allow or deny registry changes when installing new software?

I have TeaTimer running on my computer (part of Spybot Search and Destroy), and it notifies me any time something tries to make a change in my registry. I'm never sure whether to allow or deny the changes. Naturally (!) I don't have the exact wording of the TeaTimer popup screen in front of me right now, but it seems to me it always says something about a program wanting permission to change a registry value in "startup ". My interpretation of that is that the program is trying to get itself loaded automatically any time I turn on the computer, so I've pretty much always been clicking on "deny" (and as far as I know, things seem to be working okay). But is this assumption of mine correct? Does the registry JUST pertain to things/programs that start up when Windows does, or is its scope greater than that?
I don't see any reason to have any additional programs loaded on startup, as I can easily double-click on them when I actually need them.
Thanks!

 

It sounds like you pretty much have it right. I use another program that does pretty much the same thing. On my puter I deny just about all of them. There are some exceptions to the rule though. Those programs that need to be running to do whatever it is they do, you should allow. A couple examples would be software that you install such as an antivirus program or a firewall. Both need to run at startup to be able to work. Well, maybe don't need to but they are ones you'd want to allow. If you were to purchase a new keyboard with all the shortcut buttons on it and installed the software that came with it you'd probably be prompted also. More than likely if you don't let whatever it is that wants to run at startup run, the buttons on the keyboard wouldn't work. Also, I don't know about TeaTimer but the program I use will also give a warning when I install any windows update that requires a reboot in order to install. You'd want to allow these too.

So.... there's really no steadfast rule as to what to allow or not. Whenever you install something, you just have to stop and think about it a bit. Is there any reason this needs to run at startup? If you do that you'll do fine (it sounds like you already are). If you make a mistake one way or the other, you can usually change it in the options of the program itself. If you ever do enable one to run at startup through a program's options TeaTimer will once again pop up at you. Of course, in a case like this, you'd want to allow it also.

 

Hi Rebecca,

A way to avoid having teaTimer do that in the first place every time.

If its the same program, or any program for that matter, then allow it in TeaTimer and go into msconfig (start > run > type msconfig > ok) > Startup tab and uncheck the box next to the program. That tells Windows not to allow the startup on a permenent basis. In this scenario, you're using TeaTimer as a warning process, not a permenent way to disable startups.

If a program doesn't want to stay disabled, than you either do what you're doing now, or use a "stronger" program to disable the startup.

The first choice though is to disable startups in the program's options if it has one.

Regards - Charles

 

Much, much more than that.

Instructions your PC needs for pretty much everything except the core operating system functions (and even quite a few of them) are in the registry. For instance, if you have a file ending in .doc and double-click to open it, your PC checks the registry to figure out what program to use. For instance, when you open your browser, the size and location it uses are taken from your registry settings.

My general rule of thumb is when I install something new or do a major update, I allow any registry changes immediately following the install. Otherwise I usually just disallow them and see if anything breaks.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Zander - right now, the only things I've allowed to run at startup are AVG, Spyware Guard, TeaTimer and Zone Alarm (at least, those are the four icons in addition to my volume icon that show up just to the right of my clock on the bottom right of my screen). I can't do Windows Updates on this computer, so that rules out my having to allow any registry changes there!

Charles - I actually kind of like TeaTimer's warning popup screens about registry changes, because it alerts me to the fact that something is trying to modify the registry. It's the uncertainty about whether to allow or deny that I don't like! So far, I've only been getting the allow/deny popups at the actual time of installation of new software - I haven't had them show up again after I reboot or anything.
I'm curious about the difference between not allowing a change to the registry in the first place, and disabling something in startup (which I've done through msconfig in the past, but most recently used TeaTimer to accomplish the same thing). I like the idea of keeping my registry "minimally cluttered ", just in principle, and it seems to me (though I know NOTHING about it) that by denying the change, there's going to be one less entry in my registry. Does disabling something somehow actually remove it from the registry in the first place, or is the disabling accomplished by adding a "disable" command to the registry?

Newt -

"My general rule of thumb is when I install something new or do a major update, I allow any registry changes immediately following the install. "​

Does this mean that you're giving permission to any new software to run on startup? I guess that's at the heart of my question here. I don't want every program on my computer to run on startup, but how do I know that the proposed registry change isn't required to make the program run at all? That's what I was trying to get at with my question about whether registry changes relate just to startup or not.

I don't know if I'm explaining myself - the question is clear enough in my head, but I'm having a hard time translating it to print.

 

Hi Rebecca,

So far, I've only been getting the allow/deny popups at the actual time of installation of new software - I haven't had them show up again after I reboot or anything.
Ok, misinterperted your post, I thought the same software was poping up at every bootup.

Regards - Charles

 

Nope. I let very little run at startup. Problem is, if you disallow all registry changes when installing new stuff, lots of it will never run at all.

You can usually stop an app from running at startup after it is installed and if it is behaving badly. The specifics depend on what OS version you run. Which is yours?

 

Dare I say, Windows ME? Lol! I know, I know, you're going to tell me it's unstable and a horrible OS, I should upgrade to XP, etc., but for the most part, I've fared okay with it (can't do Windows Updates, but oh well).
As I said before, I've used TeaTimer to disable unnecessary items at startup, and I know I can always allow registry changes initially, and then go that route. But that takes me back to my previous question:

I'm curious about the difference between not allowing a change to the registry in the first place, and disabling something in startup. I like the idea of keeping my registry "minimally cluttered ", just in principle, and it seems to me (though I know NOTHING about it) that by denying the change, there's going to be one less entry in my registry. Does disabling something somehow actually remove it from the registry in the first place, or is the disabling accomplished by adding a "disable" command to the registry?​

From what you say, it sounds like "clutter" in the registry probably isn't a real consideration - is that so?

 

I would say that a small amount of "clutter" in the registry isn't something to worry about. One more registry entry isn't going to make any difference. 300 more won't make a difference. Have you ever used a registry cleaner and removed 300-400 entries at one time? If so, did you ever notice any change in the computers performance after doing so? I know that if you add 300 here and 300 there that eventually they'll add up to a bunch of them that could well make a difference but it would take a while. When you're adding them to the startup keys you're only adding one at a time. It would take a long, long time for that to ever have any effect on anything as far as the size of the registry is concerned. Also, if you allow the registry entry and later change it from within the programs options, it'll be removed from the registry just as if you'd never allowed it in the first place.

This isn't to say you should allow every one. Only you can make that choice. There's some programs that I'll deny right from the start. I don't use Real Player but if I installed it I know it would want to put an entry in the run keys for it's quick start thing (or whatever it is they call it). I know I don't want it there to begin with so I wouldn't allow it right from the start. On the other hand I use a clipboard program called ClipCache. When I installed it I knew I'd be using the program a lot and I'd want it running all of the time. In this case I'd allow the entry. If I decided later I didn't want it to run I could always change it in the options.

Some of them that are entered into the registry only get run once and then they're removed from the registry. These are ones that you see wanting to be added to a "runonce" key. MS updates would be an example of something that might do this. If you had XP and installed SP2 you'd be prompted to allow one of these among others. If you denied it in this case, I don't know what would happen. My guess is, the reason it does it is because it has to complete the install when you reboot because of all the files it has to replace that are in use when windows is still running. If you didn't allow it, I don't know if the install would complete or not. In theory (at least in mine) it wouldn't but perhaps MS has a safeguard of some type to guard against this. I really don't know.

I can tell you this for sure. If you're ever visiting a web page, click a link in an email, or open an attachment in an email and TeaTimer pops up about something wanting to add something to the startup group, change your homepage or any other kind of change to the registry you should deny it. Things that pop up out of nowhere are things to be concerned about.

I know this still doesn't really answer your question but it's impossible to tell you what should be allowed and what shouldn't as far as program installations go. There's just too many of them and what one person might want to allow the next wouldn't. One thing you can do if you don't know if you'll miss out on something by denying an entry is to allow the entry, then have a look at the name of it in msconfig and then make a visit to this page. You can search the list for the name that you see in msconfig and see just what it does. It'll tell you whether it's needed, definitely not needed or it's up to you. If you ever allow one that doesn't have an option to turn it off in the programs options you can use Startup Control Panel to remove the entry if you later decide you don't want it. The only guide I can really give you is my advice from before. Stop and think about what it is you're installing and what it is the program does. Does it need to run all the time? Sorry, but it's really about the best I advice I can give.

 

The real thing to worry about is whether or not you can understand a relationship to a nofication of change to the popup! If such is coming from out of left field, then there probably is a problem.

 

Zander,
Thanks for your comprehensive answer! At least I'm not so concerned with my registry getting "cluttered" any more. I'll play around with allowing some registry changes and see how it goes. And I've bookmarked the sysinfo link you included - thanks for that, too.

Ray,
Since I started using TeaTimer, the only times the popups have appeared have been when I was installing new software, so I assume (rightly or wrongly!) that they're potentially "legit" registry change requests. At least I know what they pertain to, is what I should really say. But now that you've planted the seed in my brain, I will be darn sure to keep an eye out for stray such popups!

 

I'm not real skilled at what to and not to allow during installation. Except for GLOBAL "START," I'll usually allow the changes.