Couple Questions

Becuase my computer is having problems i want to reformat, however, i'm afraid of losing programs, i have a external harddrive where most of the programs are installed on there, but my question is, is i reformat my C: drive but still want to use programs off other harddrives will the programs still run becuase the registry was wiped clean?

 

If your running the programs from the external HD then NO, but if you have shortcuts on your C: drive to run those programs YES, you can however back-up your registry to a CD/DVD and import it or portions of it to address some of the problems. Hope that helps

 

The best way is to reinstall the programs as you need them. This way you don't have to backup your registry, which is a bad idea if your computer problems are located there.
Since almost every program puts some stuff in the registry, and can not function without it, formatting your C: drive will result in (almost) all programs failing to run.

 

Yeah, that's true i guess, i'm afraid putting my whole registery on a disk will tend to have the same problems (Being slow etc., i haven't reformatted in about 3 years)

But anyway are you saying BCgray that i can reformat the C drive, then all i do is just right click the program on my External Drive say "Create a shortcut" then move the shortcut to the C: Drive and it will load, even though it doesn't have the registy stuff in there?

Also i can't just wipe it all clean becuase a specific program i bought off the internet, and i'm not sure how to re-install it back after i lost my serial number

 

If the programs are installed on a seperate hard drive, then I'd recommend re-installing the program.

You can't (sometimes) just create a new shortcut pointing to the executable of the program in question, and expect it to work. The registry holds a lot of parameters that make the program function properly.

Now, for your specific program you downloaded off the internet, hopefully you still have the installer you downloaded. If so, simply copy that program to the other hdd, then hunt down your email with the key in it.

I'd also backup all bookmarks and emails you may have and save them to the other harddrive.

 

Not that it helps you now, Blade897...

But I keep all my installation exe's in one folder and copy them to a cd also, then add the URLs for good measure... just incase I have to do an emergency reformat/reinstal of my OS. I also have a little pocket notebook that I keep with my disks for keys and such.
I learned to do this the hard way after having to go through hunting down every program I liked/used. Now it is a few clicks every now and then and my machine doesn't have to go on-line before everything is in place. Handy for firewalls and anti-spyware programs.

Hope you get it sorted out and soon.

 

That's a really good idea housiemouse, i'm going to do that on my other comp.

Well, i can't go through my email, what i'm going to have to do is copy the registry on a disk, after i unstall various programs i don't need, that way hopefully my computer will start running better. This is the end will work correct?

And thank you guys much for all the replies

 

Probably not, program uninstallers leave a lot of crap behind. The best solution if you don't want any problems is to reinstall everything, not backing up the registry.

 

Yes, it would be the best solution, however there is a specific program i need and i'm trying to figure out how to back that program up so i can use it without having to erase it, and then reinstall. Because i can't reintall this program.

 

What program is it?

 

Hey guys,

Is it possible that the key he used is somewhere in his program? Or that the people he got the program/key from could give him another key if they could verify that he has a current working/authentic version/key in use?

Might be a thought from left field but that's where I live.

 

Excellent answer. Though, usually, if one downloads and installs a program that one bought, typically, they also email the key to that individual.

 

If you lost the key, you can try searching for it in the registry. It will probably be stored there. Just run regedit and do a search for <program name>. Keep pressing F3 (find next) until you get to a value called 'key' or 'serial' or something like that.
You could also try to backup all registry keys relating to your program. This will probably fail though, because some keys don't contain the program name and you won't be able to find them.
If you lost the installer, google for it. There's a good chance it can still be found on the web.