If You Liked the Defragging Topic .....

[writeco]

I always wondered why everyone is overly concerned about weeding out all of the registry entries for software that has been uninstalled. While I like to remove clutter, I do not lose sleep if remnants remain.

My understanding is that the registry is a fully indexed, direct access file. By this I mean that a program goes directly to the required entry and does not have to read through all of the entries before it.

I am more concerned about deleting a registry entry, that I should not, than having too many entries. This is why I would not touch a registry maintenance program with a 10-foot pole or a 4-foot Hungarian. BTW, I am of both Polish and Hungarian ancestry.

Am I a couple fries short of a happy meal or what?

[dbarrow]

It all depends where those entries reside.
The majority of "useless, empty, null, or otherwise bad" reg keys are simply ignored. They are way points on a roadmap that were used to point to something that is no longer there, as in a path statement.

Then you have keys lodged in the RUN section, Current Control Set, Services, and other "active" portions of the reg.
These keys are intended to call or load something, like a dll or service or exe.
"Timers" execute several attempts to resolve them in the loading process until they time out and are skipped over.
This can cause considerable lag depending on the number of times it retries until it skips the item ... or an outright hangup.
The "worst" useless keys are those that change values in something that calls something else and requires something else to load ... programs that act at the Kernel level. These are otherwise necessary keys but their value has been changed. They may be calling something that is no longer there, like a dll, service, or exe and can't load it.
IF the former value was a necessary function, like loading a service, and other services are now dependent on that service starting, it can cause a cascade of failures in things not even related to that key. This is where you get errors, hangs, and major problems in the Kernel level functions and things that seem totally unrelated stop working.

Reg cleaning does not remove these as a useless key, as that is what reg cleaners do. Getting the value of the key back to original settings, prior to whatever modified it, is the only solution.

Example:
I just spent quite some time hunting down a "quirk".
Hunting a networking issue, I discover DHCP client SERVICE is not starting. Trying a manual start fails.
It shows "depend on service" several entries. Checking each one of them against the machine next to it, under HKLM\System\Current Control Set\Services, I find the only difference is in TapiSrv where the value is set to 4 (disable) instead of 2 (automatic). Change the value back to 2 and now DHCP client service starts as it should.

Cured that problem, or does it?
Browsing the same trail of breadcrumbs on yet another machine, I don't find TapiSrv in the dependencies list at all. What changed the original dependency and the value of the suspect key is beyond me....
Fixed one "quirk" but still have not found the problem I went looking for to begin with.

Note that JV16 didn't touch this as it is not an invalid key and not in the keys that would be scanned, nor is it visible anywhere other than following clues from other reg keys referring to it in that section.

Finding and correcting a reg error is far deeper than cleaning or purging....

[Guest117]

With most computer's it is not the registry that needs cleaning.
When novices and professionals do clean a registry, certain risks are very possible. Professionals prepare for these risks where novices do not.
The deletion of one key entry in a registry can be disastrous.
The first time I saw RegCleaner was used, the registry was wiped of many critical files and the whole system had to be reloaded. Much data was lost.
But people like to play and tune their computers. This causes problems at times but is a real learning experience to tackle one's mistakes or glitches in the system.
I understand where you are coming from.:)

3 Words: BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP :doh:

[writeco]

The point, that I was trying to make or at least ask, does it hurt performance by having unneeded and/or unused entries in the registry?

While possibly poor housekeeping practices, I did not think that there was an impact on performance.

I could not agree more about backup, backup, backup. The registry gets backed up the first of every month, if not more often.

[mylanta]

Yep backup backup backup....good advice. Backing up the registry is a piece of cake compared to repairing big gaping holes in it.
I am an avid user of jv16, but never to run utilities through it cleaning stuff...removing a "dangler" from an uninstall is what I do because I have seen often enough interference from that too often, and I have never seen doing that cause a reformat. Running a cleaner through the registry pulling "duplicate entries" well that has hosed more than I care to speak about!

[Terry Hanushek]

Joe

My understanding is that the registry is a fully indexed, direct access file. By this I mean that a program goes directly to the required entry and does not have to read through all of the entries before it.
That is my understanding of the registry also. 'Orphan' keys should not impair the performance of a computer. I have never heard of any size or space issues with the registry.

Over the years there have been many discussions on registry cleaning and registry cleaners. A substantial number of the opinions that I respect suggest that registry cleaning does not help and can cause problems as Doug and Nick mentioned.

Terry

[Guest117]

The point, that I was trying to make or at least ask, does it hurt performance by having unneeded and/or unused entries in the registry?

Few things left over in the registry are harmful and it is so
much easier to create a mess while tinkering with it.
Working in the registry is relatively simple if you're aware of what you're
doing.
The registry can become bloated with invalid information left behind by uninstalled hardware and software, and by missing files and drivers. A bloated registry can cause your PC to operate sluggishly, become unstable, and crash frequently.
I'm trying not to sound contradictory. There are times when the registry should be addressed but most times, leave it alone.:)

[Guest110]

I never mess with mine .. which is surprising:D

[writeco]

Yoa, BlackMirror, this is suppose to a clean forum. I don't play around with mine either. ;-)