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windows-registry posts

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Portable Little Registry Cleaner tidies up Windows registry clutter


Like the dark corners of your C: drive, your Windows registry can accumulate quite a bit of clutter. Little Registry Cleaner is on the job, ready to locate registry refuse and dispose of it.

The application weighs in at just over 1mb and is fully portable - just extract the exe file's contents to a folder using an application like 7zip. Start it up, click the scan button, and LRC will locate registry entries that can be removed without harming your system.

Since CCleaner is my current cleanup app of choice, I ran it side-by-side. While CCleaner's scan was faster, LRC located 32 more items. After fixing problems, LRC automatically re-scanned and found 6 remaining issues (all missing icons) it couldn't fix. CCleaner didn't have any luck removing them either.

Little Registry Cleaner also includes a startup manager and contains a good set of options for less experienced users. By default, it automatically creates system restore points, checks for updates, and has a built-in registry restore funciton. I would like to see an option to disable the scanning results pop-up window - the important information is already presented in the main window.

It's a free download and runs on both 32 and 64-bit Windows, and is a nice registry cleanup option for more inexperienced users.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Track registry changes with RegFromApp


Ever wonder what changes an application is making to your Windows registry? RegFromApp is a simple utility that lets you pick a process and track any registry changes it initiates.

All you have to do is download and unzip the tiny application (just over 50KB unzipped), click the executable file and select a process to track. In other words, you don't need to install RegFromApp, and obviously it makes no chances to your registry.

You can also save any registry changes to a .Reg file which you can use to replicate (or possibly undo) the registry changes.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Open Source

Detect and track registry changes with RegRunner

RegRunner

While not every program that posses a threat to your PC will attempt to write changes to your Windows registry, an awful lot will. So one way to keep your computer healthy is to track any changes to your registry. RegRunner is a free utility that hangs out in your system tray until a registry change is made, and then it pops up to let you know that something's going on. In other words, if you install and uninstall software on regular basis, RegRunner could be just as annoying as the user account control pop-up in Windows Vista. But just like the UAC, RegRunner can also prevent you from doing anything too foolish.

RegRunner also has a couple of other useful features. It will show you a list of programs that load when Windows starts. Another tab shows running processes.

The program does not include an uninstaller. If you want to remove RegRunner from your system, you'll have to delete installation directory and the shortcuts from the Startup folder in your Windows start menu.

[via Inspect My Gadget]

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Download Windows XP SP3 with a registry hack

Windows XP SP3Last month we told you that it was possible to download Windows Vista SP1 by altering your Windows registry settings. Now it looks like a new registry hack is making the rounds. This one will let Windows XP users download Service Pack 3 for Microsoft's older, but generally more stable operating system.

Both the Vista and XP service packs aren't scheduled for wide release until early next year. In other words, downloading a pre-release copy might really not be the best idea. Sure, it'd be nice to grab a software update intended to improve your system's reliability and security. But since these updates are still in beta testing, you could wind up causing more problems than you solve.

That said, it looks like the registry hack is pretty straightforward. Just download a patch, look for Windows Updates, download them and reboot your computer into glorious SP3 bliss. And by bliss, we mean a few new features like a new Windows Product Activation module, a Network Access Protection module (ported from Vista), and cryptographic algorithm support in the kernel. We know, it all sounds so glamorous.

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