll be doing the same very soon.