TechBite by Steve Bass: Newsletter #6

When I began researching the article, I started by making a mess of my Registry. Then I tested ten Registry cleaners to see if any would straighten it up by removing empty entries, unused file extensions, and other obscure junk. I was looking for a performance boost, but the speed difference was inconsequential. Even for an obsessive compulsive, keep-my-PC-neat-and-clean guy, using a Registry cleaner wasn't worth the effort.

I suspect that when PCs were slow and 5400-rpm Micropolis hard drives were all the rage (you probably still have an old MFM drive in the closet), a spiffy Registry might have given you a speedier system. But now? I think your SATA drive drags more from those humongous adult videos you're trying to watch.

Registry Cleaners vs. a Reinstall

The one situation where I think a Registry cleaner might help is if you're having problems you can definitely link back to the Registry.

The problem is you'd have to be a crackerjack diagnostician -- like my tech editors Rod and Carey -- to be able to attribute the problem to the Registry.

Here's an example: Let's say you're getting a "missing DLL" error when trying to run an application. The DLL could actually have vanished from your system; or it could be that a pointer to the DLL was damaged in the Registry. You could spend a couple of hours futzing with Registry cleaners. But I'd suggest you do what I did when Acronis handed me a similar message. I started to reinstall Acronis and when the installation dialog appeared, I chose the Repair option. That worked, and it works for many mainstream programs that stop working correctly, such as Microsoft's Office suite.

If I had my way (vote for me in 2012!), I'd force every software developer to include a repair feature in their installation routine. When Repair isn't available, and your program isn't working correctly, it's still easier to uninstall and reinstall an application, and leave the Registry alone.

CCleaner's Registry Cleaner

Hey, what'd I just say about Registry cleaners? Yeah, I realize that some of you still want to try one, so give the one in CCleaner a go. Even though CCleaner rarely deletes anything critical from the Registry, promise you'll always, always answer Yes to CCleaner's backup option when you let it make changes to the Registry. That way if CCleaner does do something dumb, all you'll need to do is click the backup (it's a REG file). All the changes CCleaner made will be reversed.

CCleaner Follow-up

I made a dumb mistake. In last week's newsletter, I told you how to install CCleaner but I failed to mention unchecking the Yahoo Toolbar installation check box. (Thanks to Ken Kennedy, of London, Ontario who spotted it.) Dopey, I know, and I don't know how I missed it. I also got an e-mail from George Siegel, my network administrator friend. "If you choose CCleaner's slim version, you'll find it's a smaller, faster download and it won't try to install some dumbass toolbar during installation."

All is not lost, though. If the Yahoo Toolbar is on your system, it gives me a chance to talk about how to use Revo Uninstaller to remove it.

Revo is a far better uninstaller than the Add/Remove Programs applet built into Windows. It's a no-sweat tool to remove programs, and gives you useful information about each of the programs you've installed, For instance, you can see when you installed a program, the product's company name, its location on your drive, and if you need it, a quick, automatic Google lookup on the program's name.

Revo goes an extra couple of steps and digs deep into the Registry removing junk that Windows Add/Remove leaves behind. That's valuable because it rids your PC of backup and empty files and folders; it also removes Registry entries that are no longer needed. (It sure sounds like I'm contradicting myself about Registry entries. The difference is Revo removes them automatically, so sure, let it do its job. That's different from spending time doing it yourself with a Registry cleaner.)

BTW, the first time I used Revo, I was concerned when I saw the display of Registry entries it planned to remove. But I stopped worrying after I reviewed the dialog's instructions and saw that Revo was removing just the leftover entries. And Revo sets a System Restore Point before it does its work.

The End of AOL Footer Ads

Do you want to remove the annoying advertising footer AOL sticks at the bottom of e-mails? (You don't see them, but the person you send a message to does.) If you're a paid AOL user, log on to AOL WebMail, choose Settings (it's on the right side of the screen), then Compose, and click "Turn on/off message footer." A quicker way is to log onto AOL and click AOL Message Footer settings to get to the settings page.

Michael McGown asks: "Do you have trouble plugging in USB devices? I'm getting older and my sight is fading -- why can't they have a colored dot on the 'up' side of both the male and female parts?"

I have a trick: The easiest way to get it right the first time is to start to plug the USB cable into the port, pause, and turn it 180 degrees.You know darn well it's always the wrong way the first time around. Nonetheless, I like Michael's idea for the USB cables I'm constantly removing and reinserting.

Time Wasters

Have something important to do? Don't bother -- I have a ton of critical things for you...

Hey, Whatcha Doing?

I know. You're wrapping up my newsletter in a gift box and hand delivering it to your Starbucks barista. Who knows, she might even trade you for a super-vente double-latte. If you don't drink coffee, try hitting your e-mail program's Forward button and send my newsletter to all your cousins and maybe a niece or two. 

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He's rummaging around for more dopey cat videos; despite that, Steve Bass continues to check e-mail. Send him your feedback.