Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (
More info?)
Try using a 30 day trial version of JV16, go to
http://www.macecraft.com/home/ to download this program.
"Jim Byrd" <jrbyrd@spamlessadelphia.net> wrote in message
news:eQ31Bj1dFHA.3712@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Hi EB - You say, " I have been running WinXP for a long while without any
> problems of
> slowing down or anything else, but, during this time I have installed
> and uninstalled software, and knowing how Windows collects a lot of
> junk over time, I though about cleaning the registry."
>
> If you aren't having problems, why would you want to screw with your
> Registry?
>
> 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.martau.com/tu.html or direct dwnld
> here: http://www.simtel.net/product.download.mirrors.php?id=61416, in the
> first place.) (As an aside, there are, however, some third party Registry
> Editors which can be of great help with both the incorrect uninstall and
> with certain malware problems, especially some of theCoolWebSearch types
> such as the AppInit_DLLs variant of the about:blank version of CWS, for
> example. I can recommend Registrar Lite, here:
>
http://www.resplendence.com/reglite .)
>
> There are a couple of specific bugs that can cause abnormal growth in
> either
> the System or Software hives; however, they are rare, and unless these
> hives
> in %SystemRoot%\System32\config are very, very large (in the hundreds of
> megabytes), then I would council you to leave your Registry alone except
> for
> the special circumstances I mentioned above.
>
> I and most other MVP's that I know believe that Registry modifications of
> any type are probably best done manually, very carefully, with a thorough
> knowledge of what's installed on your machine, and what you're doing, and
> then only when necessary. There's very little (if any!) noticeable
> benefit
> in either space saving or speed achievable by cleaning out the Registry
> except in those few cases where there's a specific problem the client is
> experiencing (usually uninstall or malware related in my experience) that
> needs to be fixed.
>
> 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.
>
>
> --
> Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP
> My, Blog Defending Your Machine, here:
> http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
>
> "EB" <eb@news.net> wrote in message
> news:%%Xte.7010$hK3.2724@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net
>> I have been running WinXP for a long while without any problems of
>> slowing down or anything else, but, during this time I have installed
>> and uninstalled software, and knowing how Windows collects a lot of
>> junk over time, I though about cleaning the registry.
>> Has anyone used a Free Registry cleaner that's not complicated and
>> has a Reg Back up included?
>> Thanks.
>
>