Alright ... I'm back. I downloaded CCleaner. I fired it up and unleashed it on my computer's Registry.
Verdict? SUCCESS! YES! Woo Hoo!
The Registry Scan came back with 121 issues.
I cleared out several Opera ones.
I also cleared out several other obvious ones from AVG, Mozilla, GIMP, OpenOffice and others. I believe I brought the issues down to just under 100.
I saved the Issues List so that I can study it more carefully. I'm sure I can clear out some more. For now I just wanted to clear out the super obvious ones and see if my computer would still function properly. Everything's working OK. I didn't screw up anything.
I had always heard / read about this CCleaner, but never knew how awesomely useful it was!
Thanks for suggesting it ... and for nudging me into diving in and using it.
I don't remember if I saw on there ... how does one check for Updates for CCleaner?