Michael writes:

<<I was wondering if any of you can recommend a =
registry cleaner or maintenance tool that does not assume registry =
expertise beyond rank amateur status.  The one I had before the big =
crash of September (lost everything), would list "problems"' and when I =
would tell the registry cleaning program to "fix" them, I found it had =
deleted executable files I needed to run games and other apps, forcing =
me to re-load them.  Any advice would be appreciated, even if you have a =
site or something you would recommend to learn about editing the =
registry (scary!!!). >>

Michael---

It can't have been a registry cleaner. No registry cleaner can remove .exe
files, as these do not live in the registry.  It must have been a general
hard drive cleaner of some sort.

No, editing the registry isn't scary, as long as you use common sense and
don't interfere with the mysterious bits.  The software sections are
reasonably simple.

See my website for some novice tutorials on regular registry maintenance.
I've just upgraded it to now include XP---and it's easier then ever.

The best, and in my view the only effective, registry "cleaner" is to have
a good system of regular registry backups and renewals.  Commercial
registry cleaners don't do much, and won't remove corruptions.
It's highly unlikely you'd ever notice any performance increase after
running one, no matter how many  "errors" it purports to find.  They don
little more than clean out (usually rather superficially) dead software
links which seldom do any harm or take up much space.

Methods vary according to which OS you are running.  In XP, System Restore
will replace the registry, but may be overkill, and in any case isn't
terribly effective (it doesn't keep a base copy to which you can always
return, and is too easily disabled, in which case you lose all your backups).

Thus, anyone who takes a little time and trouble to learn how to make
registry backups with Microsoft's free ERUNT (for XP) will find that the
small effort is well worth it.  It's now much easier than ever, and can be
used safely at novice level. (See tutorial).  Most performance glitches can
be so easily remedied by a registry restoration (which takes perhaps 1
minute including the reboot), without which the only real alternative is a
full removal and reinstall of Windows, which I imagine takes light-years.

It kept my old W95B system alive and as good as new for 6 years with never
a reformat, despite much abuse, and so far is doing the same for XP.

Of course, for the diehards, there's nothing like an annual reformat and
new install of everything.  But for many of us, that may not be a palatable
thought.

Don Penlington










 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html