Registry editors

kamkazmoto

kamkazmoto

Joined
Sep 14, 2002
Messages
4,135
Someone convinced me to try a "free" reg editor and it found hundreds of errors. Are these performance effecting errors or just a way to get me to buy another maintenance program,
 
OMG, windows registry problems suck!

I like to use Norton WinDoctor because it's less likely to fail than tools like JV16 Power Tools but generally speaking i stay away from editing the registry because there's always the chance your computer will just stop working altogether. (oh JOY!) ...

There is a chance that these registry errors are very minor but if they pile up you will probably experience some kind of strange error or even a performance hit. If you want to use the utility just back up first (or make a system restore point)..

i gave up on trying to repair existing installations of windows a long time ago. now i install preventative utilities and when i encounter a huge problem i just reinstall windows and rebuild the machine instead of trying the windows repair utilities which are not going to work 90% of the time. system restore is a horrendous beast of a "feature" but sometimes it comes in useful. if you do use it make sure you don't let it eat up your hard drive space.

good luck with windows.
 
kamkazmoto said:
Someone convinced me to try a "free" reg editor and it found hundreds of errors. Are these performance effecting errors or just a way to get me to buy another maintenance program,
Click to expand...

Be careful when using those and also be prepared to reload Windows if the program screws up , even though most of them will create a backup of the registry.

The thing is , too often programs like that are used like a shotgun when all you really needed was a good sized rock. :D

The old tech "joke" about Windows is that you get to reload it once every 3 months , many of the guys I know still swear by that code.
I've been runing this install here for a little over a year and it is about 3 months overdue for a format , I'm just too lazy.( and don't really feel like messing with at home , what I do at work all day.)

Only one I would recommend is Registry Mechanic and IMO Norton products suck , after many lame experiences.
 
I like to keep all my files on a second hard drive and have my boot disk with system only and nothing else. helps a lot.
 
Careful using "free" software. A lot of it is junk, Spyware, or virus-vehicles. I use lots of Freeware myself, but usually only if it's listed at an honest website that carefully screens the programs they list. FreewareHome, OnlyFreeware, and NoNags are good resources. And if you have any questions or second thoughts, you can do a Google search to see if other users report problems with the software you're considering.

I haven't used a registry program with Windows XP, but I did have one installed in 98SE called RegCleaner or something like that. Never had any problems with it.

In general, I suggest not editing the registry unless you're having a specific problem. The exception I make is removing registry files and folders associated with programs that I know I've uninstalled.

Good Luck,
-Bob
 
Another decent, free program is EasyCleaner. You can just google it, or find it at Major Geeks.com, one of my favorite freeware sites. Easycleaner has a good basic registry cleaner that will let you select what you wanna search for, then let you go through the list with at least a little bit of guidance. It's also got some other general tools, shortcut cleanup, tempfile cleanup, that sort of thing, decent small footprint program. Works for me anyway. CC Cleaner is another decent one you can check out.

I'll second the being careful thought though, if you don't know what it is, don't delete it. Words to live by if you don't want to reload afterwards :cool:

Syn
 
Thanks guys and if anyone else has anything to add please chime in. The thought of deleting several hundred files has me very nervous.
 
What operating system do you use? If you're using Windows 98SE or older, it may be time to reformat the hard drive and re-install everything from scratch. With Win 98SE I think it's good to do that every year or two. With XP or newer versions, I don't know how long to go between format jobs.

Best Wishes,
-Bob
 
Bob W said:
What operating system do you use? If you're using Windows 98SE or older, it may be time to reformat the hard drive and re-install everything from scratch. With Win 98SE I think it's good to do that every year or two. With XP or newer versions, I don't know how long to go between format jobs.

Best Wishes,
-Bob
Click to expand...

Dunno about Vista but XP - depending on who I talk to - every 6 months to a year.
 
I'm running XP and it was 4 or more years till the first time I had to reload Windows. The last reload was about 9 months ago.
 
kamkazmoto said:
Someone convinced me to try a "free" reg editor and it found hundreds of errors. Are these performance effecting errors or just a way to get me to buy another maintenance program,
Click to expand...


Get Avast anti virus. It's a free download to home users and one of the perks in the advanced mode is a setting that protects the registry. It does the same thing for free and you don't have to worry about it crashing your system from removing vital registry values.

It's also a better anti virus than you're probably paying for too.:eek:

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
 
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