Free Windows Help Tutorials sponsored by inkjet printer cartridges dot org /title> <META HTTP-EQUIV="imagetoolbar" CONTENT="no"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=ISO 8859-1"> <META name="description" Content="Hundreds of downloadable Windows help tutorials, articles and how-to guides sponsored by inkjet printer cartridges dot org."><style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body bgcolor=#999999 vlink=blue link=blue> <span name = "INTRA" class="pg" style="top:0px; left:5px; width:714px; height:1010px"></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:0px; left:5px; height:1010px; width:714px' class='img'> <img src="pg0001im.png" height = "1010 width = "714" border="0"> </span> <span class='nav' style='left: 10px; top: 10px'><pre></pre></span><span name = "INTRA" style='top:51px; left:494px' class="ft5"><pre><font face='Helvetica'>End User Support:Operating Systems</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:104px; left:214px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><b>Windows</b> <b>9x</b></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:154px; left:159px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><b>Registry</b> <b>Cleaners</b></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:248px; left:98px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>The</b></i> <i><b>Registry</b></i> <i><b>is</b></i> <i><b>a</b></i> <i><b>central</b></i> <i><b>database</b></i> <i><b>that</b></i> <i><b>holds</b></i> <i><b>important</b></i> <i><b>settings</b></i> <i><b>for</b></i> <i><b>a</b></i> <i><b>Windows</b></i> <i><b>installation.</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:268px; left:104px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>Corruption</b></i> <i><b>of</b></i> <i><b>the</b></i> <i><b>Registry</b></i> <i><b>can</b></i> <i><b>prevent</b></i> <i><b>a</b></i> <i><b>PC</b></i> <i><b>from</b></i> <i><b>starting,</b></i> <i><b>and</b></i> <i><b>remnants</b></i> <i><b>of</b></i> <i><b>unnecessary</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:289px; left:123px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>data</b></i> <i><b>can</b></i> <i><b>slow</b></i> <i><b>it</b></i> <i><b>down.</b></i> <i><b>Occasional</b></i> <i><b>cleaning</b></i> <i><b>of</b></i> <i><b>the</b></i> <i><b>Registry</b></i> <i><b>is</b></i> <i><b>therefore</b></i> <i><b>a</b></i> <i><b>good</b></i> <i><b>idea,</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:310px; left:210px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>but</b></i> <i><b>it's</b></i> <i><b>crucial</b></i> <i><b>to</b></i> <i><b>get</b></i> <i><b>it</b></i> <i><b>right</b></i> <i><b>and</b></i> <i><b>to</b></i> <i><b>take</b></i> <i><b>precautions.</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:342px; left:576px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>By Julian Moss</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:410px; left:77px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'><b>T</b></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:414px; left:109px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>he Registry performs a central</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:415px; left:272px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>Problems</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:414px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>tions and utilities must not access these</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:426px; left:109px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>and vital role in all 32 bit ver </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:426px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>files directly. However, the Registry is</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:438px; left:109px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>sions of Windows. It holds con </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:437px; left:286px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Corruption is one cause of Registry</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:438px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>organised as a hierarchical tree struc </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:450px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>figuration</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:450px; left:138px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>data</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:450px; left:171px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>for</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:450px; left:197px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:450px; left:225px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>system</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:449px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>problems. Under Windows 95 and 98,</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:450px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>ture, rather like the file system of a</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:462px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>hardware and software, as well as user</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:461px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Registry data is held in two files, SYS </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:462px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>hard disk. Techniques similar to those</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:474px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>preferences and settings.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:473px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>TEM.DAT and USER.DAT. These files</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:474px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>used in file systems are used to speed</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:486px; left:91px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>The integrity of the Registry is im </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:485px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>are as prone as any other open file to</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:486px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>up access to information in the Regis </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:498px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>portant. If information in the Registry</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:497px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>problems caused by file system errors</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:498px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>try and to allocate space for new keys.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:510px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>is incorrect, a system or an application</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:509px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>such as cross linking. To minimise the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:510px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>For example, Registry keys that are</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:522px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>may malfunction. Windows may even</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:521px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>risks on systems using the FAT file</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:522px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>open are cached in memory. Writes to</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:534px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>fail to start altogether.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:533px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>system, ScanDisk should be run at fre </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:534px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>the Registry are performed asynchro </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:546px; left:91px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>The importance of the Registry is</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:545px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>quent intervals and particularly after</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:546px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>nously so that applications are not held</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:558px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>common knowledge. However, Win </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:557px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>program or system crashes. Windows</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:558px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>up until they are finished.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:570px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>dows is dependent on the Registry to a</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:569px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>NT stores and updates its Registry in a</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:582px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>greater extent than many people real </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:581px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>different and more secure manner, so</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:584px; left:466px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>Fragmentation</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:594px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>ise. Applications and Windows itself</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:593px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>under NT corruption should not be a</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:606px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'> make considerable use of COM/Ac </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:605px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>problem.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:606px; left:480px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Once data has been written to the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:618px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>tiveX software components, and the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:617px; left:286px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Invalid data is a more frequent</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:618px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Registry it remains in the same physi </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:631px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Registry is the glue that joins these</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:629px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>cause of problems. A common exam </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:631px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>cal location in the file. If data is deleted,</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:643px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>components together. If the data re </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:641px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>ple of this is when files referred to in</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:643px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>the space it occupied is freed and be </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:655px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>lated to these components is invalid,</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:653px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>the Registry are deleted without the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:655px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>comes available for new data. If a suf </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:667px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Windows can fall apart. And if there</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:665px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Registry entries also being removed.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:667px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>ficiently large contiguous block of</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:679px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>are problems in this part of the Regis </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:677px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Poorly written setup and uninstall</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:679px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>space is not available to write a new</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:691px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>try they are almost impossible to fix</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:689px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>programs are often to blame for this, as</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:691px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>item of data then the DAT file is ex </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:703px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>manually because the structures and</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:701px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>are users who remove software by de </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:703px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>panded and the data is written at the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:715px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>relationships between the various</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:713px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>leting it using Explorer or an MS DOS</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:715px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>end. It follows from this that the Reg </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:727px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>items of data are almost impossible to</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:725px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>prompt. Home users, who often install</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:727px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>istry data files can grow but will never</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:739px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>figure out (indeed, the Windows Reg </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:737px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>and uninstall trial software and who</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:739px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>shrink. Also, information in the Regis </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:751px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>istry is the subject of at least one entire</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:749px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>are inclined towards tinkering around</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:751px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>try can become fragmented, in the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:763px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>book).</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:761px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>without understanding what they are</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:763px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>sense that a set of related values or keys</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:775px; left:91px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>You may be surprised at how fre </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:773px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>doing, often suffer from such prob </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:775px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>may not be stored contiguously on the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:787px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>quently the Registry is accessed. Data</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:786px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>lems, and utilities have been devel </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:787px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>hard disk.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:799px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>is constantly being referred to and up </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:798px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>oped to try to resolve them. In a</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:799px; left:480px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Despite the existence of some third </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:811px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>dated, right from when Windows</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:810px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>controlled</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:810px; left:333px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>corporate</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:810px; left:391px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>environment</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:811px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>party utilities that claim to optimise the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:823px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>starts up until it finally shuts down.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:821px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>however this sort of occurrence should</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:823px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Registry, there is no hard evidence that</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:835px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Every time you move a Window, for</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:834px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>be rare.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:835px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Registry fragmentation has a notice </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:847px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>example, or change almost any setting</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:846px; left:286px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>The speed with which the Registry</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:847px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>able effect on system performance. It</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:859px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>in any application, the data gets saved</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:858px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>can be accessed may have an effect on</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:859px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>certainly isn't going to improve it, but</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:871px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>in the Registry. If data held in the Reg </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:870px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>system performance but there is little</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:871px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>when considered alongside other</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:883px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>istry takes longer to access than it</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:882px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>scope for optimisation. Microsoft does</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:883px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>things that make a system perform</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:895px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>needs to, system performance could be</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:894px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>not publish details of the internal for </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:895px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>slowly the contribution made by Reg </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:907px; left:77px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>adversely affected.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:906px; left:272px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>mat of the DAT files because applica </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:907px; left:466px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>istry fragmentation is probably negli </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:946px; left:52px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>Update 120 (October 1998) page 3</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:946px; left:617px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'>File: E1208.1</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:944px; left:264px' class="ft4"><pre><font face='Arial'><b>PC</b> <b>Support</b> <b>Advisor</b></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" class='nav' style='left: 357px; top: 1010px'><pre>Next page <a href='page0002.htm'>></a></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:1050px; left:50px' class="ft4"><pre><b><font color="#FF0000" size="3" face="Arial">New!</font><font color="#FF0000" size="3" face="Arial Narrow"> </font><font size="2" face="Arial">The best sites for quality <a href="http://www.inkjet-printer-cartridges.org">inkjet printer cartridges</a> and the best sites for <a href="http://www.cheap-inkjet-cartridges.com">cheap inkjet cartridges</a></font></b></pre></span></body> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:1100px; left:300px' class="ft4"><pre><b><font color="#FF0000" size="3" face="Arial"><a href="../index.html">Windows Help Desk Home</a> </font></b></pre></span></body></html>