registry

  • Thread starter Thread starter perky
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perky

my question. is this. how does windows manage the registry. if a programme
does not delete the registry entry when it is uninstalled, does windows
delete the entry after a while if the entry is not used. if windows does not
delete the entry,surely the registry must be full of redundant entries over
a period of time. i know from these ng,s not to try and edit
the registry unless one knows what one is doing. i also know that cleaners
are not usually recomended. i am just curious to know how come the registry
never gets full
 
The "Registry" is actually a collection of individual components, stored at
C:\Windows\System32\Config -called Hives. The Registry functions like
a Database, so there is no "Filling-Up" as it grows to accommodate new
data.
Even with removal of many programs, you'll find that "Orphaned" keys &
values are a very small % of the total Registry size.
I once did some testing on Registry Compactor tools. Best I can recall
the best level of compaction ever achieved was 4% of total size. The test
case PC had lots and lots of apps installed & then uninstalled. The total
number of orphaned Keys/Values was ~1800. A full export to text (.Reg)
of my machine generates a 69 Megabyte file. This is the equivalent of a
Word document that has 9,587 PAGES of text.
 
The registry can be full of entries that mean nothing, point to non-existant
locations, etc.

Basically there is no size limit.

Registry Size Limit functionality has been removed from Windows Server 2003
and from Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292726/

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
perky said:
my question. is this. how does windows manage the registry. if a
programme does not delete the registry entry when it is uninstalled,
does windows delete the entry after a while if the entry is not used.

No.


if windows does not delete the entry,surely the registry must be full
of redundant entries over a period of time.
Click to expand...


"Full of": is an overstatement, but yes, most of us have have useless
orphaned registry entries.

With rare exceptions, these are not a problem, and it's not worth worryong
about. There are so-called registry cleaning programs that search out and
remove such entries, but the risk of their removing something needed is
greater than any potential benefit they can achieve.

i know from these ng,s
not to try and edit
the registry unless one knows what one is doing. i also know that
cleaners are not usually recomended. i am just curious to know how
come the registry never gets full
Click to expand...


Since there is no maximum size other than the available hard drive space, it
can't get full. It gets bigger over time, but hardly ever so big that it
will cause any sort of problem.
 
well,i understand more than i did before about the registry. i find these
groups a great way to learn and i wish to thank one and all for your info
 
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