RGdot

Tag: registry

  • Better PC With Cleaner++

    Better PC With Cleaner++

    Cleaner++

    Cleaner++ is a  freeware registry cleaner. Cleaning the complex and prone to bloat Windows computer has been the source of countless critical opinion. Numerous start up entries and registry keys and values are two of the more notorious sources of frustration. Keeping a pc as clean as possible by using tools like Cleaner++ and checking entries in msconfig will go a long way in making a computer faster. Ultimately the best solution is to use portable software that do not use the registry and often do not use other system folders either.

    Cleaner++’s interface has two sections, one is the Registry Cleaner and the other Program Uninstaller.

    The Registry Cleaner identifies orphan registry values or keys that may have left behind after a program has been uninstalled. After making sure that the entries do make sense, for example they don’t belong to an installed program, all or any number of the items can be chosen and removed or cleaned. The same window has a separate setting for cleaning the system’s most recently used (MRU) entries and other logs and unused paths. The second tab is called Unused Programs and identifies programs that may have been uninstalled in the past but may have left behind traces of themselves. This is not really any different than the first tab and it needs a careful look to make sure needed entries are not deleted by mistake. For example in the case of the test pc ‘Malwarebytes Anti-Malware’ was listed but was not uninstalled. A third tab, the Custom Registry Cleaner, lets the user delete keys and values by entering them manually, a sort of alternative to Windows’ own regedit.

    The program’s second tab presents a complete list of all installed programs, including all Windows updates. The list is as complete as it can be with size, publisher, version, install location, registry key name,  program url and install date listed. There is even an option to update the program, this is only available for some programs and of course it is only available if Cleaner++ can find the a url or shortcut to it. An html list can be generated and the Change Uninstall Location option can help find the program’s uninstaller if it is not found after clicking the Uninstall button.

    Cleaner++ should work on all Windows system and does not need to be installed. Note that the program author’s web site has never been any more than a download link and a screenshot.

  • What Is In Your Startup?

    What Is In Your Startup?

    One of the important ways to keep a system running well is to be aware of the programs that are run or launched when a system is started. The small yet highly useful Startup Control Panel was featured on RGdot earlier this year but another software from the excellent Nirsoft collection deserves a mention as well.

    WhatInStartup is described by its author as

    This utility displays the list of all applications that are loaded automatically when Windows starts up


    WhatInStartup
         This 47KB zipped download displays the name of the item that is started. The kind, that is if it is a registry item or a file in the startup folder of the system. And also the version, company name and perhaps most useful the location and the command line used to launched the item.
    Two additional features that set apart WhatInStartup is the ability to run the program from another drive and to permanently disable items. The former feature is helpful because WhatInStartup can be used when a Windows system or partition is not working and therefore one can load WhatInStartup from another instance of Windows to check on startup items on the non-working system. The latter feature makes sure that when a user disables a startup item it can not add itself back to the startup list later. This can potentially be extremely useful when a piece of malware insists on reappearing even when deleted. It is also worth noting that the permanent disable feature can be disabled within the program if the user so chooses and as usual with programs from Nirsoft the program comes a with a collection of command line parameters that control many of the behaviours of its programs and in this case includes working with the permanent disable feature.

    WhatInStartup works on any system running Windows 2000 and up, including Windows 7.

  • Know Your System Better With Startup Control Panel

    One of the ways to see which process(es) and program(s) are taking over your system is to look at which starts along with your computer. Windows Start menu has a Startup shortcut that shows the often legitimate programs that start for the current or all users.

    Startup Control Panel and StartupMonitor by Mike Lin add to the arsenal of useful and simple tools that give computer users a better picture of their system. They provide powerful yet lightweight means of viewing, controlling and detecting possible resource hogs and even security threats.

    StartupMonitor at a 60KB download runs in the background and is only seen when a program wants to add an entry to the system’s startup. Sometimes such an entry may be necessary, may be a program such as a calendar has to be visible or running all the time, in which case the change or addition can be accepted with one click. At other times the program may be suspicious or not wanted, when for example a program wants to call home to retrieve updates automatically, and here a simple No click will do the job. StartupMonitor will add an entry to the Windows Start menu to stop it running, if needed.

    Startup Control Panel at a 34KB executable (to be installed) or a 59KB zip file (run straight after unzipping) download on the other hand has an interface.  It is divided into tabs that let the user view virtually all entries in the system’s startup. The tabs are Startup User which shows the items for the current user, Startup Common which shows the ones for all users, Run Once which are those that can occur when a program or report is installed or generated and needs to run at the next system startup only, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for the registry entries affecting all users when programs add a startup entry to the Windows registry and HKEY_CURRENT_USER for the registry entries affecting the current user.

    Each entry can be viewed in the control panel and unchecked to not run or simply be deleted to not be seen and be sent to the program’s Deleted tab. Much like looking at the aforementioned Startup shortcut provided by Windows some of the tasks acheivable by the StartupControl Panel tools can be done when accessing Microssoft’s own MSConfig but Startup Control Panel offers a more complete picture of what is happening. One additional feature is that it is possible to send an entry to other tabs via one right click. Sending to different tabs simply means, for example, that a process can be sent form Startup User to Startup Common and therefore allowing it to run for all users.

    Startup Control Panel and StartupMonitor are two extremely worthy free downloads from Mike Lin.