RegSeeker beta v1.45

Hi Zander,

deleting entries from it doesn't reduce the size of it unless it's compacted.
Understood and have used the software you referenced.

Defraging also has an effect on the registry.

As you point out, the registry is a data base, one of the registry's functions is as an index. The smaller the index minus "pointers" that point nowhere, the faster the find of the record(s) its pointing to. How much this actually affects performance depends on one's system, the older/slower, the more noticable.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi
OK, at first I was going to download and run the program. Now with all the "becarefulls" I'm not so sure.
The last thing I need is a day with what my "Avatar" is doing .

When I first got this "new" machine I deleted many things that I knew I would not use.....money, works, Norton's AV (never ran before uninstalling) and a few other programs. A scanner that I had to reinstall many times because of HP. and their wonderful help people.

So, What say you?? I would not have a clue on going through a log and knowing what is and isn't to be there. So what would be your advice to someone like me??

Geri

 

Hi Geri,

I would tell you, just as I have told countless others and done myself on many PCs, to open Regseeker and click clean registry. When the scan is complete,verify the backup box in lower left corner is checked and click the select all button. Then right click within the search results and select delete. Now do a quick check of your program's for functionality. I've never had RegSeeker remove anything vital that it wasn't supposed to, but you never know. If all is well, run it again and again until it comes up clean, again checking other programs between runs. Should something go wrong, click the backup button and restore last run, then rerun and exclude entries associated with whatever it broke. Click the histories button and there are choices to clean up the start menu, typed URLs, TIFs you thought were gone, stream MRU keys, etc. Use them too, and do another clean registry. It probably wouldn't even be a bad idea to reboot between cleanings. Alot of work, but it does run relatively quickly so you're not looking at hours to do this.

(I've recommended this enough times to have saved the speech for quick posting)

FWIW, I use RegSeeker much the same way Zander does, about every 2 or 3 months. When I run it, I do exactly what I just recommended above. Never had one problem with anything RegSeeker removed. I used the new version to clean up a client computer yesterday. It was the last thing I did, after removing over 1000 infected files, uninstalling 2 programs and general house cleaning. You wouldn't believe all the registry entries related to the infections that were taken out! I could immediately see a boost in performance.

 

OK
Thanks Dave

 

Just a few comments regarding the use of registry cleaners

Hi All,

Any recommendations for Registry Cleaners, preferably free.

Sim
--------
Hi Sim

Windows XP looks after the Registry by itself. Some of these so called
Registry 'cleaners' can, and do, cause more problems than they are worth -
including rendering a system unbootable. May I suggest that you let XP
carry on looking after its Registry.

-- Will Denny MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
-------------
Will Denny is absolutely right. When it comes to registry cleaners forXP,
your best option is "none of the above. "

Ken
--------------
One word: don't.

(There's a thread about this once a day, or more often.
http://groups.google.com is your friend.)
---------------
The registry contains all of the operating system's "knowledge" of the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the location of the device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A misstep in the registry can have severe consequences. One should not even consider turning loose a poorly understood automated "cleaner," unless he is fully confident that he knows *exactly* what is going to happen as a result of each and every change. Having seen the results of inexperienced people using automated registry "cleaners," I can only advise all but the most experienced computer technicians (and/or hobbyists) to avoid them all. Experience has shown me that such tools simply are not safe in the hands of the inexperienced user.

The only thing needed to safely clean your registry is knowledge and Regedit.exe. If you lack the knowledge and experience to maintain your registry by yourself, then you also lack the knowledge and experience to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner, no matter how safe they claim to be.

Further, no one has ever demonstrated, to my satisfaction, that the use of an automated registry cleaner, particularly by an untrained, inexperienced computer user, does any real good. There's certainly been no empirical evidence offered to demonstrate that the use of such products to "clean" WinXP's registry improves a computer's performance or stability.

What specific problem are you experiencing that you *know* beyond all reasonable doubt will be fixed by using an automated registry cleaner? If you do have a problem that is rooted in the registry, it would be far better to simply edit (after backing up, of course) only the specific key(s) and/or value(s) that are causing the problem. Why use a shotgun when a scalpel will do the job? Additionally, the manually changing of one or two registry entries is far less likely to have the dire consequences of allowing an automated product to make multiple changes simultaneously.

I always use Regedit.exe. I trust my own experience and judgment far more than I would any automated registry cleaner. I strongly encourage others to acquire the knowledge, as well.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - RAH

 

These men are highly respected in the MS community. Both have sites that assist many in resolving their computer problems. I guess at this point I'll withdraw from the discussion. Personally I believe you are making a huge mistake (particularly you, Geri, given your novice status) to entrust your registry (backed up or not) to a third party program. And as was mentioned in the one post, it is rarely evident other than with subjective feeling, that any substantial improvement had in fact been achieved. But... hey... if it makes you feel better that you've done a little maintenance on the old box... go for it. I'll refrain thank you very much.

Best wishes in spite of our difference of opinion.

 

OK
Hi
First james

If this is true, then why did a scan come up with 1556 entries?
Why hasn't XP looked after these?

Now 1556 ?
That seems like a lot?
I did not clean, just ran a scan. Some I seen were from old programs that I uninstalled with add/remove and some from the uninstall from the program itself I thought these were gone !?

Geri

 

It's your call, Geri. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it. In other words... if it isn't broke (that is to say, if your computer is running reasonably well)... I wouldn't attempt to fix it. You have to understand that there are some who simply love to tinker. Even if their computers were running nigh to perfect they would still be tweaking and tuning and so forth to find that unattainable, idealistic edge. And that's fine but it's not me.

So, as has been mentioned here before, if you really don't know what you're doing I would just leave it alone. Haven't you ever noticed that many who inhabit these forums are always coming up with problems? I work with people who have computers, never enter these help forums and rarely seem to have half the difficulties experienced here. I've a feeling they aren't messing around nearly as much and downloading every freebie under the sun.

Good luck. Seriously... I wish you well.

 

Hi James,

Not my experience. I spend all my time here helping people, the marjority are not tinkerers or to use your phrase - download every freebie under the sun - but rather people that are bewildered by their own lack of knowledge when confronted with imperfect software and just want to use their computers for their work or surfing.

The "tinkerers" as you call them are the ones helping the others.

Regards - Charles

 

It seems to me James' view is very Narrow with this situation. It's too bad, because we all learn by doing. Many others have done successful Reg cleaning with no problems and we also know Windows is not perfect. Most advice given to the "Novice" is to use caution, and if troubles do develop, there are those here on the Forum who will help step by step if need be.

The point is, don't be afraid to ASK , and then DO Something, IF you want to learn!

 

I agree with Geri

If that is true then why did Regseeker come up with 50-60 USELESS entries after I uninstalled Lotus the other day ?

If that is true then why did Regseeker find about 40 USELESS reg entires after I uninstalled MS WORKS a while back ? And MS Works is a MICROSOFT Program. Which also does a DA** poor job of uninstalling.

I will 100% gaurrentee you that if an attempt was made to re-install either of the mentioned software before cleaning out the reg they WOULD NOT install correctly. Because of the Reg saying they were already there. And Norton I know darn well won't reinstall properly without cleaning the reg first.

I uninstalled it ( MS WORKS ) cause it was on the C: drive and I wanted it somewhere else. And if I had just reinstalled it somewhere else without cleaning up the reg then there could have DOZENS of duplicate entries in the reg just sittin there SC***ing things up and causing CONFUSION.

Now hang on to you hat folks.

I have NEVER done anythiing with RegSeeker other than hit " Select all " and " DELETE." In both XP Pro and 98SE. And then I wait a few days to make sure all is going to be OK and delete the backups. I delete the backups because after a few days and maybe other changes like add/remove stuff they could be troublesome.

Again same goes for the Restore Points.

Arie
You can change my name to " Gambler " if you wish. Because there is a chance that someday I am going to lose.

Ya'll have a fine Day
BillyBob the Gambler.

 

To charlesvar and irdreed

Well said.

BB

 

Hi irdreed,
Never acknowledged that point - on the money



James
How do you characterize your use of Firefox - tinkering perhaps? What do the MVP's have to say about that?

Regards - Charles

 

LOL... you can't be serious, Charles. Firefox is not tinkering. It has a heritage as long as Internet Explorer's and we both know that. I've always used Netscape and when AOL bought it and tried to deep six it, I simply switched over to Mozilla. Firefox is a great browser whose built in safeguards have helped prevent a myriad of IE-related problems.

If you inhabited the MS forum the way I do you would know that many MVP's use Firefox as well as IE. With fifty million downloads in the past six months (yes... I know that doesn't translate to 50 million users but nevertheless) it is a far cry from the few thousand using a third-party prog like RegSeeker.

Look... Charles... you've said it yourself. If you are a neophyte there really is no way you should be playing around with the registry. And I'm sure you also know that there are many who create their own problems by foolishly downloading program after program after program.. and then looking around for something to clean up the mess left behind. I'm not a great believer in freebie programs. That's not to say I have none... but they're precious few.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. You find RegSeeker helpful (as do others here). Great. I find that this is an exceedingly small sampling of people compared to those at the MS forum which has upwards of a thousand posts per day. Very, very few there have ever advocated the use of registry cleaners. So... what can we say? Let's say... best wishes to you and those who want to use this program and a cautionary warning to others who perhaps should not use it.

Best wishes

 

BTW: I see from related threads that this thread demonstrates to a degree the very thing I've been warning about. And yet Noah and others still insist that all is well. Well... here is a lady who should not have messed around with this program. It was assumed that she had done all her homework and even then she ran into problems and had to be walked through a series of Do This ... now Do That... in order to recover. And for what? Sorry... I just don't buy this messing around, particularly by people who can't go into the registry and manually do it for themselves. (See link below)

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=40965

 

James

Explain then how a "Neophyte" eventually becomes a "Geek "? Certainly Not by Doing "Nothing "!
So how....??

MS Forum vs. WindowssBBS Forum....seems to me that's why we have diversity of views, technical and otherwise, eh??

 

BTW....With regards to such diverse views on a particular subject, it seems to me that this is one very very interesting thread.

 

James Old Pal I have to ask.

Why have we used up so much space on the BBS ?

Because with all of our bickering/discussing ( or whatever you call it ) the MAIN point still is and always will be.

"No one piece of software is good or benificial to everybody. And I do not give a DA** who makes it. Microsoft, 2nd or 3rd party. "

And I feel it to be very impolite, rude, improper ( or any word you wish to add ) to say the software is bad.

To say " Use with caution." is highly sensible.

Also what I have not seen mentioned and is very ( too ) often left out. What else is running in the background that may interfer with the proper operation of say RegSeeker. ( or any other program for that matter )

The COMBINATION of running programs has been the BIGGEST problem that I have ever had. So I just needed to realize this and work accordingly.

I myself on my 98SE machines do have to shutdown some Moosoft software that loads at startup before using RegSeeker. On this XP machine I do not have to do that.

As to downloaded stuff. Your hair would more than likely stand STRAIGHT UP if you ever saw my H: Drive. It is LOADED with .ZIP files and other downloaded free/trialware. But when looking at it just now I think I had better do some housecleaning because I have no Idea what some of it is. And realizing that I would be STUPID to try to use it. Especially when I see a couple with dates back ino the 90's

So, I go delete some stuff. and then run RegSeeker to clean up the Reg. I already cleaned the Reg once today because of moving some downloaded stuff ( FREE screensavers mostly ) from H:/Tmpfldr to another location. And guess what one of the files was ? THE NEW REGSEEKER. RegSeeker told me that it along with 4-5 other downloads was not there. It was SO RIGHT.

BillyBob

 

James,
I'm the one to whom your post is referring - the one who messed with RegSeeker and then had to undo the "damage" (btw, I appreciate the reference to me as a lady rather than as a fool!). For the record, I added a much-belated note to the end of the thread you referenced (a lesson in the importance of following through and letting people know how everything ultimately works out!).
I was reading this thread earlier, but thought I'd keep out of it personally, as I truly know nothing about editing registries. However, having said that, since you and I are apparently pretty much both in the same boat in that respect, let me put in my 2-cents' worth from the other end of the pro-con spectrum.
I have used RegSeeker on numerous occasions in the past year, initially letting it do its own thing altogether (I think that means the "Clean the registry" option, though I'm loath to click on that option now to verify!). Never had any problem until the incident in February that you alluded to. Since that time, I've only used RegSeeker's "Find In Registry" feature, and I haven't had any problems since then. I look through every single entry that shows up, and if I have any doubts about any of them, I don't delete those. There've been a few occasions where I've had to restore the backups (and then re-ran RegSeeker, being more selective in what I told it to delete), but I ran into no problems doing that.
Unlike you, I do dabble around with free downloads, and I'd rather get rid of whatever remnants of them I can if I decide I don't want to keep a particular program. I don't know if those obsolete entries will ever cause a problem just sitting on my computer, or if my computer will actually run any faster without them - but I don't like clutter. In the same way that it makes me crazy when there's clutter around my house (which isn't to say there isn't any!), it bothers me to know there's clutter in my registry.
The one thing I agree with you on is that it's up to everyone to make his/her own decision. But part of the fun of having a computer, for me, is learning how to do new things on/with it. There've been a lot of other things I've tried that caused me more headaches than my February RegSeeker mess-up. I put a LOT of faith in the fact that I've always, without fail, been able to get the help I need here at the windowsbbs forums to fix anything that's ever ailed my system [except for not being able to install Windows updates, but that was a glitch inherent in my computer from day 1 (and one I find a lot of other WinME users have), before the notion of experimenting with my computer had ever crossed my mind].
Bottom line, I may know squat about registries, but I'm going to keep using RegSeeker's "Find in Registry" option any time I want to feel I'm "fully" getting rid of something. Used in that manner, in my opinion, I've found the program safe and reliable, and I can say first-hand that the backups restore without incident when you want them to. Maybe some day, if/when I should decide to dedicate myself to learning about the registry, I'll get bold and try the Clean Registry option again, but for now I choose err on the side of caution... albeit not being as cautious as you choose to be.
To each their own!