How Can I Clean Out My Registry?

[SFNYYFan]

Two weekends ago I wanted to restore my computer back to it's factory condition because there was just too much junk and such. So I ran my Compaq Quick Restore discs (I have a Compaq Presario 5000A with Windows Me) and it cleaned out my default C drive but left everything on the D drive. I was told by Compaq tech support that because I installed the D drive myself (not me, but had it installed) that the Quick Restore discs wouldn't run properly unless unhooked my D drive/partitioned my hard drives/run an F disc which I had/have no idea what that means but I do know the last time I did that, I paid $200 for a CompUSA technician to fix my computer. So they tell me I can just right click on the D drive and format it to totally clean it out. I did and thought I was good to go but I see things in my registry from programs that I had before I restored the computer that I hadn't yet reinstalled. Is there a difference between running the Quick Restore and just right clicking and selecting format?

The reason I want to clean out my registry is because of this window switching (I'm told it's called stealing focus) that is driving me crazy. I started a post here a few weeks ago and unfortunately I couldn't fix the problem and it's gotten worse.

So what can I do? Thanks in advance

 

[columbo]

Hi SFFNYFan,

If you're just looking for a Registry Cleaner to remove "orphaned" registry entries:

RegCleaner

You could try this, however, I can't verify how well it works, as I've never tried it before.

Columbo

 

[Styxx]

The Windows registry is irrelevant if your doing a Restore.

I assume you have one (1) hard disk in your computer. That HDD is partitioned into two (2) partitions. Those partitions show in Windows just as if you had two physical HDDs installed.

The compaq technicians are telling you that you need to have one (1) partition on your HDD for the Restore process to compete and you simply need to use a WinMe startup disk; insert it in your [A] drive and restart your computer; choose to restart your computer without CD-ROM support when prompted using the arrow keys below the Delete key, and Enter. At the [A] prompt (A:/>) you'd type, fdisk, and strike Enter and use the fdisk utility to go back to one (1) partition using 100% of your drive.

Clue on using fdisk. Don't delete your Primary DOS partition, Ok? Just the Logical drive and then its Extended DOS partition. Or you'll have a major headache. You don't even need to partition that Primary DOS partition that left. The automated Restore routine does that.

There's a excellent Fdisk tutorial at http://www.pcnineoneone.com. Ok? Click the More How To guides link.

If you had an extra HDD in your computer you'd simply take it out for the Restore process then install it again l

 

[columbo]

Isn't this statement implying that there are 2 physical drives in the machine?

I was told by Compaq tech support that because I installed the D drive myself (not me, but had it installed) that the Quick Restore discs wouldn't run properly unless unhooked my D drive/partitioned my hard drives

I got the impression that there were 2 physical drives. And that all SDNYYFan wanted to do was remove orphaned registry entries that still existed, pointing to files that were removed from drive D: (when it was formatted).

Sorry, I believe I must've misunderstood the original issue/question.

Columbo

 

[Styxx]

That why I said:

If you had an extra HDD in your computer you'd simply take it out for the Restore process then install it again l

and in either case the registry is irrelevant.

 

[SFNYYFan]

Thanks for the replies!

I do have two hard drives and I was going to detach the secondary hard drive and run the QR discs but neither the Compaq tech support nor myself knew which of the two drives was the C or D drive.

I do want the registry cleaned out because there has to be something in my registry that is causing this problem, right? So I figured restoring it to factory condition would do it. Even after I restored my C drive and formatted the D drive erasing everything, I still had the problem. Unless Quick Restore doesn't delete registry entries anyway. But I didn't know because I wasn't sure if Quick Restore doesn't, or if my restoration process didn't complete because the D drive was still attached as it ran. I assumed that restoring it to factory condition meant just that, and that everything would be cleaned out as if I'd never used it. I'm sure you can tell I know nothing about the registry, but when I did search for help on the problem I was having, I was told to make adjustments to a registry entry ForegroundLockTimeout. That was when I saw a bunch of stuff in the registry from programs I had before the restoration/formatting of both drives.

If I could avoid going through the partitioning, restoring, etc., believe me I would. I just want this problem fixed. But no one knows what's causing it and I've tried TweakUI and a bunch of other things to fix it but to no avail. But I will do what needs to be done, but I just don't want to go through backing everything up again, deleting everything from the drives, and then finding out that everything in the registry is still there. Hopefully that makes sense.

Does running Quick Restore multiple times ruin anything on the computer?

 

[Styxx]

No, running the Restore process repeatedly will not hurt your HDD in any way. Doing the Restore formats the HDD deleting everything before it restores your computer to the way it came from the factory. Just back up all your sensitive data (Internet Explorer Favorites; Netscape Bookmarks, Address Book and Netscape Mail Folders; Outlook Express Address Books and Folders (compress any Netscape Mail or Outlook Express folders first) letters, pictures, databases, spreadsheets, music, etc.) to removable media for restoring later.as appropriate before beginning.

Since you have two HDDs and don't know which is which I can tell you. Tnx for clarifying that you have two phisical not virtual drives.

Use a flashlight, on the main circuit board by the plug-ins where the two hard drives plug in, it's printed on the board real small IDE1 or IDE2. IDE 1 is your channel 1 for your Primary Hard Disk, obviously.

I've got a Compaq 4640 I've had a part quite a bit. Anyway, it is one of those two female plug-ins that are always side by side. Just be real careful getting them unplugged if necessary, don't pull or push the gray wires to unplug the drives. And always ground yourself by touching the aluminum fram or the side of the power supply and holding your feet still to avoid elctrostatic Discharge (ESD) off you to the internal components.

 

[coolhand420]

i use a program called systemsuite 2000 to keep all my files cleaned out and my hard drive running at peek.its real easy to use has a registry fixer, reg cleaner, and reg defrag.it also will clean out web history cache and cookies windows doesnt alway delete as well as other temp old or unneeded folders and also has a better defrag than the windows standard. it also has virus scan back up and restore utilitys basicily its an all in one program and all are more indepth than windows maintence hope this helps

 

[coolhand420]

oh it also wont delete files its not sure are safe too unless u manually delete them wich ihave deleted all that it suggest and have had no problems but if ur not sure and there in red leave em

 

[SFNYYFan]

See, the problem with using a program is that I don't know anything about the registry. I used one program that found a ton of "bad" entries but I had to decide what to do with them and I had no clue. I'd rather just delete them all but I figure if I do that, I'll mess something up. So I'd rather just start over from scratch so I won't delete something that is still needed. I wouldn't be so apprehensive but I always see that editing the registry can be harmful so I'm scared

Styxx, thanks so much for your help. I'm going to back up my files now and try to tackle this. Just to be sure though, I have a few more questions. I am detaching the secondary drive, but not gray wires, correct? So the drive will still be somewhat attached? Do I have to remove the drive or just detach it? After the QR is complete, I will still have to format the D drive to delete what is on there, but the registry will be clean? Do you think my CD-RW drive will be a problem?