Reg Vac??? Need some advice...

[James]

My registry is in dreadful need of a cleaning and setting things
straight. I'm not particularly gifted when it comes to computers. I've
heard that Reg Vac with its novice mode is ideal and generally does
not screw things up. Would this be a program you would recommend? What
programs for cleaning and keeping things straight in the registry do
you use? I need some advice and I'm willing to listen. Thank you.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Best advice, don't use a reg cleaner.
Second best advice, if you are going to use one be absolutely certain you
are well backed up. No such utility is perfect and even though many have an
undo option, if you suddenly can't access Windows because of some change
you've made in the registry or it's too hosed for you to do anything, the
undo option is useless.

You are a self-professed novice, the registry is no place to play. To be
perfectly honest with you, if your registry is so full of junk you think you
need to clean it out, you are better off reformatting and installing XP or
any other Windows OS clean.

I have an image files of my setup. One is XP only, clean, one is XP with
most of my applications installed, clean and these are ideal for this
purpose and in truth, a superior solution to running a reg cleaner that may
result in your having to format and reinstall anyway.

No matter what advice you receive on this subject, ask yourself a question
before using one of the many such utilities, "Do I feel confident enough to
reformat my system partition and reinstall Windows if something goes wrong,
am I prepared for it and are all my data files backed up in a place I can
reach them even if I cannot boot the system?"

All the people who recommend these utilities are all prepared for the worst
case as described above.

 

[Bob]

As a rule if you're not an advanced tech stay away from
the registry, it's just too easy to muck stuff up. I like
Norton system works for most all utilities. If it can't
fix it, it's time to format and reload clean. It's much
faster and foolproof than messing around in a registry
that few non serious geeks understand completely.

 

[James]

Thank you both. I'll look no more. I have a recovery/reformat cd that
permits me to set the computer back to the way it originally was (one
year ago when it was new). It might be time-consuming and a hassle,
but I can re-install programs and so forth rather than "muck around"
as you say, in the registry creating more problems than I would know
how to deal with. Thanks.

 

[Ron Morse]

RegVac in novice mode will work fine. It has a full undo
feature if you need it.

Regards

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Correct, assuming nothing he does so mucks up the system he is unable to get
to the undo feature and that's the "Catch 22." He might not even know until
he reboots or next boots the system and then find he can't get in. At that
point, it's too late for the undo.

Please understand, I'm not trying to be argumentative here and I realize
what you've done is answer the specific question. I've only posted as a
reminder to others who see this that such a feature shouldn't lull them into
a false sense of security about these utilities, they can still end up
hosing their setup with no means to undo.