registry cleaning undo ?

[Guest Daave]

"Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

news:ujrlAQn%23IHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading

>several posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it

>several months ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before

>uninstalling the program ?

 

Without knowing what it "fixed," it's hard to know. For all you know,

you have lucked out and haven't done any real damage yet. Just because

registry "fixing" programs aren't beneficial doesn't mean they always

hose up systems. And I don't believe Free Registry Fix is a rogue

program (although it is certainly a ripoff), so you might be alright.

 

It's possible your system is still fine. Personally, I would just

uninstall it (and avoid all similar programs in the future) and cut my

losses. For all you know, running its undo function may screw up your

system.

 

Do you have any actual problems other than worrying about what this

particular program may have done?

[Guest BillW50]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

In news:ujrlAQn%23IHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl,

Roger Daniels <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> typed:

> I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading

> several posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it

> several months ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before

> uninstalling the program ?

> RH Daniels

 

Most of the people here are dead set against registry cleaners. Some are

okay and virtually all of them are okay if you know what you are doing. Most

of the time, they don't help anything. Once in awhile, they break something.

And then again, sometimes they actually fix something.

 

Now if you can't find anything broken in a couple of months, I wouldn't

worry about it. The only worry is something you haven't used in a couple of

months. Like the recovery partition or something important. Then undo all of

the fixes in that case. ;-)

 

--

Bill

Gateway Celeron M 370 (1.5GHZ)

MX6124 (laptop) w/2GB

Windows XP Home SP2 (120GB HD)

Intel® 910GML (64MB shared)

[Guest Roger Daniels]

registry cleaning undo ?

 

I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading several

posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it several months

ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before uninstalling the program ?

 

RH Daniels

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

On Sat, 9 Aug 2008 19:06:06 -0500, "Roger Daniels"

<rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote:

> I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading several

> posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it several months

> ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before uninstalling the program ?

 

 

It's hard to be sure without knowing what the "fixes" were, but if the

fixes it made several months ago haven't caused a problem yet, it's

unlikely that they will. I wouldn't undo anything.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest JS]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

I second Ken's advice but also add that since this tool apparently has an

undo feature, I'd leave it installed but unused for a while longer as a just

in case.

 

Also take note that any bug that does crop up after this period of time

could not be caused by using the reg fix tool, so if you do choose to undo

in an attempt to fix the bug, I would create a new System Restore Point just

prior to using the undo feature (which could conceivably make things worse)

as you may just need that restore point.

 

JS

 

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message

news:lids94hs5a9jmmsmcfspehjkasq2jb08sh@4ax.com...

> On Sat, 9 Aug 2008 19:06:06 -0500, "Roger Daniels"

> <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote:

>

>> I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading

>> several

>> posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it several months

>> ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before uninstalling the program ?

>

>

> It's hard to be sure without knowing what the "fixes" were, but if the

> fixes it made several months ago haven't caused a problem yet, it's

> unlikely that they will. I wouldn't undo anything.

>

> --

> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Roger Daniels]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

 

"Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@myrealboxXYZ.invalid> wrote in message

news:O54Lugn%23IHA.2352@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> "Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

> news:ujrlAQn%23IHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading several

>>posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it several months

>>ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before uninstalling the program ?

>

> Without knowing what it "fixed," it's hard to know. For all you know, you

> have lucked out and haven't done any real damage yet. Just because

> registry "fixing" programs aren't beneficial doesn't mean they always hose

> up systems. And I don't believe Free Registry Fix is a rogue program

> (although it is certainly a ripoff), so you might be alright.

>

> It's possible your system is still fine. Personally, I would just

> uninstall it (and avoid all similar programs in the future) and cut my

> losses. For all you know, running its undo function may screw up your

> system.

>

> Do you have any actual problems other than worrying about what this

> particular program may have done?

>

Thanks for the advice. I don't think the reg cleaner caused any problem that

I am aware of. My main concern is that my PC seems to run very slow. This

seemed to get worse after installing Spyware Docter W/antivirus. I suspect

this may be due to lack af memory. I am running XP Home SP2 on an X86,

2003Mhz with 256MB and 2 GB virtual mem. I am considering purchasing 2GB of

mem. to replace exist. 256MB. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Guest Daave]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

"Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

news:u962sKv%23IHA.2060@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>

> "Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@myrealboxXYZ.invalid> wrote in message

> news:O54Lugn%23IHA.2352@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>> "Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

>> news:ujrlAQn%23IHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>>I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading

>>>several posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it

>>>several months ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before

>>>uninstalling the program ?

>>

>> Without knowing what it "fixed," it's hard to know. For all you know,

>> you have lucked out and haven't done any real damage yet. Just

>> because registry "fixing" programs aren't beneficial doesn't mean

>> they always hose up systems. And I don't believe Free Registry Fix is

>> a rogue program (although it is certainly a ripoff), so you might be

>> alright.

>>

>> It's possible your system is still fine. Personally, I would just

>> uninstall it (and avoid all similar programs in the future) and cut

>> my losses. For all you know, running its undo function may screw up

>> your system.

>>

>> Do you have any actual problems other than worrying about what this

>> particular program may have done?

>>

> Thanks for the advice. I don't think the reg cleaner caused any

> problem that I am aware of. My main concern is that my PC seems to run

> very slow. This seemed to get worse after installing Spyware Docter

> W/antivirus. I suspect this may be due to lack af memory. I am running

> XP Home SP2 on an X86, 2003Mhz with 256MB and 2 GB virtual mem. I am

> considering purchasing 2GB of mem. to replace exist. 256MB. Any advice

> would be appreciated.

 

You're on the right track. 256MB is not enough RAM (more than likely).

Then again, 2GB is probably going overboard. As long as you don't do ant

memory-intensive work on your PC (e.g., graphics and video editing,

enormous databases, etc.), I'm sure that 1GB will suffice. There's

actually chance that 512MB would be more than enough, but since memory

is so cheap, you should bump it up to 1GB.

 

But if you ever plan on upgrading to Vista (shudder ;-) ), then 2GB

would be the way to go.

 

The trick is to not rely on the pagefile (virtual memory) for your

memory needs, because it is slower than RAM.

 

Here are the three most common causes for PC slowness:

 

1. Malicious software (malware)

 

2. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton,

McAfee, and perhaps Spyware Doctor -- don't know, not too familiar with

that one). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply use

way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other things

in your system. And their default mode is to scan your entire hard drive

each time you boot up.

 

3. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the

background -- with or without your knowledge.

 

4. Not enough RAM because again over-relying on the pagefile slows

everything down.

 

Everything you need to know to address the above four issues and more

can be found at these links:

 

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

 

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:12:48 -0500, "Roger Daniels"

<rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote:

 

> Thanks for the advice. I don't think the reg cleaner caused any problem that

> I am aware of. My main concern is that my PC seems to run very slow. This

> seemed to get worse after installing Spyware Docter W/antivirus. I suspect

> this may be due to lack af memory. I am running XP Home SP2 on an X86,

> 2003Mhz with 256MB and 2 GB virtual mem. I am considering purchasing 2GB of

> mem. to replace exist. 256MB. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

If it's truly *very* slow, my guess is that, although more memory may

help, I doubt that that's your primary problem. The two most likely

causes of poor performance are

 

1. performance-robbing programs that start automatically and run in

the background.

 

2. Malware infestation.

 

2GB is very likely significantly more than you need, and will probably

show no improvement over 1GB or even 512MB. Read my standard message

on this subject below, and run the utility I mention in the last

paragraph.

 

How much RAM you need for good performance is *not* a

one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the amount of

RAM you have keeps you from using the page file, and that depends on

what apps you run. Most people running XP with a typical range of

business applications find that somewhere around 256-384MB works well,

others need 512MB. Almost anyone will see poor performance with less

than 256MB. Some people, particularly those doing things like editing

large photographic images, can see a performance boost by adding even

more than 512MB--sometimes much more.

 

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory

will decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance.

If you are not using the page file significantly, more memory will do

nothing for you. Go to

http://billsway.com/notes%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ and download

WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should

give you a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how

much more.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Daave]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

"Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

news:OciFUhw%23IHA.1040@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> Daave,

> Thanks a bunch! very helpful info.I do not plan on going to Vista and

> dont do mem. intensive work. I believe the biggest problem is Spyware

> Dr. eating up the mem. Every time I start the PC it takes approx. 8

> min. to get going and often loading a program takes 1-2 min. I think I

> will try the 1GB upgrade. I am curious if you could recomend any other

> virus & malware protection that would be suffecient for a novice comp.

> user and doesn't eat up a lot of mem.and is free or cheap?

 

You're welcome.

 

I like both AVG and Avast. There are free versions available for both.

SpywareBlaster (also free) is useful to prevent malware entering your PC

via IE or Firefox. Spybot Search & Destroy is an excellent scanner. I'd

hold off on its Immunization feature because it may conflict with with

SpywareBlaster. I used to like AdAware, but the last time I used it, I

noticed too much memory hogging. I also like SUPERAntiSpyware Free.

There are free versions of all of these:

 

http://free.avg.com/ww.download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition

(choose the AVG Free column)

Do a custom install. No need to enable e-mail or SafeSearch/SafeSurf web

link scanning. This will still give you enough protection and should be

lighter on resources.

 

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Again, configure lightly.

 

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

 

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

Be careful not to also install unwanted toolbars, etc.

 

http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

 

I also like the free Cleaner to quickly delete different types of temp

files:

 

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Again, make sure you also don't install any piggy-backed programs like

browser toolbars, etc. And when you run it, avoid the registry

scanning/cleaning function. Although it is normally benign, there is

probably no benefit to using it and there's no good reason to chance

something going wrong.

 

Once all your temp files are deleted and your Recylce Bin is empty, you

should defrag your hard drive periodically.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Roger Daniels]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

 

"Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@myrealboxXYZ.invalid> wrote in message

news:%23TV2G1v%23IHA.4788@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> "Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

> news:u962sKv%23IHA.2060@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>

>> "Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@myrealboxXYZ.invalid> wrote in message

>> news:O54Lugn%23IHA.2352@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>> "Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

>>> news:ujrlAQn%23IHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>>>I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading

>>>>several posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it

>>>>several months ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before uninstalling

>>>>the program ?

>>>

>>> Without knowing what it "fixed," it's hard to know. For all you know,

>>> you have lucked out and haven't done any real damage yet. Just because

>>> registry "fixing" programs aren't beneficial doesn't mean they always

>>> hose up systems. And I don't believe Free Registry Fix is a rogue

>>> program (although it is certainly a ripoff), so you might be alright.

>>>

>>> It's possible your system is still fine. Personally, I would just

>>> uninstall it (and avoid all similar programs in the future) and cut my

>>> losses. For all you know, running its undo function may screw up your

>>> system.

>>>

>>> Do you have any actual problems other than worrying about what this

>>> particular program may have done?

>>>

>> Thanks for the advice. I don't think the reg cleaner caused any problem

>> that I am aware of. My main concern is that my PC seems to run very slow.

>> This seemed to get worse after installing Spyware Docter W/antivirus. I

>> suspect this may be due to lack af memory. I am running XP Home SP2 on an

>> X86, 2003Mhz with 256MB and 2 GB virtual mem. I am considering purchasing

>> 2GB of mem. to replace exist. 256MB. Any advice would be appreciated.

>

> You're on the right track. 256MB is not enough RAM (more than likely).

> Then again, 2GB is probably going overboard. As long as you don't do ant

> memory-intensive work on your PC (e.g., graphics and video editing,

> enormous databases, etc.), I'm sure that 1GB will suffice. There's

> actually chance that 512MB would be more than enough, but since memory is

> so cheap, you should bump it up to 1GB.

>

> But if you ever plan on upgrading to Vista (shudder ;-) ), then 2GB would

> be the way to go.

>

> The trick is to not rely on the pagefile (virtual memory) for your memory

> needs, because it is slower than RAM.

>

> Here are the three most common causes for PC slowness:

>

> 1. Malicious software (malware)

>

> 2. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton,

> McAfee, and perhaps Spyware Doctor -- don't know, not too familiar with

> that one). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply use

> way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other things in

> your system. And their default mode is to scan your entire hard drive each

> time you boot up.

>

> 3. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the

> background -- with or without your knowledge.

>

> 4. Not enough RAM because again over-relying on the pagefile slows

> everything down.

>

> Everything you need to know to address the above four issues and more can

> be found at these links:

>

> http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

>

> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

>

 

Daave,

Thanks a bunch! very helpful info.I do not plan on going to Vista and dont

do mem. intensive work. I believe the biggest problem is Spyware Dr. eating

up the mem. Every time I start the PC it takes approx. 8 min. to get going

and often loading a program takes 1-2 min. I think I will try the 1GB

upgrade. I am curious if you could recomend any other virus & malware

protection that would be suffecient for a novice comp. user and doesn't eat

up a lot of mem.and is free or cheap?

[Guest Gerry]

Re: registry cleaning undo ?

 

Roger

 

How you can improve system performance is about determining where the

bottleneck is. RAM memory is just one aspect. CPU processing capacity,

disk read / write speeds etc are others. It can even get down to

avoiding multi-tasking and timing automatic scans at more convenient

time. In essence it is the balancing of supply and demand. Cutting out

wasteful use of memory is as important as ensuring you have enough RAM

to carry the tasks you require your computer to perform.

 

To determine how much RAM is needed you should not look at what RAM is

being used but what use is being made of virtual memory (the pagefile).

In simple terms you can look in Task Manager at the Commit Charge figure

on the Performance tab. Deduct the amount of installed RAM from the

Total and you get a rough idea of how much the pagefile is being used.

If the figure is negative then very little use of the pagefile is

currently is occurring (the system and some programs make some use of

the pagefile notwithstanding the existence of available RAM memory). Do

the the same exercise with the Peak to see what has been the situation

previously. Normally you need to think of adding RAM if you are seeing

pagefile usage above 10% to 20% of the installed RAM.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

 

You can get more accurate information on pagefile usage using

pagefilemon, a small freeware utility.

 

Use page file monitor to observe what is the peak usage. Start it to run

immediately after start-up and look at the log. Pagefilemon takes

snapshots. You need to run it at the beginning of the session at then

run it again at intervals throughout the sessions. The log is Pagefile

log.txt. If you right click on the file in Windows Explorer and select

Send to, Desktop (Create Shortcut). The same applies to

XP_PageFileMon.exe.

 

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

 

Note that programs using undo features, particularly those associated

with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts of memory so if

you use this type of programme check these first observing how the page

usage increases when they start and whether the usage decreases when you

close the programme.

 

 

--

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Gerry

~~~~

FCA

Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roger Daniels wrote:

> "Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@myrealboxXYZ.invalid> wrote in message

> news:O54Lugn%23IHA.2352@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>> "Roger Daniels" <rhdaniels@bluemarble.net> wrote in message

>> news:ujrlAQn%23IHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>> I installed Free Registry Fix approx. two years ago. After reading

>>> several posts that it is not a good thing to do I stopped using it

>>> several months ago. Should I undo the supposed fix's before

>>> uninstalling the program ?

>>

>> Without knowing what it "fixed," it's hard to know. For all you

>> know, you have lucked out and haven't done any real damage yet. Just

>> because registry "fixing" programs aren't beneficial doesn't mean

>> they always hose up systems. And I don't believe Free Registry Fix

>> is a rogue program (although it is certainly a ripoff), so you might

>> be alright. It's possible your system is still fine. Personally, I

>> would just

>> uninstall it (and avoid all similar programs in the future) and cut

>> my losses. For all you know, running its undo function may screw up

>> your system.

>>

>> Do you have any actual problems other than worrying about what this

>> particular program may have done?

>>

> Thanks for the advice. I don't think the reg cleaner caused any

> problem that I am aware of. My main concern is that my PC seems to

> run very slow. This seemed to get worse after installing Spyware

> Docter W/antivirus. I suspect this may be due to lack af memory. I am

> running XP Home SP2 on an X86, 2003Mhz with 256MB and 2 GB virtual

> mem. I am considering purchasing 2GB of mem. to replace exist. 256MB.

> Any advice would be appreciated.