Phew - every PC's registry is different.
The registry replaced the older INI files of Windows - and as such, now
everything gets dumped in the registry which grows exponentially with time.
I'm able to edit the registry by hand simpy because I used to virtually live
in the registry and so have a fairly good idea of what's supposed to be in
there (on my machine) and what's not.
There are literally thousands of articles of the registry and editing it -
waay too much to reproduce in an email. However, I can get you started.
BUT FIRST THE OBLIGATORY WORD OF WARNING!!!!
EDITING YOUR REGISTRY CAN MAKE YOUR PC DYSFUNCTIONAL!!!!!
So much so, that you may have to reinstall Windows/XP.
So ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE MESSING WITH IT!
With the obligatory word of warning duly given - and my dlsclaimer for any
responsibility if you screw up your system, I suggest a good place to start
is here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756
and here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/
These articles show you how to manually export (and very importantly,
restore) the registry and entries therein.
Other useful articles are:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126713
http://www.theeldergeek.com/windows_xp_registry.htm
Having read all the above articles, you should be familiar with how to make
a backup of the registry and be able to restore it.
Ok backup your registry and create a new system restore point (use Help in
XP to show you how).
Having made a suitable backup (and done a system restore point)
Run Regedit.
You do by clicking on Start then Run.
In the dialogue box type regedit.exe and click on OK
You should then see something that looks a bit like Windows Explorer.
In the left panel you will see something like the following:
My Computer
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHNE
HKEY_USERS
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
these are the root categories for the entry.
Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
You will see various sub-categories.
One should be called SOFTWARE
Expand that.
You should see a huge list of just about every piece of software you've ever
installed and the name of the companies that made it all.
Just look through the list - BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL NOT TO CHANGE ANYTHING YET
- by which I mean be very careful that you don't press the Enter key or
delete key or inadvertantly overwrite anything - which is so easily done.
You may see entries for software you deleted years ago and/or which you
simply do not recognise.
The quick temptation is to delete the entries for software you deleted years
ago - but before you do, bear in mind that should you wish to reinstall you
may have to update/upgrade and the registry key(s) pertaining to it could be
important - they may include your original licence info etc.
IF YOU KNOW for certain that you are NEVER EVER gonna use some of said
software again and you'd deleted the software ages ago - then you can, if
you wish, delete the relevant keys - but before doing so, have a look in the
right hand pane at the value of the keys (which may need to be expanded).
There may be references to directories and files and 'controls' e.g. activeX
(or OCX) controls - which may or may not exist. The activeX control(s) may
even be used by software other than the one whose entry you are currently
looking at. This is why so much care has to be taken.
Before deleting any key - copy the entry to the clipboard, click on Edit in
Regedit and click on Find and do searches for any repetition of the key/key
value. If there aren't any (and you will have to search the registry more
than once to be sure) then it's probably safe to delete it (given the backup
you should have made!).
Scanning through the list you may see entries for stuff you might never have
heard of. Although this could be something that shouldn't be there, it may
need to be there - maybe its something installed by a driver for a device
and company with a completely different name. Silly made up example. You
install a modem. During driver installation, it installs some software from
another company that enables you send/receive faxes and that company,
instead of re-inventing the wheel, may distribute some Adobe printer/fax
driver so you end with Adobe software and registry entries on your pc even
if it's never encountered Acrobat reader or Photoshop or other Adobe
products.
At this point you may be thinking so why am I even bothering with all this?
The point is - now at least you are aware (if you weren't before) that such
software exists (or has been on) on your system. So now you can start to
check out if it should be there. If you don't understand why a registry
entry is there - check out forums for info on the key.
Ok there are possibly thousands of keys if you've had Windows/XP on your
system for a long time - but most entries you will expect to be there. You
only have to check out the ones you're not sure about!
Eventually, you will/could get a good idea what should be there and why -
and what shouldn't.
Tip:
Regedit will let you print a copy of the registry - you may need reams of
paper though.
Then you can safely look at the entries on paper - use a highlighter to mark
out entries for further investigation.
Keep a copy and periodically, print the registry out again and compare it
page by page.
Eventually, you will get familiar with what's there - and if you devote
enough time and effort - be eventually able to manually go through the
registry pretty quickly by hand and sort things out.
If you encounter names you don't recognise - Cerebral Software, say, (for a
made up example - apologies if there is such a company/software). You can do
a Google search on that - and you might find that it's supposed to be there
or it may be a piece of spyware.
Read all the articles you can on registry keys - particularly on the
Microsoft bulletin boards - such as the Knowledge Base one where you can do
a keyword search of articles:
E.g.:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
In short, all it takes to become an expert on YOUR registry is [A LOT OF]
time and effort on your part.
But at the end of the day, you will become a much better registry cleaner
than some piece of 'freeware'/shareware that really doesn't care about your
PC.
Tip:
Do a restore point before installing new software/hardware - don't trust the
installation programs to do it.
You never know, you may enjoy becoming a bit of a registry geek - and you
may just keep your XP installation reasonably trouble-free for years!
You have probably realised that manual registry house-keeping and
maintenance is not an easy one-off task that can be done in a night or two
then forgotten about.
I think that's enough to get you started off should you want to.
Allan
PS No trees were harmed in the sending of this message and a very large
number of electrons were asked their permission to be terribly
inconvenienced. (And threw a party for them afterwards for being really cool
about it).
Disrupting the unnatural balance that you, as a conscious human being and a
confused mass of energy, have created.
-Disturb the mind -
>From: "Phil" <pcks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [OM] Re: True confessions - now registry cleaner
>Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 08:01:45 -0000
>
>
>Allan
>
>I would like to try this, can you give me some guidelines please. I used to
>play about with config sys etc in the old days
>I guess we need to back up first in case things go wrong, and if so how
>would you reinstall
>
>Help appreciated
>
>
>Phil
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Allan Mee" <bigalsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 6:44 AM
>Subject: [OM] Re: True confessions - Why I finally set up the external back
>up drive
>
>
> >
> > Having tried out several registry cleaners in the past, I have developed
>a
> > total lack of trust in such products. I'd rather edit the registry by
>hand
> > line by line (which I've done more than once). I've seen such products
> > really screw up registries so badly the best (maybe even only) recourse
> > was
> > to reformat the h/d and reinstall the OS. Prevention is better than cure
>-
> > so I use software such as SpyBot which helps stop the registry getting
>in
> > a
> > mess in the first place.
> > One of the biggest causes of registry mess is installing and later
> > uninstalling s/w. So if I do uninstall anything, I check the registry
> > manually and make sure the software is really uninstalled. I'm also a
>LOT
> > more careful nowadays what software I put on my PC in the first place!
> > It's up to you if you want to try out a registry cleaner - but ignore
>the
> > hype and be prepared for the registry getting a much worse state
>following
> > using any such software.
> > My two-pennies worth!
> > Allan
> >
> >
> > PS No trees were harmed in the sending of this message and a very large
> > number of electrons were asked their permission to be terribly
> > inconvenienced. (And threw a party for them afterwards for being really
> > cool
> > about it).
> >
> > Disrupting the unnatural balance that you, as a conscious human being
>and
> > a
> > confused mass of energy, have created.
> > -Disturb the mind -
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>From: "Phil" <pcks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >>Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
> >>To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >>Subject: [OM] Re: True confessions - Why I finally set up the external
> >>back
> >>up drive and another ?
> >>Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 23:38:52 -0000
> >>
> >>
> >>Moose
> >>Any recommendations for a good regisry cleaner?
> >>
> >>Thanks
> >>
> >>Phil
> >>----- Original Message -----
> >>From: "Moose" <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
> >>To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >>Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:33 PM
> >>Subject: [OM] Re: True confessions - Why I finally set up the external
> >>back
> >>up drive and another ?
> >>
> >>
> >> > First, why are we only talking about AV? The vast majority of us
>should
> >> > be using AV, firewall and anti mal-ware. And something to keep the
> >> > registry clean, but that's another story...
> >> >
> >> > Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> >> >> .................
> >> >>
> >> >> Because of my prior happy experiences I installed Norton on my
> >> >> father's
> >> >> computer and my daughter's computer both of which ended up having
>all
> >> >> sorts of bizarre problems. Norton forced me to upgrade at some
>point
> >>by
> >> >> saying the new anti-virus database would no longer work with the old
> >> >> version. As soon as I installed the new stuff all hell broke loose
>on
> >> >> my system. Nothing seemed to work right anymore and I found it
>almost
> >> >> impossible to uninstall from all three machines.
> >> >>
> >> >> I concluded that Norton's application had gone far beyond anti-virus
> >>and
> >> >> had just grown to the point of collapsing under its own weight and
> >> >> p-poor quality control. Never again.
> >> >>
> >> > My experience hasn't been as bad as yours, but I'm switching out of
> >> > Norton on this machine when the year expires in a couple of weeks.
> >> >
> >> > I've been using Norton for many many years. I put Norton Security
>2005
> >> > on this machine a couple of years ago to get the combo of AV, anti
> >> > malware and firewall together. It has worked well without any
> >> > siginificant problems, including through the XP SP2 upgrade.
> >> >
> >> > When I got my now year+ old notebook, it came with a 60 day Norton
> >> > Security 2006. It has given me not fits, like you, but enough trouble
> >> > that I am unimpressed. Before the Norton firewall, I was using and
> >> > quite
> >> > happy with the free ZoneAlarm firewall and PC mag has been giving the
> >> > ZA
> >> > security suite top marks, so when they offered it cheap at year end,
>I
> >> > bought it. Install comes late next week, and I'll see what's what. If
> >> > it
> >> > works, it will replace Norton on the notebook when the AV
>subscription
> >> > expires.
> >> >
> >> > McAfee seems to be highly variable depending on the operating system
> >> > and
> >> > age of the hardware. Absolutely unusable on a W98 system. And endless
> >> > notices popping up Maybe fine on XP, but I'm not buying something I
> >> > threw away again.
> >> >> Get AVG Free. You'll be happier and a little bit richer.
> >> >>
> >> >> Chuck Norcutt
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> jjohnso4@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> Bill wrote:
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>>> So my question is, "What anti-virus program, that is easy to
> >> >>>> use, are folks using."
> >> >>>>
> >> >>> Hi Bill,
> >> >>>
> >> >>> In a previous discussion several List members recommended AVG Free.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> <http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> I've been running it on two machines for several months now and, so
> >>far,
> >> >>> have been very satisfied.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Later,
> >> >>> Johnny
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> ==============================================
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> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >
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> >>
> >>
> >>
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