11 replies to this topic

[Anthony A]

Lets say you back up the registry and than make some changes. Than you use the computer for about a week or two and down load some programs (like installing a new anti virus program for instance) and than you think you have a problem that is related to the changes you made to the registry. If you use the backed up version of the registry would this cause more problems than it would fix? I guess I need to know how long a backed up copy of the registry is really useful for. Every program you add and remove etc will make changes to the registry so your backed up copy will be outdated pretty quickly. Reverting back to the backed up copy will probably mess up you programs that have been installed since that copy was backed up right? Or am I off base with this?

[TheFiresInTheSky]

heyy, if you right click on the backup, you can click merge.
that adds it to whats already there.
that would fix some problems if you changed settings and stuff and they ended up screwing up your computer.

[TonyKlein]

Basically, you will have to reinstall every application (including Windows Updates) you installed since.

[Anthony A]

TonyKlein, on Sep 17 2006, 04:00 PM, said:

Basically, you will have to reinstall every application (including Windows Updates) you installed since.

So the back up copy of your registry is really only good in case any immediate changes you make to the registry mess up? Than if they mess up you just merge the backed up copy and revert back to your previous configuration. If you make any more changes since you created the back up than you loose those if you use the back up.

So the proper course of action is

1) back up registry
2) make changes that need to be made
3) if everything works great, leave as is
4) if the changes messed something up merge the backed up copy and revert back to the previous configuration.
5) make new back up before any new changes to registry because the previous backed up copy is now outdated with the current state of your system.

Correct?

[TheFiresInTheSky]

exactly, the easiest thing is make a restore point.
ive never had any problems with that.

[1984]

yeah i agree with Thefiresinthesky aka neighberaaron (why did you change your name and how did you do it and keep your post count?). i use system restore and also erunt, but i have never restored the registry from erunt as of yet. but who knows when i may need it?

[Anthony A]

System restore does not always work. Recently I had Norton IS go BANG on me. When I tried a system restore it said it was unable to restore my system to the date I selected. Dell Customer service told me that Norton was to badly corrupted for system restore to restore back to the date I wanted. The person went on to explain that if the changes you make are too big than System restore won't work. For example delete a major program and than try to restore to the day previous to you deleting it. I don't think that will work.
Besides the changes I will be making will be registry changes. CCleaner has found some left over junk from my Norton removal. I am going to let it fix those problems when I get the nerve up. Windows security Center says Norton is still running and up to date HA HA. There are two entries in the things CCleaner found I think might be the problem. There are two registry keys, one for Norton IS start up and one for Norton Antivirus start up. I think that is why Windows Security Center thinks Norton is still installed.

[JDPower]

Anthony A, on Sep 18 2006, 01:24 AM, said:

System restore does not always work. Recently I had Norton IS go BANG on me. When I tried a system restore it said it was unable to restore my system to the date I selected. Dell Customer service told me that Norton was to badly corrupted for system restore to restore back to the date I wanted. The person went on to explain that if the changes you make are too big than System restore won't work. For example delete a major program and than try to restore to the day previous to you deleting it. I don't think that will work.
Besides the changes I will be making will be registry changes. CCleaner has found some left over junk from my Norton removal. I am going to let it fix those problems when I get the nerve up. Windows security Center says Norton is still running and up to date HA HA. There are two entries in the things CCleaner found I think might be the problem. There are two registry keys, one for Norton IS start up and one for Norton Antivirus start up. I think that is why Windows Security Center thinks Norton is still installed.

Definitely remove the Norton entries, Norton has a tendendy to leave lots of junk behind after uninstalling. You might also need to use one of the Norton removal tools to remove all traces. Refer to this post for tips and links for removing all traces of Norton:

http://forum.ccleaner.com/index.php?showto...=Norton+removal

[Anthony A]

JDPower, on Sep 18 2006, 12:25 AM, said:

Definitely remove the Norton entries, Norton has a tendendy to leave lots of junk behind after uninstalling. You might also need to use one of the Norton removal tools to remove all traces. Refer to this post for tips and links for removing all traces of Norton:

http://forum.ccleaner.com/index.php?showto...=Norton+removal

I used 3 tools for the removal of Norton. This was done over the phone with a Norton technical person.



MSIFIX.bat file

SymNRT.exe file

SYMMSICCLEANUP.reg file



In addition a Norton rep walked me through manually removing left over reg stuff. According to CCleaner those steps did not remove it all yet.

[JDPower]

Anthony A, on Sep 18 2006, 07:04 AM, said:

I used 3 tools for the removal of Norton. This was done over the phone with a Norton technical person.



MSIFIX.bat file

SymNRT.exe file

SYMMSICCLEANUP.reg file



In addition a Norton rep walked me through manually removing left over reg stuff. According to CCleaner those steps did not remove it all yet.

That should be most of it gone then, just let CCleaner get rid of the last remnants.
Though when I removed NortonAV from this computer I did a search of all files and folders for Norton or Symantec and deleted what was found just to be certain, though only do that if you're certain you have no other Symantec or Norton products on your PC.

[Anthony A]

JDPower, on Sep 18 2006, 02:10 AM, said:

That should be most of it gone then, just let CCleaner get rid of the last remnants.
Though when I removed NortonAV from this computer I did a search of all files and folders for Norton or Symantec and deleted what was found just to be certain, though only do that if you're certain you have no other Symantec or Norton products on your PC.

The laptop came from Dell with Norton Internet Security installed but nothing else from Norton. Worst part about this is that Dell has a feature where if you need to reinstall your operating system you push a few keys and it does this within the lap top with no need for a disk and only takes a few minutes. Guess what? It returns your computer to the way it was when you bought it which means Norton IS will be installed again. I can tell you this much, if my operating system ever needs to be reinstalled/recovered I will not go through having to remove Norton again. I will MAKE sure that I have to have the hard drive (under warranty for 2 years) "replaced". It will suddenly experience total failure.

[TonyKlein]

To be sure, almost EVERY program's uninstaller leaves an enormous amount of junk behind, and even manually searching the registry for 'just' the name of the program won't get all of it.

There are often registry keys containing short (8.3) file paths and so on that will sometimes fail to show up in such a search.

I'm afraid 'registry bloat' is a fact of life when you add and remove software on a regular basis...

An install monitor that takes snapshots before and after is the best way to keep that in check. (Ashampoo Uninstaller, Total Uninstall, Advanced Uninstaller Pro)