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Registry & Defrag utilities

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Skii

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Jun 17, 2006, 10:43:28 AM6/17/06
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Where can I get registry cleaner and defrag tools?

Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]

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Jun 17, 2006, 2:22:59 PM6/17/06
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afaik, there are no "registry cleaners" for the ppc. you can always
start clean with a hard reset

it is not necessary to "defrag" solid state memory

hth,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

Tony A.

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Jun 17, 2006, 3:08:46 PM6/17/06
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Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev] wrote:
> afaik, there are no "registry cleaners" for the ppc. you can always
> start clean with a hard reset
>
> it is not necessary to "defrag" solid state memory

Although he could potentially have a microdrive, which being a normal
hard drive would possibly benefit from defragging. No idea of PPC
defragging tools though, never looked into it myself. I'd use a card
reader and defragg it on the desktop personally.


Barnabas Collins

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Jun 17, 2006, 5:49:35 PM6/17/06
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On 17 Jun 2006 07:43:28 -0700, "Skii" <skiin...@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>Where can I get registry cleaner and defrag tools?

I don't know of any registry cleaners for the ppc. I'd do a
hard reset AFTER A FULL BACKUP then do a clean install of
the software you intend to keep.

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mwesth@pda

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Jun 17, 2006, 7:46:48 PM6/17/06
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At 17 Jun 2006 17:49:35 -0400 Barnabas Collins wrote:
> On 17 Jun 2006 07:43:28 -0700, "Skii" <skiin...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> >Where can I get registry cleaner and defrag tools?
> I don't know of any registry cleaners for the ppc.

SKTools has some registry cleaning tools..

Morten

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 18, 2006, 3:43:20 AM6/18/06
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There're several registry cleaner utilities; for example, SKTools, MemMaid.
Of the two, I'd go with the former. Make a generic search for "SKTools" in
my blog for more info.

Also, there're several ways of defragmenting Flash ROM-based meomory, let it
be a memory card or a built-in File Store. Please see the article at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=521&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
for more info.

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


"Skii" <skiin...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
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Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 18, 2006, 4:08:32 AM6/18/06
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Even flash ROM's benefit a LOT from defragging.

I know it's hard to believe at first - neither did I believe this before
I've done some really extensive, quantitive benchmarks.

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


"Tony A." <tony72atgmail.remove.spam.com> wrote in message
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Tony A.

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Jun 18, 2006, 6:05:14 AM6/18/06
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Interesting, any chance you could post a link, or is it something you
haven't published? I searched your blog, and found a link to a thread
that's supposed to contain quantitative results on this, but while it
does link to an exhaustive set of tests comparing different format
parameters on several brands of card, I can't see any tests comparing
before/after defragging, unless I'm being blind.

http://pocketpcmag.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17921 is the thread.


Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]
wrote:

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 18, 2006, 6:40:44 AM6/18/06
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http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=521&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


"Tony A." <tony72atgmail.remove.spam.com> wrote in message

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Tony A.

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Jun 18, 2006, 8:13:10 AM6/18/06
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Well, I already saw that one, in fact that one links to the article
that links to the forum thread that I mentioned above. And as with
that, there is a comparison of effects of different format parameters,
but there is no formal comparison that I can see of fragmented vs
defragmented performance.

Anyway not other than one sentence mentioning offhand a 30x speed
increase in the LOOXstore write speed of your Loox 720, but no details
or methodology - personally I think there has to be something else
going on than fragmentation to see a 30x difference.

Maybe I will knock something up to intentionally fragment a storage
card, so I can do some repeatable tests, now that you've got me
curious.


Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]
wrote:
>

http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=521&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
>
> --

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 18, 2006, 8:53:42 AM6/18/06
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If you have a storage card you haven't formatted for a while but always copy
files to/delete files from, try copying a large file to it (and reading
back). Then, do the same after formatting. There will be sometimes huge
differences.

--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.

"Tony A." <tony72atgmail.remove.spam.com> wrote in message

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Tony A.

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Jun 18, 2006, 10:36:27 AM6/18/06
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Well, it was the "really extensive, quantitive benchmarks" you said
you had done to prove that that I was looking for, rather than an
empirical observation ;).

Never mind, like I say, I shall try and knock together a repeatable
test setup myself.

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]
wrote:

> If you have a storage card you haven't formatted for a while but
> always copy files to/delete files from, try copying a large file to
> it (and reading back). Then, do the same after formatting. There
will
> be sometimes huge differences.
>
>

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 18, 2006, 10:59:08 AM6/18/06
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I've made a lot of tests, but still hadn't had the time to document them.
I'll do this really soon.


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.

"Tony A." <tony72atgmail.remove.spam.com> wrote in message

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Daboo

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Jun 18, 2006, 4:39:22 PM6/18/06
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Anton Tomov has Pocket Mechanic Pro almost ready to release. There are
Registry cleaning tools there as well as a very fast defrag tool. (One
thing that has always been nice about his programs is that once you buy
it, you are entitled to free upgrades forever.)

Personally, I like keeping in touch with what is installed on my PDA
well enough that I can go into the Registry and clean out the left over
entries manually. Plus I also keep backups of the PDA at specific
points where I know things were stable and only what I wanted are
installed. If I screw up, I can always go back to one of those backups
and get things running again.

Good luck,
Chris

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 19, 2006, 2:10:02 AM6/19/06
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Please note that Pocket PC-based defrag / checkdisk tools are better to be
avoided. The same can be done on the desktop, much easier, much faster and
much more safely.

Also see http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39583 for
some horror stories.

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


"Daboo" <Dab...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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Daboo

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Jun 19, 2006, 11:28:51 AM6/19/06
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I agree with you. I don't know the particular circumstances, but I am
reluctant to use any tools such as these for editing the registry or
working with a storage card till I (a) have a known good backup and (b)
have tried them enough to depend on them. However, sometimes you are
desparate and your choices are limited.

On the PC side, I've used Symantec's Norton Disk Doctor and found it
trashed my hard drive, and always felt CHKDSK would've worked better.

I think Anton's new product may be worth looking at. He's bypassing
"the file system drivers of Windows CE and access(ing) the files
directly through our own FATFS layer..." From what I've seen in beta
testing, it works.

Chris

Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]
wrote:

xTenn

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Jun 19, 2006, 11:47:08 AM6/19/06
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"Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]"
<!ei.maileja@kiitos!> wrote in message
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> If you have a storage card you haven't formatted for a while but always
> copy files to/delete files from, try copying a large file to it (and
> reading back). Then, do the same after formatting. There will be sometimes
> huge differences.
>

Well, that is not defragging as much as it is just allowing the card extra
room to write a large file first. This will always be the case for smart
storage devices, which are trying to "spread out" writes across its media in
order to make that 10,000 write cycle last longer. Technically it is not
as much defragging as it is allowing the card to optimize itself, since by
default the card will not be writing to consecutive clusters of memory.

I think we may have had this discussion before, so forgive me if I am
beating a deceased equine. :)


Tony A.

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Jun 19, 2006, 5:43:58 PM6/19/06
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As it goes, I've just now finished my own tests on this, because
frankly I thought Werner must have been exaggerating the effect (sorry
Werner, I'm just naturally sceptical), but my results seem conclusive,
I'm certainly now convinced that fragmentation does indeed have a
major impact on flash performance, at least with the card and PDA I
tested with. So, I guess Werner busts another myth ;).

I missed out on any earlier conversations on the topic, so no idea of
the mechanism behind the performance loss, since obviously it's not
down to seek time a la hard drives. Maybe something like the wear
levelling comes into it, but at the end of the day fixing the
fragmentation also fixes the performance, from the users POV, so I
guess the mechanism is academic.


Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 20, 2006, 4:20:42 AM6/20/06
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I've forgotten to add that only do this in the remaining disk space of a few
Megabytes so that it is reused. First, fill up the entire card with stuff
that, later, you don't touch.

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


"xTenn" <xTennRemo...@tds.net> wrote in message
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Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen [MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices]

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Jun 20, 2006, 4:33:30 AM6/20/06
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:)

Yup, I've busted a lot of other myths too - for example, the myth about
enabled IrDA ports resulting in much higher power consumption.

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


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