T
Tramp
Use Abexo Free Registry Cleaner regularly to make your computer run
faster and with less problems.
http://www.abexo.com/free-registry-cleaner.htm
faster and with less problems.
http://www.abexo.com/free-registry-cleaner.htm
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J
Jeff Needle
Tramp said:Use Abexo Free Registry Cleaner regularly to make your computer run
faster and with less problems.
http://www.abexo.com/free-registry-cleaner.htm
What is the general feeling around here about cleaning the registry? Is it
good, bad, dangerous???
C
Craig
Jeff said:What is the general feeling around here about cleaning the registry? Is it
good, bad, dangerous???
This subject's treated at least twice a year over at
microsoft.public.win2000.general (for the case of win2k). From what
I've read of it, there are two reasons proponents give to clean a registry:
1) makes it smaller, faster
2) decreases complexity rendering it more stable
Wrt #1, I haven't seen any quantifiable measurements to support this.
Wrt #2, it sounds good to me but anicdotal evidence renders it a
religious war more than anything else.
ymmv,
-Craig
J
Jeff Needle
Craig said:This subject's treated at least twice a year over at
microsoft.public.win2000.general (for the case of win2k). From what I've
read of it, there are two reasons proponents give to clean a registry:
1) makes it smaller, faster
2) decreases complexity rendering it more stable
Wrt #1, I haven't seen any quantifiable measurements to support this. Wrt
#2, it sounds good to me but anicdotal evidence renders it a religious war
more than anything else.
ymmv,
-Craig
Thanks for the info!
C
Craig
For the record: Not so much "info" as opinion...Jeff said:Thanks for the info!
your welcome!
-Craig
J
Jim Byrd
Hi Jeff - In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are
fraught with danger. I advise against using them except in one specific
instance, that is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg
searches, and you NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of
something that didn't get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have
foresight enough to install it using Total Uninstall,
http://www.martau.com/ or free direct dwnld here:
http://digilander.libero.it/molearchive3/tun235.zip or here:
http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=234, in the
first place.) (As an aside, there are, however, some third party Registry
Editors which can be of great help with both the incorrect uninstall and
with certain malware problems, especially some of theCoolWebSearch types
such as the AppInit_DLLs variant of the about:blank version of CWS, for
example. I can recommend Registrar Lite, here:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Downright_pages/downrights_registry.htm This
is intentionally the older 2.0 version - to see their most current stuff,
take a look here: http://www.resplendence.com/registrar.)
There are a couple of specific bugs that can cause abnormal growth in either
the System or Software hives; however, they are rare, and unless these hives
in %SystemRoot%\System32\config are very, very large (in the hundreds of
megabytes), then I would council you to leave your Registry alone except for
the special circumstances I mentioned above.
I and most other MVP's that I know believe that Registry modifications of
any type are probably best done manually, very carefully, with a thorough
knowledge of what's installed on your machine, and what you're doing, and
then only when necessary. There's very little (if any!) noticeable benefit
in either space saving or speed achievable by cleaning out the Registry
except in those few cases where there's a specific problem the client is
experiencing (usually uninstall or malware related in my experience) that
needs to be fixed.
Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:
Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ I've set it up to take a
scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis, and a
Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.
This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.
FYI, quoting from the above document:
"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current
registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry keys.
FWIW, the second question I ask clients is whether they've recently used a
Reg Cleaner or tried to restore from one. (The first question I ask is
whether they've any non-commercial Norton/Symantec software installed.
)
--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/
|| ||| Use Abexo Free Registry Cleaner regularly to make your computer run
||| faster and with less problems.
||| http://www.abexo.com/free-registry-cleaner.htm
||
|| What is the general feeling around here about cleaning the registry? Is
it
|| good, bad, dangerous???
fraught with danger. I advise against using them except in one specific
instance, that is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg
searches, and you NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of
something that didn't get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have
foresight enough to install it using Total Uninstall,
http://www.martau.com/ or free direct dwnld here:
http://digilander.libero.it/molearchive3/tun235.zip or here:
http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=234, in the
first place.) (As an aside, there are, however, some third party Registry
Editors which can be of great help with both the incorrect uninstall and
with certain malware problems, especially some of theCoolWebSearch types
such as the AppInit_DLLs variant of the about:blank version of CWS, for
example. I can recommend Registrar Lite, here:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Downright_pages/downrights_registry.htm This
is intentionally the older 2.0 version - to see their most current stuff,
take a look here: http://www.resplendence.com/registrar.)
There are a couple of specific bugs that can cause abnormal growth in either
the System or Software hives; however, they are rare, and unless these hives
in %SystemRoot%\System32\config are very, very large (in the hundreds of
megabytes), then I would council you to leave your Registry alone except for
the special circumstances I mentioned above.
I and most other MVP's that I know believe that Registry modifications of
any type are probably best done manually, very carefully, with a thorough
knowledge of what's installed on your machine, and what you're doing, and
then only when necessary. There's very little (if any!) noticeable benefit
in either space saving or speed achievable by cleaning out the Registry
except in those few cases where there's a specific problem the client is
experiencing (usually uninstall or malware related in my experience) that
needs to be fixed.
Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:
Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ I've set it up to take a
scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis, and a
Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.
This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.
FYI, quoting from the above document:
"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current
registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry keys.
FWIW, the second question I ask clients is whether they've recently used a
Reg Cleaner or tried to restore from one. (The first question I ask is
whether they've any non-commercial Norton/Symantec software installed.
)
--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/
|| ||| Use Abexo Free Registry Cleaner regularly to make your computer run
||| faster and with less problems.
||| http://www.abexo.com/free-registry-cleaner.htm
||
|| What is the general feeling around here about cleaning the registry? Is
it
|| good, bad, dangerous???
T
teranews
I have used regseeker RegSeeker.exe for since I had ME and find no
problem with it in Me or Xp.
Works great..
*** ***
problem with it in Me or Xp.
Works great..
Jim Byrd said:Hi Jeff - In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are
fraught with danger. I advise against using them except in one specific
instance, that is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg
searches, and you NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of
something that didn't get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have
foresight enough to install it using Total Uninstall,
http://www.martau.com/ or free direct dwnld here:
http://digilander.libero.it/molearchive3/tun235.zip or here:
http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=234, in the
first place.) (As an aside, there are, however, some third party Registry
Editors which can be of great help with both the incorrect uninstall and
with certain malware problems, especially some of theCoolWebSearch types
such as the AppInit_DLLs variant of the about:blank version of CWS, for
example. I can recommend Registrar Lite, here:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Downright_pages/downrights_registry.htm
This
is intentionally the older 2.0 version - to see their most current stuff,
take a look here: http://www.resplendence.com/registrar.)
There are a couple of specific bugs that can cause abnormal growth in
either
the System or Software hives; however, they are rare, and unless these
hives
in %SystemRoot%\System32\config are very, very large (in the hundreds of
megabytes), then I would council you to leave your Registry alone except
for
the special circumstances I mentioned above.
I and most other MVP's that I know believe that Registry modifications of
any type are probably best done manually, very carefully, with a thorough
knowledge of what's installed on your machine, and what you're doing, and
then only when necessary. There's very little (if any!) noticeable
benefit
in either space saving or speed achievable by cleaning out the Registry
except in those few cases where there's a specific problem the client is
experiencing (usually uninstall or malware related in my experience) that
needs to be fixed.
Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:
Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ I've set it up to take
a
scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis, and
a
Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.
This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write
NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.
FYI, quoting from the above document:
"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can
the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current
registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry keys.
FWIW, the second question I ask clients is whether they've recently used a
Reg Cleaner or tried to restore from one. (The first question I ask is
whether they've any non-commercial Norton/Symantec software installed.
)
--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/
|| ||| Use Abexo Free Registry Cleaner regularly to make your computer run
||| faster and with less problems.
||| http://www.abexo.com/free-registry-cleaner.htm
||
|| What is the general feeling around here about cleaning the registry?
Is
it
|| good, bad, dangerous???
*** ***
B
beenthere
CCleaner will tidy up your registry, and do more besides.Jeff Needle said:What is the general feeling around here about cleaning the registry? Is
it good, bad, dangerous???
J
Jeff Needle
What a tremendous lot of stuff -- I appreciate it. I've come to the
conlcusion that I'll likely not mess with the registry unless I really need
to.
Thanks again.
<snip>
conlcusion that I'll likely not mess with the registry unless I really need
to.
Thanks again.
Jim Byrd said:Hi Jeff - In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are
fraught with danger. I advise against using them except in one specific
instance, that is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg
searches, and you NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of
<snip>
J
Jim Byrd
YW, Jeff.
--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/
|| What a tremendous lot of stuff -- I appreciate it. I've come to the
|| conlcusion that I'll likely not mess with the registry unless I really
need
|| to.
||
|| Thanks again.
||
--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/
|| What a tremendous lot of stuff -- I appreciate it. I've come to the
|| conlcusion that I'll likely not mess with the registry unless I really
need
|| to.
||
|| Thanks again.
||
M
meow2222
Jeff said:What a tremendous lot of stuff -- I appreciate it. I've come to the
conlcusion that I'll likely not mess with the registry unless I really need
to.
Thanks again.
Karens registry pruner gives you a tick list so you can select what
entries to remove individually. Its about as safe as they get afaik, if
in doubt leave the entry there.
Anyone know a freeware reg cleaner that will work on a very hacked W95?
95 from 3.1 with masses of apps wrongly removed and so on. Most need
some file or another thats missing, many apps want IE and so on. A self
contained non-install reg cleaner would be ideal.
NT
M
meow2222
Jeff said:What a tremendous lot of stuff -- I appreciate it. I've come to the
conlcusion that I'll likely not mess with the registry unless I really need
to.
Thanks again.
Forgot to mention I've experienced reg cleaning making a performance
difference on a really bad system. Calling non existant files causes a
delay every time, and calling existing files sometimes causes user
delays a you tell it to stop wasting time.
NT
J
John Fitzsimons
On 13 May 2006 04:09:53 -0700, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
IF you have the original installation CD it would probably be a good
idea to consider doing a fresh install of 95 over the current one.
IIRC you can delete, or re-name, the current registry and delete the
windows .exe file. Then do a new install to create a fresh registry.
Regards, John.
--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.vicnet.net.au/~johnf/welcome.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
Anyone know a freeware reg cleaner that will work on a very hacked W95?
95 from 3.1 with masses of apps wrongly removed and so on. Most need
some file or another thats missing, many apps want IE and so on. A self
contained non-install reg cleaner would be ideal.
IF you have the original installation CD it would probably be a good
idea to consider doing a fresh install of 95 over the current one.
IIRC you can delete, or re-name, the current registry and delete the
windows .exe file. Then do a new install to create a fresh registry.
Regards, John.
--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.vicnet.net.au/~johnf/welcome.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
M
meow2222
John said:On 13 May 2006 04:09:53 -0700, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
IF you have the original installation CD it would probably be a good
idea to consider doing a fresh install of 95 over the current one.
IIRC you can delete, or re-name, the current registry and delete the
windows .exe file. Then do a new install to create a fresh registry.
Regards, John.
If that were an option I'd have done that a while ago. But they lost
the 95 disc, and the win install code as well :/ Its the one machine
thats impractical to replace and wont run anything newer.
Hence the question
NT
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