Cleaning the Registry

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimO
  • Start date Start date
J

JimO

I am trying to fix some problems in Win2k. One of the
problems is a long boot time. I believe this is due to a
bloated Registry and I would like to clean it. I know
there are a lot of dead keys (or whatever they are
called) due to installed programs that have been
uninstalled (like Norton). Others are simply blank keys
that serve no purpose.

Could someone please help me find a free registry cleaner?
 
Hi JimO - Your slow start times are much more likely to be being caused by
starting up unnecessary services. Start here, but read CAREFULLY:
http://www.blackviper.com/WIN2K/servicecfg.htm

FWIW, my 2 cents:

In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are fraught with
danger. I advise against using them except in one specific instance, that
is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg searches, and you
NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of something that didn't
get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have foresight enough to install
it using Total Uninstall, http://www.geocities.com/ggmartau/tu.html or
direct dwnld here: http://files.webattack.com/localdl834/tun234.zip, in the
first place.)

Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:

Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm I've set it up to
take a scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis,
and a Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.

This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.

FYI, quoting from the above document:

"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old
and new registry keys.


--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
Hi JimO - Your slow start times are much more likely to be being caused by
starting up unnecessary services. Start here, but read CAREFULLY:
http://www.blackviper.com/WIN2K/servicecfg.htm

FWIW, my 2 cents:

In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are fraught with
danger. I advise against using them except in one specific instance, that
is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg searches, and you
NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of something that didn't
get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have foresight enough to install
it using Total Uninstall, http://www.geocities.com/ggmartau/tu.html or
direct dwnld here: http://files.webattack.com/localdl834/tun234.zip, in the
first place.)

Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:

Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm I've set it up to
take a scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis,
and a Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.

This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.

FYI, quoting from the above document:

"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old
and new registry keys.


--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
I realize that the Registry's Export function is
worthless, which is why I do a Backup instead. To do
this, click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools,
and then click on Backup. On the backup tab, select
System State to backup the registry. This method will
back up all of the registry as opposed to small portions
or keys. This is the real way to restore a registry,
rather than using the export/import method.

So, to answer my original question, does this "Erdnt"
have a way to remove dead keys in the Registry or is it
simply a defragger?
-----Original Message-----

"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is
Click to expand...
USELESS (!) to make a complete backup of the registry.
Neither does it export the whole registry (for example,
no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor
can the exported file be used later to replace the
current registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-
import the file, it is merged with the current registry,
leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry
keys.
 
I realize that the Registry's Export function is
worthless, which is why I do a Backup instead. To do
this, click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools,
and then click on Backup. On the backup tab, select
System State to backup the registry. This method will
back up all of the registry as opposed to small portions
or keys. This is the real way to restore a registry,
rather than using the export/import method.

So, to answer my original question, does this "Erdnt"
have a way to remove dead keys in the Registry or is it
simply a defragger?
-----Original Message-----

"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is
Click to expand...
USELESS (!) to make a complete backup of the registry.
Neither does it export the whole registry (for example,
no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor
can the exported file be used later to replace the
current registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-
import the file, it is merged with the current registry,
leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry
keys.
 
Hi JimO - No, it doesn't remove any keys. It can defrag in two ways -
either by saving all of the Registry hives and then restoring them or by
using a separate, included little defrag utility.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
Hi JimO - No, it doesn't remove any keys. It can defrag in two ways -
either by saving all of the Registry hives and then restoring them or by
using a separate, included little defrag utility.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
Back
Top