I find deleting HKLM makes it pretty much goosed in an instant. We honed this skill on a member of our SMC team who was less dangerous with a blue-screening machine than a functioning one. He reported successful backups on servers that had been decommissioned years previously.
2009/4/2 Sean Martin <[email protected]> > I remember quite awhile ago while I was taking some classes, we would play > "registry roulette" with the lab PCs. We would just randomly delete registry > keys until the machine puked.... > > - Sean > > On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 11:37 PM, Michael Hoffman <[email protected]>wrote: > >> The cleaner in spybot is slightly better, in that it asks for >> confirmation before every change. After a virus removal and a major tidy >> then we look at the results and usually run a single pass. I like to know >> what each entry is and over time you learn what you can safely remove. >> Occasionally this can have a major impact, especially if it’s a reference to >> a deleted AV product, but you need to also check for where the bad reference >> is. If it’s an uninstall or a start-up app then it should be ok to tidy, if >> it’s a driver or a system hook then be careful, take a backup and test. >> >> >> >> Mike >> >> >> >> *From:* Jon Harris [mailto:[email protected]] >> *Sent:* 02 April 2009 01:27 >> >> *To:* NT System Admin Issues >> *Subject:* Re: Registry Cleaners >> >> >> >> I worked on a system last week where the user had "cleaned" the registry >> and the Windows folder so well much of his system was un-usable. Since I >> was not his IT guy I just sent him home to talk to the person that put all >> that trash on his system in the first place. I stopped counting when I hit >> 6 different registry cleaners, 4 or 5 spyware checkers, and 2 antivirus >> programs. He said he was told to run certain programs daily to keep it >> clean. >> >> >> >> Jon >> >> On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 6:31 PM, Steven Calvanese < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> I use Your Uninstaller instead of Add/remove programs. It removes the >> program and all registry entries. >> >> >> Steven Calvanese >> [IT Support Technician] >> MEMBER SOLUTIONS >> [P]267.287.1023 >> [F]267.287.1033 >> >> >> >> WWW.MEMBERSOLUTIONS.COM <http://www.membersolutions.com/> >> >> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: This email and any attachments are confidential >> and intended for the sole use of the persons named in the email. If you >> are not the intended recipient, please notify MEMBER SOLUTIONS >> immediately at 267-287-1000 and permanently remove this email from your >> mailbox. Any disclosure, copying or distribution of this email by any >> person who is not the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. >> ________________________________ >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Sam Cayze [mailto:[email protected]] >> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 6:25 PM >> To: NT System Admin Issues >> >> Subject: RE: Registry Cleaners >> >> +1 >> >> I stay very far away from cleaners... >> >> I'd rather re-image. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Peter van Houten [mailto:[email protected]] >> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 5:12 PM >> To: NT System Admin Issues >> Subject: Re: Registry Cleaners >> >> +1 >> >> Don't massage the registry unless you know what you are doing. >> >> Registry Workshop has saved me many times and its powerful cumulative >> search/search-replace function is brilliant: >> >> http://www.torchsoft.com/en/rw_information.html >> >> -- >> Peter van Houten >> >> On the 01/04/2009 23:41, Carl Houseman wrote the following: >> > Don't fix what isn't broken, If you use a reg cleaner every day >> > sooner or later you will break something that was working. >> > >> > Carl >> > >> > From: Matt Plahtinsky [mailto:[email protected]] >> > Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 4:23 PM >> > To: NT System Admin Issues >> > Subject: Registry Cleaners >> > >> > I recently had a discussion about Registry Cleaners with a friend. I >> have >> > never used them before and my friend swears by them. With a little >> > research different products seem to do different things. Some clean, >> > some compact, and some look for errors. >> > >> > Just for fun I can the registry clean built into CCleaner it found a >> > few hundred errors but I didn't seem to notice a difference after I >> > ran it and rebooted. >> > >> > What are your thoughts on them. >> > >> > Matt >> >> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ >> <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ >> >> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ >> <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ >> >> >> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ >> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
