Redundant entries in win98 reg.

[Anonymous]

As I was making some changes in my Win 98 registry (with Regedit) just now,
I discovered that a lot many entries in the registry were named after the
software I had installed and uninstalled several months age. For example, I
had uninstalled Paint Shop Pro 3-4 months ago, but there still exists a
folder in the registry called JASC(PSP's company) and within it several
dozen other folders.

Obviously, the uninstall programs of the respective apps. and Windows are
not doing their job of removing these long redundant entries in the
registry. At this rate the registry will keep on growing without limit.

I have already tried MS's Registry cleaner. It does not seem to be removing
the entries either.

Can someone please suggest a solution? Is it safe to just delete these
folders (of redundant entries) from within Regedit?

Thanks Beforehand,
N. P.

Ps. Iv tried cleaning the registry of these keys with uninstallers also. They seem to clean out more than the MS product but still not good enough. eg. PSPs keys survived this too.

[jstolz]

Ahhh, ain't life grand? The problem with the cpl Add/Remove program applet is that it was written by the developer, so if they write sloppy code (or in the case of JASC) don't WANT to uninstall the info that shows you've been running their application without registering it, you're outta luck.

My experience is that it's completely safe to delete these entries under HKCU or HKLM software. Probably the best thing to do is a search for keywords--try the path to the app--to get 'em all. JASC for example, makes a raft of associations under HKCR which do not get cleaned up. More troublesome are orphaned system files like .dlls that were installed by the app but then not removed. Without an uninstaller like CleanSweep or equal, I'd suggest leaving any windows or windows\system files alone.

Happy housecleaning, and regards...

[Anonymous]

My findings ditto jstoltz. But now consider this

I had installed many programs on my system before I got to install
uninstallers. Now the question is do I uninstall using Windows 98 Add/Rem
window or using the uninstall feature of the uninstallers? Will the
uninstalers take care of all the things to be removed, which will be taken
care of by the uninstall programs of the apps themselves (through Add/rem)?

What about the programs which I can now log while installing (with
uninstalers). Is it a better idea to use the uninstaller instead? Or will it
be better to uninstall with Add/rem first and then check if anything is
remaining with the uninstallers? How do these uninstallers work? I mean do
they also consider the program's own uninstallation program, so their own
uninstallation data is a superset of the program's (which is to be removed)
uninstall data?

COMPARISION-
I have Norton Uninstall ver. 2 and Quarterdeck Cleansweep 4.02 installed. I
tested both with one program, to see if their uninstall protocol matched
exactly. The Norton product leaves behind the win.ini entry. The Quarterdeck
product offers it for removal. Other entries seemed the same. (This is the
result of just one comparision and not my absolute opinion of these
products)

What prevents programs like MS Reg cleaner and uninstallers from cleanining out entries left behind by unprofessional products like JASC software?

And what about these 'raft of associations' under HKCR? Are they safe to delete if one knows that the prg. to wich an association was associated has been uninstalled.


Thanks very much for all advice and findings, in advance.

[jstolz]

I've wrestled with exactly the same problem. Here's my unprofessional opinion:

I'd use a 3rd party uninstaller -- my experience is that they'll remove the entry from cpl's Add/Remove. However, I'd be sure to first run the uninstaller to list all orphaned files. Is the reason that Norton didn't see the win.ini entry because you didn't (I'm assuming) install the s/w thru the Norton Uninstaller?

As far as why RegClean and others can't unassociate those files left by JASC-type installers, that's a mystery to me. I'd go ahead and remove them--after all, how are you going to run them?--but I'd maybe reassociate some of them. E.G.: a .psp file is JASC proprietary format and may not be readable by other graphics viewer/editors; however a .bmp file could be reassociated with MSPaint.

Hope that helps. Regards...

[Anonymous]

RegClean "s..ks". It removes and rewrites many
of the modifications we make. It doesn't have
the capability to monitor and thus correct
oem software. Clean Sweep's Registry Sweep
is terrific. Use after uninstall. Get v.4.1
or better

[Paul Dyer]

I don't think you can call JASC unprofessional. There must be a zillion people out there using unregistered (and unpaid) copies of Paintshop Pro, and JASC are only trying to protect their major income source.
Having said that, you've got more chance of beating them with a 3rd party uninstaller. I use Cleansweep, and think it's the best around, but I've heard lots of good things about a shareware product called (I think) EasyClean.
Regarding RegClean. I've heard that if your running Netscape, RegClean can do really bad things to it (I think to your bookmarks, but I'm not entirely sure). Again, Cleansweep's registry clean is probably better

[Anonymous]

The EasyCleaner Paul mentioned is looking on brooken links only, however works very well (made by 15 year old)

http://www.saunalahti.fi/tonihele/

Here is the latest concerning residuals from installs, just tested it, not perfect, but a big help (made by 17year old)

http://www.saunalahti.fi/jv16/download.html

Remark:Leisure facilities for the young must be a bit poor in finland, good for us.

I personally go, when in doubt with my registry, this way:
- reglean 4.1a
- from dos scanreg /fix
- from dos scanreg /opt
- again regclean 4.1a
- Easycleaner1.5
- and now after deinstalls Regcleaner1.5
The repetitive use of regclean4.1a brought me allways additional scrap, however it's not worth to run the optimization again.

[Anonymous]

if you don't have data that is irreplacible...formatting your computer is probably the best way..if you do have important data..you may plan to partition your drive and have your important data on a different drive from your o/s...reserve atleast 500mb for your o/s and leave the rest to other data...

[Anonymous]

That was a joke, wasn't it!! None of those uninstallers or other methods COMPLETELY remove those type of reg entries. Get a copy of Incontrol3(PC Mag utility), capture the registry entries, them delete them manually after you uninstall the program with its uninstaller.