Registry Keys Clean Up

[leon]

Hi Guys, my computer is showing errors and sometimes freezes for not apparent reason,, it has told me, (the computer) that the errors come from the bad regestery Keys, what ever that means

Anyway I have been told that there are programs out there that can clean up this problem.

Could some one please point me in the right direction, and let me know what i may be able to do to fix this.

Many Thanks.


Leon

[CB (Chris)]

Hi Leon,
You will find a good program at this address that cleans everything up for you and it's free.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Have used it for years

Cheers
Chris

[sheeny (Al)]

I second that. CCleaner is great! I run it whenever my PC starts doing silly things, and it usually tidies it up. (I should learn to run it more often to prevent the silly things happening...)

Al.

[snowyskiesau]

I've just installed ccleaner and it's removed about 100MB of unnecessary 'stuff'. Hopefully none of the things it removed are vital to the health and well being of the system.

Normally I'm a linux user but need to run XP on my laptop as a newly purchased CAD package only works on XP/Vista. My Windows skill level <= newbie

I also took the opportunity to install AVG and SpyBot - on the recommendation of someone who knows what they're talking about.

[leon]

I knew I could count on you guys, thank you so much.

Leon

[DavidU (Dave)]

I just installed CClean on my almost stopped Dell laptop
Wow ! It is like new ! Awesome info & help fellas
thanks!

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

CCleaner is a good program, but it's main problem, indeed, with many of its ilk, is that it *may* remove stuff that is essential. Treat what it asks you to delete with caution.

Other goodies are Super AntiSpyware, Spybot (as mentioned), AVG Free (although some prefer the free AVAST version these days). Zonealarm is free, and isn't too bad, even though it does from time to time make a mess of things.

Be cautious with many of the so called registry cleaners out there on the market - many are simply scams and install more damage than they purportedly clean.

I'd recommend doing a AV scan over at Trendmicro's housecall once a month too. Hell, it doesn't hurt to do online scans via Nortons and Kaspersky Labs as well (all free).

I tend to be very cautious around the Windows registry, and I'm an experienced techie. It's *very* easy to stuff something up and voila, no bootable Windows system. If in doubt, Google it.

Dave

[marki]

Dave is dead right. I used to use reg cleaners regularly until one day it cleaned the registry a little too well. The machine would not boot and I had to do a fresh instal (no doubt some boffins could have got it back but a boffin I ain't). Lucky I always burn backups and did not loose any important data. Now when they slow down too much it's out with the OS disk and a fresh instal. Be very careful people.

Mark

[MrB (Simon)]

Was going to say what Mark just said, tho he's kinda burried it. (tho not intentionally)

BURN A RECOVERY DISK!!!

Do this BEFORE you run any registry cleaner.
While CCleaner is very good, accidents can and DO happen.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Well, I *always* make a export of the entire registry before I work on it. If I screw up, I can immediately import the original registry back. NEVER reboot a system if you've screwed up the registry.

I'm personally not a fan of the Windows registry - it's one of Microsoft Window's largest failures imho. But then, I'm a UNIX guy, so I prefer having my config files in /etc, my binaries in /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/sbin etc and having human editable text files for conf files.

There's a saying I'll borrow from Harry Potter - never trust anything that you can't see its brains.

Dave

[leon]

Thanks guys for that info, now i'm no computer expert so I just go with the flow and take on board what people tell me.

I should have waited for this later info though, as CC Cleaner was a bit more efficient than it should hav been.

Although the computer is still running pretty well, i have noticed that there are a few things not there, which were there before I started that program.

The errors are still there, and I buggered if I know what to do with them.

Thanks Leon

[sheeny (Al)]

That's not good, Leon.

You should be able to restore your registry entries (assuming you saved them as suggested).

I should've mentioned that I only use the part of the program that cleans up the registry. I don't use it to clean the whole disk.

Al.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Leon - can you list the applications in question, and the error messages that it comes up with?

It probably is as simple as reinstalling said applications.

If you're getting general error messages, post them (exactly as they are). They are essential to getting a grip on what is wrong with the computer.

Dave

Originally Posted by leon

Thanks guys for that info, now i'm no computer expert so I just go with the flow and take on board what people tell me.

I should have waited for this later info though, as CC Cleaner was a bit more efficient than it should hav been.

Although the computer is still running pretty well, i have noticed that there are a few things not there, which were there before I started that program.

The errors are still there, and I buggered if I know what to do with them.

Thanks Leon

[leon]

Dave most of to all my error messages generate from Windows movie maker, and also from DVD Movie Factory 7 Pro.

I like to do small movies and put them on a disc, just for fun.

There are no errors in any of my Processing programs for imaging and scope and mount work, etc, that is working just fine.

I went thought the computer today, and looked at all the programes that I had and the ones that have been there forever I have removed.

Whilst doing this I discovered that Windows service pack 3 didn't exist anymore, and I expect this is where all the updates come from to keep the machine and the Windows programes in tack.

I googled it and founf the download for the service pack and installed it again, so I expect my machine is updated with the updates necessary to use the windows programes that come with the service pack.

Anyway I have not tried any of the programes yet as I have been away and IIS is the first place I went too, it will give it a shot soon.

Thanks for your help.

Leon

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Hope it all goes OK Leon. *fingers crossed*.

Dave

[pjphilli (Peter)]

Hi Al
When you say restore do you mean use the "restore" function in XP?
This function did not work well on previous operating systems but it seems to work very well on XP. I have used it several times when I have got the PC tied in a knot usually because of new program installations. However, would it reverse registry changes or perhaps some registry cleanup changes could affect the working of "restore"?
Cheers Peter

[Visionoz (Bill)]

Hi All

Though this post may be a bit late, I can strongly recommend the use of ERUNT - a very nifty and useful utility that backs up Window's registry as well as an optimizer (NTREGOPT) that compacts and reduces the registry hives - without muckin them up!

I work with Linux too (ISP industry) as well as Windows-based desktops and servers and find that you can clean up your temporary cache easily - you'd be surprised what Windows accumulates in the temporary cache over a short period of time by using Cleanup.exe - this utility cleans ALL users' temporary caches (unlike CCleaner which does just the user profile you are logged in with) and I agree with the others that CCleaner is very useful with the registry cleanup as well

A suggested methodology would be viz: ERUNT -> Cleanup.exe -> CCleaner (registry part only) -> NTREGOPT (from ERUNT) and you will find the results speak for themselves

A word of caution though - when using Cleanup.exe, set the "Option" to Standard only unless you are brave or know what you are doing

HTH

Cheers
Bill

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

The real issue is that the Windows registry is a DOG. The UNIX way of doing things is both far smarter, and far more efficient.

Dave