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 Welcome - Aug. 2
 Death of XP - Aug. 9
 Best Anti-Virus - Aug. 30
 Virtual Memory - Sept. 10
 Living in the Cloud - Sept. 24
 Using Regedit - Oct. 12
 

Using Regedit To Cure Your Woes

First, a disclaimer.

There are few things you can do to your computer which can truly wreck it beyond salvation by a computer professional.

“Regedit” happens to be one of those things.

Be extraordinarily cautious using it, and live by the adage “When in doubt, DON’T throw it out.”

That said, Regedit, which is computer-ese for “Registry Editor,” has become an important tool when trying to clean up your computer.

Back in the good old days, whenever your computer automatically loaded a program upon start-up, the command could be found in the “Startup” folder under “Programs.”

However, the sneaky weasels who wanted their software to start every time you turn on your computer (even the useless and rarely-accessed software, like Adobe Reader or Quick-Time) decided that they needed to hide the startups in a place where the average user couldn’t get to them without completely uninstalling the program.

That place is the Registry.

Then, as if that wasn’t spurious enough, with the advent of multiple user logons, the Windows designers created a second Registry location in which to hide the automatic startups.

Below are the steps to get to those places.

First, to get to Regedit, click “Start” then “Run” then type “regedit” and click “OK”.

This will bring up a confusing and cryptic tree featuring several entries of “HKEY.”

For this exercise, ignore all of them except the second and third entries.

Click on the “+” next to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER”.

This opens up a long list of entries.

Next, click the “+” next to “Software,” then the “+” next to “Microsoft,” then the “+” next to “Windows,” then the “+” next to “Current Version,” and finally click on the “Run” folder.

Now, stop and take a breath, maybe get a drink of water and try to recover from that tedious and exhausting exercise.

Once the “Run” folder is open, put on your Sherlock Holmes hat.

Your job is to try and find the entries that don’t belong.

Keep a particularly sharp eye out for things like MSN Messenger (if you don’t use it), Google and Yahoo toolbars (again, if you don’t use them), and anything that uses folders and names that relate to the programs you want to kill.

Again, please heed this warning:

If you aren’t sure what something is, DON’T kill it. 

Once it’s gone, especially if you didn’t bother to write down the exact command line, it is a true bear to try and figure out how to put it back in.

After you find something you DO recognize as unwelcome in the right window, simply click on it and hit your “Delete” key.

That fast, it’s gone.

When you’re finished with your first safari, scroll up to the top of the left window and click the “-“ next to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” to minimize it.

Stop, take another deep breath, perhaps get another sip of water, then get ready for part two.

Basically, you do all of the steps over again, except this time you begin with “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”.

Again, click the “+” next to “Software,” then the “+” next to “Microsoft,” then the “+” next to “Windows,” then the “+” next to “Current Version,” and then click on the “Run” folder.

Like before, go through the list of entries in the right window, searching for the offending software startups.

This list should be longer than the other, since it applies to all users.

When you are finished clicking on and deleting the entries, simply click the “X” in the upper right corner and you’re done.

It automatically saves.

To try out the changes, simply reboot your computer by clicking “Start” then “Turnoff Computer” then “Restart.”

(To be honest, if you don’t already know how to reboot your computer, it’s a sign that you DEFINITELY shouldn’t be mucking around in the registry.)

When the system restarts, watch what comes up.

The result should be a faster start, without waiting for annoying TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs to load then hide.

To double check what else might be available for removal, click on the “<” symbol at the bottom right of your screen, and graze your mouse pointer over the various icons located there.

Little yellow flags should come up which explain what the items are.

If you recognize them, and know you don’t need them, go back into Regedit, hunt them down, and kill them.

Again, this is an advanced technique, but extremely valuable in the battle against resource theft by parasitical programs and “boot lag” caused by too many hungry startup programs.

Have a question? Running into a computer problem?  Have a particular topic you would like to see discussed?  Simply e-mail “The Computer Dude” at help@compuhelpus.com and your answer will appear in an upcoming column.  "The Computer Dude" is a weekly help column published every Thursday at www.MesquiteCitizen.com.  It is provided by Computer Help, a computer firm in Mesquite which offers computer tutoring, training, troubleshooting, and repair for individuals, retirees, and small businesses. If you need help with your computer, call Computer Help at 346-6357.