Re: Registry Cleaners. A question ..

[Dave Patrick]

Unless you have some compelling reason to do so it's best to leave the
registry intact.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Lou" wrote:
|I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
| dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
| it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
| on my HD.
|
| Anyone any experience with this and other reg cleaners?
|
| Lou.

[Daniel Martín]

There is no need to clean the registry, performance is not severely affected by registry size and registry cleaners can't be sure if a registry key should be deleted or not, they have not enough 'application knowledge' to act safely.

In my opinion cleaning the registry has more disadvantages than advantages.

--
Greetings,
Daniel Martín

"Lou" <be...@virgin.net> wrote in message news:90r1o158eium79jj4...@4ax.com...

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Lou wrote:

> I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
> dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
> it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
> on my HD.

Most registry cleaners work OK most of the time, and problems *are* rare.
The point isn't that they always cause problems, the point is that they
*can* sometimes cause problems.

Moreover, the registry doesn't need to be cleaned. Extra registry entries
don't hurt you. The risk of a registry cleaner hurting you (deleting an
entry you need) isn't necessarily enormous, but it's much greater than any
potential benefit it may have.

Think of it as something like russian roulette with a revolver with 1,000
chambers. Most of the time you get away with it, but it never helps you, and
if you get that one loaded chamber...For that reason, I recommend against
their use.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Mike Hall (MS-MVP)]

Lou

In addition to what others have told you, registry cleaners do NOT clean ALL
of the registry.. they tend to remove absolutely safe stuff and that is
about it.. this is true of all registry cleaners, past and present..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User

"Lou" <be...@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:90r1o158eium79jj4...@4ax.com...

>I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
> dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
> it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
> on my HD.
>

[Someone]

I was using Registry Mechanic and Diskeeper when my puter failed. I could
not even start it with a start-up disc. I don't know if either was
responsible.

"Lou" <be...@virgin.net> wrote in message

news:6ls1o1557924sldnp...@4ax.com...

> On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 22:55:04 +0100, Daniel Martín <mard...@yahoo.es>
> wrote:
>
>>There is no need to clean the registry, performance is not
>>severely affected by registry size and registry cleaners can't
>>be sure if a registry key should be deleted or not, they have
>>not enough 'application knowledge' to act safely.
>>In my opinion cleaning the registry has more disadvantages
>>than advantages.
>

> Prior to running Registry Mechanic my PC was freezing, crashing,
> re-booting at least two to three times a month with a consequent
> loss of data. It also got much slower. Since running the application
> in question, 6 months now, I have had no problems whatsoever
> with my PC and it runs faster. So far. It appears to me that it works
> for me.
>
> However, there would appear to be disadvantages and problems
> associated with registry cleaners. I would like to hear from those
> who have experienced similliar advantages as well as disadvantages.
> I would also like to hear other folks experience with other cleaners.
>
> Thanks for your contribution.
>
> Lou

[Marc]

Lou wrote:
> I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
> dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
> it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
> on my HD.
>
> Anyone any experience with this and other reg cleaners?
>
> Lou.

What good does "cleaning" your registry do?

You're better of going for more specific solutions, e.g. if there's an
entry in add/remove programs that wont remove itself get software that
can specificly do that - rather than let some software loose on your
system settings.

--
Marc
Visit http://www.iMarc.co.uk/ for contact information..

[Hoppy]

Hi Lou ...

I'm surprised by the negative responses you received. Personally, I believe
the registry requires routine cleaning, especially when a system is treated
the way I do; i.e., lots & lots of program installs and uninstalls. You can
read another more credible man's (Fred Langa) opinions here:

"Testing 10 Windows 'Registry Cleaning' Software Packs":
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171203805

"How Do You Know What [Is] Safe To Clean From the Registry?" and
"More Reg Tool Pro/Con" :
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-10-20.htm#2

"Reg Cleaner Follow-Up" :
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-11-03.htm#2

Mr. Langa's tests may be a tad over-simplified, but they provide a very nice
guideline. I use his top two cleaners but disagree with his evaluation of
Registry First Aid -- which takes a heck of a lot longer (because it seems
to go deeper and may not be as "smart").

You always need to be very careful when cleaning the registry. As far as
I'm concerned, you'd be crazy if you didn't image your drives beforehand.

HTH,
Hoppy
~~

[Hoppy]

Oops ... here's another of Fred Langa's articles that you may find of
interest :

"Where does Registry Bloat Come From?" :
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-10-13.htm#1

Note that at the end of the article, Mr. Langa says, "Everyone can benefit
from regular use of a Registry cleaner-- but let me help you avoid the bad
ones so you won't end up in worse shape than when you started!"

--

[Kerry Brown]

Lou wrote:
> I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
> dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
> it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
> on my HD.
>
> Anyone any experience with this and other reg cleaners?
>
> Lou.

Registry cleaners were a necessary evil with 9x version of Windows. The
registry in NT versions of Windows is processed and stored quite
differently. The benefits of using a registry cleaner with NT versions of
Windows are not enough to overcome the possible disastrous consequences. I
have repeatedly challenged the manufacturers of such programs to show me a
third party study that proves their claims of fixing Windows problems and
speeding up Windows. To date I've had one response. They showed me very
outdated material from Microsoft on how NT 4.0 accessed the registry. The
material had nothing in it to prove their claims. They also showed a review
of their program which they obviously hadn't read as the best thing the
reviewer had to say about their program was it did no harm while he was
using it and he didn't recommend it.

I sometimes a registry cleaner program to help find leftover entries from a
Norton Antivirus uninstall. Even using their downlaodable uninstaller
doesn't always get rid of everything :-) I am an expert user with much
experience doing this. I could do it manually but it is quicker to use the
cleaner program. I always use the cleaner in manual mode.

I have seen many customer's machines brought in for repairs after using a
registry cleaner program. In fairness the pc's are usually riddled with
malware so the cleaner was not the root of the problem but it did compound
the problem.

Kerry

[Crystal]

With the advent of spyware and how fast it spreads and infects, registry
cleaning is necessary. Every spyware removal programs, the good ones, in a
sense, is a registry cleaner.

"Lou" <be...@virgin.net> wrote in message

news:90r1o158eium79jj4...@4ax.com...

[Jim Byrd]

Hi Lou - In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are
fraught with danger. I advise against using them except in one specific
instance, that is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg
searches, and you NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of
something that didn't get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have
foresight enough to install it using Total Uninstall,
http://www.martau.com/tu.html or free direct dwnld here:
http://digilander.libero.it/molearchive3/tun235.zip or here:
http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=234, in the
first place.) (As an aside, there are, however, some third party Registry
Editors which can be of great help with both the incorrect uninstall and
with certain malware problems, especially some of theCoolWebSearch types
such as the AppInit_DLLs variant of the about:blank version of CWS, for
example. I can recommend Registrar Lite, here:
http://www.resplendence.com/reglite .)

There are a couple of specific bugs that can cause abnormal growth in either
the System or Software hives; however, they are rare, and unless these hives
in %SystemRoot%\System32\config are very, very large (in the hundreds of
megabytes), then I would council you to leave your Registry alone except for
the special circumstances I mentioned above.

I and most other MVP's that I know believe that Registry modifications of
any type are probably best done manually, very carefully, with a thorough
knowledge of what's installed on your machine, and what you're doing, and
then only when necessary. There's very little (if any!) noticeable benefit
in either space saving or speed achievable by cleaning out the Registry
except in those few cases where there's a specific problem the client is
experiencing (usually uninstall or malware related in my experience) that
needs to be fixed.

Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:

Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ I've set it up to take a
scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis, and a
Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.

This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.

FYI, quoting from the above document:

"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current
registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry keys.

--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/

"Lou" <be...@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:90r1o158eium79jj4...@4ax.com

[Wesley Vogel]

Registry Cleaners are like any other tool, they can be dangerous if the
operator does not know what they are doing.

A chainsaw can be safe if used properly.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:90r1o158eium79jj4...@4ax.com,
Lou <be...@virgin.net> hunted and pecked:

[st.daniel]

I learn by experimentation/disaster. I install/uninstall, tweak, etc.
I have used several Registry cleaners, such as jv16 ("last uncrippled free
version"), jv16 PowerTools 2005, EasyCleaner, and some I can't name now.
I learned from them, to use ERUNT.
I no longer use a registry cleaner. (Kept ERUNT, though.)
Milliseconds or even seconds of speed increase are not worth it to me.

[Bruce Chambers]

Lou wrote:
> I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
> dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
> it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
> on my HD.
>
> Anyone any experience with this and other reg cleaners?
>
> Lou.

What specific problem are you experiencing that you *know* beyond
all reasonable doubt will be fixed by using a registry cleaner? If you
do have a problem that is rooted in the registry, it would be far better
to simply edit (after backing up, of course) only the specific key(s)
and/or value(s) that are causing the problem. Why use a shotgun when a
scalpel will do the job? Additionally, the manually changing of one or
two registry entries is far less likely to have the dire consequences of
allowing an automated product to make multiple changes simultaneously.

The registry contains all of the operating system's "knowledge" of
the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the location of the
device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A misstep in the
registry can have severe consequences. One should not even turning
loose a poorly understood automated "cleaner," unless he is fully
confident that he knows *exactly* what is going to happen as a result of
each and every change. Having seen the results of inexperienced people
using automated registry "cleaners," I can only advise all but the most
experienced computer technicians (and/or hobbyists) to avoid them all.
I will concede that a good registry scanning tool, in the hands of an
experienced and knowledgeable technician or hobbyist can be a useful
time-saving tool, as long as it's not allowed to make any changes
automatically. But I really don't think that there are any registry
cleaners that are truly safe for the general public to use. Experience
has shown me that such tools simply are not safe in the hands of the
inexperienced user.

The only thing needed to safely clean your registry is knowledge
and Regedit.exe. If you lack the knowledge and experience to maintain
your registry by yourself, then you also lack the knowledge and
experience to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner,
no matter how safe they claim to be.

Further, no one has ever demonstrated, to my satisfaction, that the
use of an automated registry cleaner, particularly by an untrained,
inexperienced computer user, does any real good. There's certainly been
no empirical evidence offered to demonstrate that the use of such
products to "clean" WinXP's registry improves a computer's performance
or stability.

I always use Regedit.exe. I trust my own experience and judgment
far more than I would any automated registry cleaner. I strongly
encourage others to acquire the knowledge, as well.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

[Bruce Chambers]

Hoppy wrote:
> Hi Lou ...
>
> I'm surprised by the negative responses you received.

You wouldn't be, if you supported computers for a living.

> Personally, I believe
> the registry requires routine cleaning, especially when a system is treated
> the way I do; i.e., lots & lots of program installs and uninstalls. You can
> read another more credible man's (Fred Langa) opinions here:
>

You need to realize that Mr. Langa is a *journalist*, not a technician.
He doesn't support computers for a living. Instead, he's paid to
"review" products.

[beamish]

Hello, Subject not new, but deserves repeating.
1. Use JV16PowerTools (free version).
2. Use RegSeeker v1.45 (free vesion).
3. Have GoBack3 installed.
4. Have True Image backup on second drive. Updated weekly.
5. Have True Image clone on external drive. Thank You "Anna". Updated weekly.
6. Have erunt, do not use as GoBack3 is easier for me to use.
O.S. WindowsXP Home SP2, all security updates.
Use these utilities for the last 2 years, without known problems.
Install and remove programs weekly, some are small some are in the GB range.
I agree with most of the replies including, Crystal, Hoppy and Jim Byrd's I
found useful. Thank You.
If your unit is not critical in terms of need and you use some kind of
backup, then why not. Learning comes in all shades, positive and negitive.
Take Care.
beamish.

[Kerry Brown]

beamish wrote:
> Hello, Subject not new, but deserves repeating.
> 1. Use JV16PowerTools (free version).
> 2. Use RegSeeker v1.45 (free vesion).
> 3. Have GoBack3 installed.
> 4. Have True Image backup on second drive. Updated weekly.
> 5. Have True Image clone on external drive. Thank You "Anna". Updated
> weekly.
> 6. Have erunt, do not use as GoBack3 is easier for me to use.
> O.S. WindowsXP Home SP2, all security updates.
> Use these utilities for the last 2 years, without known problems.
> Install and remove programs weekly, some are small some are in the GB
> range. I agree with most of the replies including, Crystal, Hoppy and
> Jim Byrd's I found useful. Thank You.
> If your unit is not critical in terms of need and you use some kind of
> backup, then why not. Learning comes in all shades, positive and
> negitive. Take Care.
> beamish.
>

I have seen all of those programs except True Image and Erunt cause problems
that necessitated either a clean install or a full restore of a backup.
GoBack in particular causes major problems if it goes bad.

Kerry

[Uncle Joe]

Keep in mind that reviewers depend on advertising streams to
pay the bills. Especially reviewers in magazines. They are loathe
to say anything negative that would hurt their magazine's ad
revenue stream. They'll say something such as "Performance
needs streamlining" when they really want to say "This is a
serious piece of crap!"

And some reviewers don't bother to test all the products
they review. Some write their reviews based on the
vendor's literature. Would you want to muck up your
test systems with 75 new products a week? Recovery
must be a bear in such test environments.

I'd be much more impressed if five MVPs specializing
in the product's arena were give the test product a "Five
thumbs up!" award.

I license Registry Mechanic but after reading all the
comments in this forum about registry cleaners over
the past 6-8 months, I retired the product and won't
renew it. My system runs nice and clean without
Registry Mechanic. I'm much more a fan of Registry
Mechanic's sister product, Spyware Doctor. It's
terrific.

"Bruce Chambers" <bcha...@cable0ne.n3t> wrote in message news:OnQejlk7...@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

[Edward W. Thompson]

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message
news:OYU$o2l7FH...@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

> beamish wrote:
>> Hello, Subject not new, but deserves repeating.
>> 1. Use JV16PowerTools (free version).
>> 2. Use RegSeeker v1.45 (free vesion).
>> 3. Have GoBack3 installed.
>> 4. Have True Image backup on second drive. Updated weekly.
>> 5. Have True Image clone on external drive. Thank You "Anna". Updated
>> weekly.
>> 6. Have erunt, do not use as GoBack3 is easier for me to use.
>> O.S. WindowsXP Home SP2, all security updates.
>> Use these utilities for the last 2 years, without known problems.
>> Install and remove programs weekly, some are small some are in the GB
>> range. I agree with most of the replies including, Crystal, Hoppy and
>> Jim Byrd's I found useful. Thank You.
>> If your unit is not critical in terms of need and you use some kind of
>> backup, then why not. Learning comes in all shades, positive and
>> negitive. Take Care.
>> beamish.
>>
>
> I have seen all of those programs except True Image and Erunt cause
> problems that necessitated either a clean install or a full restore of a
> backup. GoBack in particular causes major problems if it goes bad.
>
> Kerry

WINXP causes a fair bit of trouble if it goes 'bad' too!

[Kerry Brown]

Good point, but why add to the potential for problems :-)

Kerry

[Kerry Brown]

Uncle Joe wrote:

<snip>

>
> I license Registry Mechanic but after reading all the
> comments in this forum about registry cleaners over
> the past 6-8 months, I retired the product and won't
> renew it. My system runs nice and clean without
> Registry Mechanic. I'm much more a fan of Registry
> Mechanic's sister product, Spyware Doctor. It's
> terrific.
>

I've never used Registry Mechanic but if it has a manual mode it may be
worth keeping. It's when programs are set to automatic that problems happen.
Occasionally after uninstalling programs like some Norton products or some
firewalls, basically anything that really hooks itself deep into the OS, I
run a registry checker to find anything left behind. Also as others have
said they can sometimes find and remove troublesome malware keys. They can
be very powerful tools. They should be used with caution. They should not be
used as a regular maintenance tool.

Kerry

[Uncle Joe]

No, Kerry, Registry Mechanic doesn't offer a
manual mode. The only thing I really like about
it that it offers an option to perform a System
Restore before scanning or compressing the
Registry. That, however, no longer matters
since I quit using the application. I am not
technically competent to perform analyses
on my registry, and only work with the
Registry when I have specific "how-to-do-it"
instructions. I used to delve deeply into the
Macintosh internals but stopped when I
switch to PCs in 1995.

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message news:OKQSafm7...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

[beamish]

Hello, Thank you for the input.
I do not disagree with your statement.

Take Care.
beamish.

[Mike Hall (MS-MVP)]

Joe

If ever I see Registry Mechanic or anything like it on a prospective
customer machine, I always recommend that it is removed..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User

"Uncle Joe" <Uncl...@nowhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:uezvWBn7...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[Jim Byrd]

Joe - Just to follow up on Mike's comment - This is the second question I
ask clients, "Do you have a Registry Cleaner installed and when was the last
time you remember using it?" (The first question I ask is whether they have
ANY non-commercial Symantec/Norton software installed or have recently tried
to remove same.)

--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/

"Mike Hall (MS-MVP)" <mike...@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:OqPbVrq7...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl

> Joe
>
> If ever I see Registry Mechanic or anything like it on a prospective
> customer machine, I always recommend that it is removed..
>
>

[Uncle Joe]

Okay, you guys have convinced me. Since I don't use
Registry Mechanic anymore, I'll remove it tonight.

I don't have any non-commercial Norton products, but
do run the full Norton Internet Security 2005 suite. Have
been giving thought to dumping it favor of Zone Alarm's
suite, but from what I've read in this forum, removing Norton
Internet Security 2005 is not for the faint of heart. Even
if I succeed in removing it, it supposedly leaves tons of
"trash" behind. Rather than to cope with that, I just let it
run. When I switch to Vista in 2007, I'll drop Norton at
that time. (Grin.)

"Jim Byrd" <jrb...@spamlessadelphia.net> wrote in message news:Owm8LVu7...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

[Jim Byrd]

Well Joe, JIC you do decide to 'brave' it, some data/approaches :) :

Norton NIS or Firewall Uninstall - do everything but the reinstall stuff.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nip.nsf/docid/2001090510510636

Take a look here for the AV removal tool:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001092114452606
(Click on the little + signs to read the detailed instructions) For manual
removal, it may also depend on your OS. See at the end of this document for
appropriate links.

You may want to try their removal tool in compatibilty mode before trying
the manual uninstall, above. See here:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2003062408451306?Open&src=bar_sch_nam&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=df0a595864594c86852567ac0063608c&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=

or http://tinyurl.com/yuevl

NAV 2000 - 2002 Removal Tools

How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2000 manually when installed under Windows
NT/2000.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/1999092715593506>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2000 manually when installed under Windows
95/98/ME.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/1999082311591106>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2001 manually when installed under Windows
NT/2000.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2000091010030806>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2001 manually when installed under Windows
95/98/ME.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2000092310202906>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2001PRO manually when installed under
Windows 95/98/ME.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001022711000006>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2001PRO manually when installed under
Windows NT/2000.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001022714402906>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2002 manually when installed under Windows
NT/2000/XP.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001083014161306>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2002 manually when installed under Windows
98/ME. <http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001081507511406>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2002PRO manually when installed under
Windows 98/ME.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002020113223106>
How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2002PRO manually when installed under
Windows NT/2000/XP.
<http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002020114021906>

From: http://www.supportcave.com/Windows-Norton-Removal-Tools.html

Brand NEW Norton Removal Tool
SymNRT http://www.supportcave.com/files/symnrt.exe is a program that can
remove some Norton software from your computer. SymNRT runs on Windows 98,
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SymNRT should be used only if you have tried to uninstall the Norton program
using Windows Add/Remove Programs and that did not work.
SymNRT will remove these--and only these--Norton programs:
· Norton AntiVirus 2004/2005
· Norton AntiVirus Professional 2004
· Norton AntiVirus 3, 5 and 10 User Pack 2004/2005
· Norton SystemWorks 2004/2004 Professional Edition
· Norton SystemWorks 2005/2005 Premier edition
· Norton Password Manager 2004
· Norton Internet Security 2004/2005
· Norton Internet Security 5 and 10 User Pack 2004/2005
· Norton Personal Firewall 2004/2005
· Norton AntiSpam 2004/2005
· Ghost 2003 or Ghost Version 9.0

NAV2004 Removal Tools

Removes Norton Anti virus Any Version
http://www.supportcave.com/files/Rnav.exe
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http://www.supportcave.com/files/NAV2004%20registry%20removal.reg
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http://www.supportcave.com/files/NAV2004%20registry%20removal%209x.reg
Remove Norton Internet Security Any Version
http://www.supportcave.com/files/RnisUPG.exe
Remove Norton Internet Security Any Version Windows XP/2000 only
http://www.supportcave.com/files/NIS2004%20registry%20removal%20xp%20v6.reg
Remove Norton Internet Security Any Version Windows 98/ME only
http://www.supportcave.com/files/NIS%202004%20registry%20removal%2098%20v1.reg
Removes Norton System Works Any Version
http://www.supportcave.com/files/SYMCLN.exe
Removes Norton System Works Any Version Windows XP/2000 only
http://www.supportcave.com/files/nsw2004registryremoval.reg
Removes Norton System Works Any Version 98/ME only
http://www.supportcave.com/files/NSW2004pro%2098.reg

--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/

"Uncle Joe" <Uncl...@nowhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:%23lMf48w...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl

[Uncle Grumpy]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

> Most registry cleaners work OK most of the time, and problems *are* rare.

Make that V E R Y R A R E.

That said, such cleaners are pretty useless given today's hi-speed
computers with all their disk space, all their memory, etc.

Only the most anal of users continue to use them (and I are one <g>)

[Uncle Joe]

Jim

Thanks for all the fantastic links. I got brain freeze from
examining all the potential steps and pitfalls involved. Wish I
had visited this newsgroup and read its many Norton comments
before installing Norton Internet Suite 2005. Oh well, live
and learn, right?

Uncle Joe

"Jim Byrd" <jrb...@spamlessadelphia.net> wrote in message news:ekEGXEx7...@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

[Jim Byrd]

YW, Joe.

--
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP/DTS/AH-VSOP
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, here:
http://DefendingYourMachine.blogspot.com/

"Uncle Joe" <Uncl...@nowhere.invalid> wrote in message

news:udSR5ey7...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl

[Steve N.]

Lou wrote:

> I hear all sorts of horrendous stories about the actions and potential
> dangers of registry cleaners. I use Registry Mechanic and have found
> it to be effective and reliable. I am told that it could create mayhem
> on my HD.
>
> Anyone any experience with this and other reg cleaners?
>
> Lou.

I use regcleaners to locate and eliminate malware entries that are
designed to hide themselves from other methods (RegCleaner often finds
entries that HijackThis can't, for example), I also use them to help
clear out leftover crap from software un-installations prior to
re-installing the software in question if said software re-installation
has proven problematic without doing so, but then I know what I'm doing.
Sure, I could use regedot and manually find such entries, but some 3rd
party registry tools are a lot faster at locating and categorizing
software entries.

As with all powerfull system utilities, if you don't know what you're
doing then leave well enough alone, if you've got a real problem with a
system and don't know how to deal with it then seek qualified
assistance. IF you're confident that you know what you're doing, go for
it. I do NOT recommend using automatic registry cleaners for novices,
unless of course for the sake of learning, they are prepared to possibly
re-install and have verified backups.

Steve N.