Windows Registry Repair question

[froufroufox]

Hi there. This is my first post on TGF and apologize in advance if I'm the wrong forum - I assume my post will be moved to the correct forum if necessary. I'm worried about sounding dumb because, to be honest, I'm a little intimidated to be here, so be gentle. Also, I did a search for this topic and could not find the answers I was looking for. If this topic is around here somewhere, I'd appreciate a link!

My OS is Microsoft Windows XP. Let me know if you need more info.

This is my question: I recently downloaded Windows Registry Repair Pro. It automatically looks for some things (invalid paths, invalid shared DLLs, etc.) However, it gives me the option of also scanning for other things. I have three questions:

*in the questions below, when I say categories, I mean definitions. As in, what exactly are invalid paths?

1.These are the categories* it automatically scans for/fixes - what are they?

invalid paths
invalid fonts
invalid help files
invalid shared DLLs
obsolete start menu items
invalid application paths
unused software entries
auto run programs

2. These are the non-automatic categories* I have the option of scanning/fixing - I don't know what these are either.

invalid known DLLs
classes section
invalid file associations
system services

3. Should I check any or all of the non-automatic categories in question 2 to be scanned?


If it's too much of a pain to define every single thing, please let me know what website(s) I can go to so I can look them up myself. Hopefully you can at least suggest whether I should choose some of the categories in Q2 to be scanned, and in time, with your help, advice & suggestions, figure out what they are in time.

FYI - I googled a few things and frankly found a lot of tech sites to be, well - too technical! Contrary to what you might think right now, I'm neither stupid nor tech illiterate, but I'm not inclined to search through dozens of sites looking for stuff. Unless, of course, you guys suggest some good sites.

Thanks in advance, everyone. I'm glad to be here and hopefully I can learn more and maybe even help others.

Nico in Dallas


edit: I think it's so funny that when I posted this, some links for helpful sites were underlined. Still, I look forward to some responses!

btw, about those links ... are they reliable? I presume those companies purchased the ad space. Any site that says DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE SCAN RIGHT NOW and states scary "facts" like "You will not believe how common it is for an average PC to have 200 or more errors" raises red flags with me. I'm specifically talking about this link which underlined DLL.

 

[pscowboy]

I'm assuming you're using the 3B Software product.

The stuff that shows up invalid are pieces still in the registry left over from deletions. Obsoletes are leftovers from app version upgrades. Unused would be programs installed but never accessed.

Let it scan everything. After the first one, which could be hundreds of fixes, the following scans and repairs will only take 30 seconds or so.

 

[froufroufox]

I'm assuming you're using the 3B Software product.

You're right, it is. And since I don't trust myself on tucows or download.com, I only downloaded this at the advice of an ex boyfriend, who was a tech head. So because he's my EX, I can't exactly call him now and ask him what's up with this program. He was like my personal help line! (whoops, sorry about the TMI!)

Anyway, thanks for your help! Do you (pscowboy) or anyone else who reads this actually use the 3B Windows Registry Repair Pro? If not, what program, if any, do you use for registry repair/clean up? And are repair & cleanup two totally different things? Ha, I could make three more threads from this paragraph alone!

 

[pscowboy]

You're doing fine, fox! You become more of a personality with the TMI, than just another noob.

I don't have personal experience with the product you have, but I heard once it was okay. My feeling is, because it's a payed-for item, it most likely has quality. (I sincerely hope you completed payment, and are not just trialing this. Otherwise, you won't get complete scans.)

Myself, (and a lot of my customers) use "Registry Fix". A few others use "Registry Mechanic"; both with excellent results. I don't doubt that Repair Pro will do a good job. Use it by all means.

Repair and cleanup kind of merge when it comes to these products.

Like I said in my first post, scan ALL and trust it.