Computer question - reformat or manually clean registry?
 

The "new" computer I got a few months back seems to have some issues. I think it has to do with all the junk in the registry. At first I couldn't install programs from the DVD-ROM because of an Error #### invalid something msg, but after some researching I found the culprit to be a dummy drive location. Fixed that through the the Start function rather through the registry. Then one day as I was going to play DOOM 3, I get this popup msg with some trojan bug and that completely made the program disappear from its drive location. I figured my registry was cluttered. Again, after doing some reading online, I decided to download RegCure free version, but apparently free means utterly useless since after downlaoding the program and running a scan, it detected 900+ problems, and to fix them you have to buy the paid version. I decided to remove RegCure after doing some more reading on it. Computer is just acting weird, usually after a try to install a program, recent one was LavaSoft free version. Also, it's pretty slow at startup for a P4 3.2! At least it seems that way. I should have asked the seller to reformat it, but I didn't press the issue since he cleaned out his personal stuff--not all of it, as I learned--and just had some good and handy programs left in the HD for me. The most important are Windows XP sp2 and MS Office 2003.

With all the annoyances I'm experiencing, I'm thinking of just reformating my HD, which is partitioned into C and D, with D being empty atm. The problem is that I don't have Windows XP, but I can always browse Ebay or Craigslist. I guess my question is this a fairly easy job? I don't know enough of registry editing to even begin to delete things in there, though I did delete a dummy drive location after getting Error 1324 invalid picture something. I remember doing a reformat many years back on my Windows 95 computer, but have since forgotten the steps. The good thing about going ahead and doing the reformat is that I have not transfered anything from my old computer to this new one, maybe just some songs. Also, I have the drivers for the hardware, just not some of the preinstalled programs such as MS Office.

Oh, here's a pic of my new system!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...55/desktop.jpg

It glows!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5/desktop3.jpg

I've had fairly good success with this combination:

1) Ad-Aware (free version).

2) Clean-up (free version).


I've also purchased and used "Registry mechanic". Although it found and fixed about 90 issues, I don't believe that any one of them caused the machine to slow down.

RegScrubXP is pretty painless and free. Also get a decent antivirus program like Nod32 and free anti spyware program like Spybot-SD.

Anybody know anything about Mac OS 10.3.9? My PowerBook G4 seems to get incredibly slow and unresponsive after using it for a while, and I need to restart it, and it will go back to normal... i was assuming that it probably needs a reformat, but maybe there is something a little less drastic that I can do that would help? :)

Avoid using Windows.

Always. :)

I couldn't stand to have those blue lights next to my desk. I had one on the floor and couldn't stand it.

So why do you have registry problems. The only way to really screw it up is to delete programs instead of uninstalling them as far as i know.

AOL is a killer also. If you ever had it in your system, it gets EVERYWHERE and most registry cleaners don't get it all. I had it in my laptop for a while. My Commodo firewall would pop up like a dozen times when I logged on showing AOL trying to access the internet even when I wasn't signed on to AOL.

Ah a Pre-Ralphite fan I see. PowerPig is the one to PM...

Oh, I thought you said you were a Mac fan.:confused:

Mistress, yes, I love the pre-Raphaelite painters! Waterhouse is among my fav followed by Leighton. Anyhow, Ara, thanks for the advice. I read some reviews on Spybot and it seems to be a good anti-spyware. What about this registry cleaner you speak of? Will it do miracles? Not being a computer expert, I can only speculate that my registry is cluttered because the previous user/owner didn't do a clean reformat of the HD but only backed up, deleted, or transfered his files from this computer to another one. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the registry, but I had to change the DVD-ROM drive (originally E) to a G designation to allow downloads from a CD.

I don't know, it seems like I've also been noticing some of my icons changing to some generic icon for no apparent reason! I have this Y'z Shadow program, UberIcon, and some other programs that I'm not sure of what they do. Last night AVG free version detected a number of trojan "downloaders" and I clicked "healed." What's the difference between heal and move to vault? Is heal the same as delete? Come to think of it, I really don't want to reformat because that means I have to buy or bug people for XP and MS Office. What good free registry cleaners are out there?

My all time fav Rosetti followed by Burne-Jones and well I like them all. Ad-A-Ware is good for spyware as well. Have you de-fragged your system yet? Deleted any internet files that you don't need?

You can also try CCleaner - it is free and I use it on a regular basis to keep my registry uncluttered. It will also clear out garbage from your drive.

How do these programs work with other similar ones already on your computer? I know that antivirus software is generally incompatible with other antivirus software (Norton & MacAffee for instance).

Antivirus programs don't like each other because of the way they scan, and the database they have to keep in order to do that. One AV application may misidentify the other's database as a virus, or they both attempt to scan or insert themselves into the operating system in such a way that neither works right.

I've run CCleaner with Norton, AVG and Macafee - there have been no issues.

My problem with most of the stuff on my computer is that I have no idea what it means. I get these cryptic error messages prompting me to make a decision and it's as if they were written in another language. What good is that?

I second the recommendation for Spybot Search & Destroy.
I would also run Hijackthis, but that is not for everyone.

The only things you can backup and run on your new computer would be things like pictures, word documents, etc all that data type stuff. If this person tried to copy over alllll their old programs (say, clicked copy on Program Files and pasted it onto the new computer) well then you'll probably have to reformat. Thats a good way to mess with an operating system. All those old programs have IDs from the old computer and wont work properly on the new computer (or the reformated HD).

Try that registry cleaner I told you about, it is very quick and painless, takes maybe 5 minutes. If that doesn't work (I doubt it will fix everything)I'd say cut your losses and reformat.

Thanks for the replies and freeware recommendations, guys! I installed RegScrubXP and Spybot SD (to complement the Ad-Aware 2007 I have). I also have downloaded CCleaner but have not installed it yet. It's perhaps too soon to comment on these softwares, but I can say that I like RegScrubXP's fast scan but don't like Spybot's slooow scan. Maybe it's just perceived, but I feel that my system is a bit cleaner and running a bit more efficiently. However, I've noticed one thing different that may or may not be the result of running a RegScrubXP or Spybot scan. Before Window's Media Player 9 would minimize to the taskbar, on right side, next to clock. Now it won't at all when I click on the minimize button; it just minimizes to a regular window's bar. I've right clicked on the taskbar, clicked on "Toolbar," and checked and rechecked "Windows Media Player" but nothing happens--even with WMP checked, as it should be for WMP to minimize with full functions. Good thing RegScrubXP keeps records of what whas cleaned. I did a restore for one of the scans that shows WMP as being one of the deleted registry files. Nothing. Spybot maybe?

It's not such a big deal but I really like having that miniWMP taskbar function.

Spybot takes quite a while to do especially if you've scanned for the first time. Make sure you updated its virus/spyware definitions and immunized your computer.. if you didnt do that, you'll have to do it again.

Defrag your HD, it should speed things up a bit too.

No problems with conflicts between CCleaner and other applications?

I need to get a FREE spyware/anti virus program my free trial is expiring soon.

I dont know much about any programs.

But I would like it to

1) Be free

2) easy to use

3) work good with vista

4) not slow my computer down.

5) block/catch virus and spyware good.

What would you guys recomend?