windows registry

I have a dell computer running XP, and it was running slow. I checked into cleaning the windows registry and that helped. Question is, everytime I run the registry repair (recommended by majorgeeks) is finds hundreds of errors. Is this normal to have so many errors everyday or so?

 

If you have not run a reg cleaner before it will find many errors even daily. If it continues for a few more days it could be a problem somewhere.

Remember that "registry errors" is a description that sounds worse than it is. Depending on what programs you run and how much you use the computer you will get alot of these "errors." If you create and delete lots of files in a day the deleted files leave traces in your reg. Once the files are gone the reg entries are no longer needed so they will come up as errors.

Which cleaner are you using?

 

your registry program may not be working right try crap cleaner ....ccleaner.com..

 

Why not wait and see what cleaner he is using before freaking out.

 

I found a program recommended by majorgeeks called "window registry repair 1.2" .

 

It seems like a good tool. I just tried it out. It does find alot of errors but that was in the full scan mode which seems a little advanced if you're not comfortable with the registry. If your run the custom settings scan and only check the boxes you are comfortable with I'm sure you will see alot less errors coming up. Also the automatic back up feature lets you restore any changes you've made if you find some programs start acting funny. Some of the choices like the empty reg keys and MRU lists will get alot of results making your error count high. When you become more comfortable with the results it wont seem like such an overwhelming experience.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Wayne, make SURE you know what it is that you are fixing. I have used a reg cleaner(RegSeeker) safely on my PC without any problems, but running it on my wife's caused some bad things to happen (mainly because I let it choose what to delete, without doing some research first) and the backup would not work. I believe it was because of some deletions that had to do with CLID (may not have letters in the right order) but had to do a complete reinstall of XP to get things right again. I steer clear of that type of register entry now!
(Don't tell her it was my fault.)

BirdBath has steered me the right way a couple of times.
CCleaner would be good to use first. It is a handy tool to have and use regularly. Or Advanced Windows Care Personal is also a good tool. Both are easy to use and provide for backups.

 

Hey folks alot of entries (keys) in the windows registry are simply placeholders put there by Microsoft for the big software players (including themselves) whose stuff you MIGHT install. Obviously these will be empty if you haven't availed yourself of this stuff.

These empty entries are all found as errors on brute force registry scanners, but are in no way harmful in themselves. Of course it is not harmful to delete them either.

The problem lies in that when there are so many 'errors' listed it is tempting to click on the 'get on with it automatically' button. And it only take one important entry to be deleted along with the dross.

So cut the categories back and deal with them one at a time.


Studio T

 

I agree with Studiot, if you use any registry cleaner, set a restore point, and be selective, one catagory at a time, and , personally I look at every one, and if I know what it was from - o.k, but if I don't know, I untick it- especially the 'CLID' entries.

 

Another lesson I learned the hard way. Don't be like, me wayne45

 

I use Erunt 1.1j from http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1267.html

It automatically can / does make a backup of your Registry every day you bootup.

So if you stuff up badly you can always go back to todays startup backup.

Also included in this package is NTREGOPT; a program for optimizing the registry.

I have Erunt setup as part of my startup programs. I also run NTREGOPT once a wkk, or so.

It stores the daily backup in C:\windows\erdnt, so remember to clean out old backups every so often. I usually only keep the last 1 or 2.

Bazza

 

Those who play with their registry alot would be well advised to install a slimline second copy of XP on their system so they will always have an OS to boot to and from which they can repair the main registry if needed.


Studio T