Refresh PC is a free program for Windows that adds a similar restoration option to current Microsoft operating systems. The freeware is not restoring the whole system like Windows 8′s feature, but only select parts of it.

Refresh PC offers to restore all Registry settings and system services to their default state. Say you have used Windows tweakers or manual editing of the Registry. Later you found out that the settings caused problems that you cannot seem to fix anymore. Another example would be a virus attack or other malicious code that changed system settings. And while you managed to clean the malware from your system, you do not know which Registry settings you need to change to restore the system to its previous state.

That’s where RefreshPc offers to help as it can reset those settings when you run it.

You need to install the program after you have downloaded it. The program recommends to create a System Restore point when you run it which you should create unless you are using other means of backup. Just make sure you have a backup in reach in case you need to restore your system.

The program detects your operating system and version on startup, and displays the information in the program interface.

The interface itself has only one button that will restore the settings to their factory defaults when activated.

RefreshPC restores the Registry settings and system services, and cleans the temp folders and prefetch files at the same time. There is no option to select only some of the options. When you press the button, all actions are carried out.

Refreshing the system services will restore the services to their initial values. The Registry refresh requires some explanation. The program will only reset Registry settings that ship with Windows. It will not reset keys that have been added by third party installations.

RefreshPC can be a handy tool if other means of restoration like using system restore or backups have not been successful. The program can only be used if it is possible to boot into the Windows installation, which limits its reach somewhat. An option to only select some of the refresh options in the interface would be handy as well.

The application is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system, from Windows XP to Windows 7. It can be downloaded from the developer website.

There are also other options to backup the Windows Registry, including the system tool rstrui.exe that ships with Windows.

Regbak is a third party software program to backup the Registry. It comes with a few extras that may make it more interesting for some users, but all the basics are covered as well.

To simply backup the local Registry, you start the portable software, select a directory to store the backup or use the directory the software was started from and click Next to start the backup. That’s it.

Advanced users can select the Registry hives that should be included in the backup. By default the system and current user hives get backed up. There is another option to include other available hives if they exist.

Advanced options are available that detail how older backups are handled during backups. It is possible to delete older backups based on age or amount, or to overwrite existing backups automatically if they exist in the selected backup folder.

Regbak offers options to restore a Registry backup. This is done by clicking on Backups in the interface, then Search to find the backups and restore after selecting a backup to restore it to the system.

The Registry backup tool can be used from the command line in addition to the 32-bit and 64-bit graphical user interface versions.

regbak "\\" /reg:suo /silent /overwrite /limitdays:d /limitcount:c

• /reg:suo s=system hives u=user hives, o=all other hives
• /silent silent operation
• /overwrite overwrites previous backup files in the 'backup to' location
• /limitdays:d d = number of days of backups to keep, older backups will be deleted
• /limitcount:c keeps last 'c' number of backups
• translates to the system date when creating backup
• translates to the system time when creating backup

Assuming "c:\windows\backup" is the backup location, some valid usages are:
regbak "c:\windows\backup" /reg:suo /silent
regbak "c:\windows\backup\\" /reg:suo /silent


Regbak is available for download at the developer website. It is compatible with most 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Optimizing the Windows Registry, which often is referred to as defragmenting it, is an option to reduce the size of the system file to speed up the boot process of the system.

Registry Life is a free software program for Windows that can not only optimize the Registry, but also clean it.

Cleaning the Registry involves removing invalid entries and other problems from the it, to avoid problems, and remove Registry keys that are not longer needed. This can again reduce the final size of an optimized Registry.

Registry life scans the Windows Registry on startup and displays a number of problems as a result of the scan. This first check is a fast check to see whether problems exist in the Registry. A click on Run Registry cleanup or Registry Cleanup in the sidebar opens the Automatic Registry Cleanup module to perform a thorough scan and cleanup of the Registry.

The program scans various groups in the Registry, including file type associations, shared libraries, MUI cache, registered applications or control parameter sets. A click on Fix creates a backup of the corrected Registry entries and removes or correct the Registry settings from the system.

Registry optimization defragments and compresses the Windows Registry. The program will analyze the Registry which can take a moment, and start the defragmentation and compression afterwards.

The program reduced the size of the Registry on our Windows 7 Professional 64-bit system from 75 Megabytes to 65 Megabytes, which has a visible impact on the system’s startup time. A restart of the system is required after the procedure.

Windows users can download Registry 4 Life from the developer’s website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

There is however no direct option to uninstall or remove an icon from My Computer. The only option that those users have is to edit the Windows Registry to remove the icons from there. This is thankfully not difficulty at all.

They need to start the Registry editor by pressing Win-R, typing regedit and hitting the enter key. They then need to navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace

The key lists several cryptic folders which define the icons that are displayed in My Computer in Windows Explorer. A click on a key will display the default value of the key with the name shown in the Data field.

This can be used to identify the icons and remove those that the user does not want to display in Windows Explorer. Keys are removed by selecting them with the mouse and pressing the Del key on the computer keyboard. The changes are immediately visible in Windows Explorer.

The command line tool reg.exe can be used to manage the Registry from the command line. It not only provides access to delete or add but also other options like exporting or importing keys.

Entering reg /? into the command line will display all possible options that are available.

Delete a Registry key from the command line

The reg delete command can be used on local and remote machines. The basic command looks like the following

reg delete keyname valuename parameters

To delete a key with all its values and subkeys a user would have to issue the following command

reg delete HKLM\Software\Test

That’s the most basic form of deleting a Registry key from the command line. This will delete the key Test with all its subkeys and values.

reg delete \\RemoteSystem\HKLM\Software\Test /v Testvalue

This example deletes the Registry value Testvalue under Test on the remote machine RemoteSystem.

Add a Registry key from the command line

The add parameter uses a similar order. The basic command

reg add HKLM\Software\Test

adds the key Test to HKLM\Software\

Important here are the \t and \d parameters which define the Regkey data type and the value that is assigned.

reg add HKLM\Software\Test /v Testdata /t REG_BINARY \d ffffff

Adds the value Testdata to the key Test that is of type reg_binary and contains the data ffffff.

Using the /? parameter will explain every command in great detail. This concludes the little tutorial on how to delete and add Registry keys from the command line.

The Registry cleaner displays a list of sections that it can scan in a left sidebar. Among those sections are program locations, shared dlls, help files, history lists, application information, startup entries or system drivers. It is possible to block sections by removing their checkmark in the sidebar.

The free Registry Cleaner will then scan the selected sections in the Windows Registry and display obsolete entries in its interface and in a log file that is automatically opened in the default text editor.

The problems that have been found during the scan can be fixed with a click on the fix problems button. It is furthermore possible to deselect some entries so that they are not fixed by the program.

The options provide settings to add Registry keys to an ignore list so that they will not be scanned. They also offer settings to change the Registry backup locations, configure the program to automatically repair Registry items and configure various other preferences.

It is a good idea to run a Registry defragmenter like Quicksys Defragmenter afterwards to reduce the size of the Windows Registry. The program is also freely available and will decrease the computer’s boot time by reducing the size of the Windows Registry (the more the better).

Little Registry Cleaner can be downloaded from Sourceforge. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5.

Registry hives can be loaded into the software program by clicking on File > Open Registry Files.

A click on File > Create Report or pressing CTRL R will create the report of the selected Registry hive. The report will display various information about the hive which can be summed up as various system settings. Depending on the hives that are loaded in the software information such as Windows accounts and users, Windows services, printers, firewalls, network settings and various other information.

The Ntuser.dat file is probably the most interesting hive that can be loaded in the Registry software as it displays recently opened documents, recently opened applications and last typed applications. The settings can be used to add or remove data from the report. Various modules are not enabled by default. Enabling them can increase the depth of the report. Registry Report can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Advanced System Care divides the computer maintenance process in three different categories that are named Maintain Windows, Diagnose System and Utilities.

Maintain Windows includes a spyware checker, Registry cleanup tool, privacy sweeper and junk file cleaner. This category comes closest to the popular CCleaner application. The program will automatically scan the system for problems upon startup. Findings are displayed in red indicating problems and Megabytes that can be saved if the repair button is pressed.

It is furthermore possible to click on a function to take a closer look at the problems and files that have been found during the scan. This makes it possible to remove entries from the repair. Advanced System Care will also remind the the user if System Restore is disabled.

A click on the repair button will initiate a backup before the problems are fixed on the computer system.

The diagnose system window offers system optimization, security defense, disk defragment and security analyzer functions. A scan will display detected problems offering the same functionality as the maintain windows menu to view them in detail, remove some and repair them.

The system optimization menu scans for problems in various categories including network connections, Windows services or troubleshooting. Not all recommendations should be accepted right away as the optimizer might suggest corrections for enhancements made by the user. A simple example would be the suggestion to change the time it takes to show the start menu from 1 to the recommended value of 200.

Users should take a look at all the settings before they press the repair button.

The same can be said for the security defense scan in the same category and the suggestions made by the security analyzer. This does mean that it takes additional time before the remaining problems can be repaired but it is important to avoid complications and other problems.

The utilities category offers quick access to tools offered by the Windows operating system and Iobit including an Internet and Game Booster, Registry defragmentation or a startup manager.

Advanced System Care Free is an interesting program that provides access to many computer maintenance scans that can improve a systems reliability, security and stability. It is recommended to check the scan results thoroughly before proceeding with the repair.

via Online Tech Tips

The Windows operating system has a Registry setting that can add USB write protection to a computer system. It is like a switch that can be enabled to make use of the write protection or disabled to allow write processes.

Users who experience problems writing to USB devices might want to take a look at this setting as well if they have the proper rights to do so to see if it is the cause for their difficulties.

Start by opening the run dialog box with the keyboard shortcut [Windows R]. Type [regedit] and hit [enter]. This should open the Windows Registry editor.

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\

Look at the sub-keys and see if a key named StorageDevicePolicies is listed. If it is skip this paragraph and read the next. If it is not create the key by right-clicking Control and selecting New > Key

See if there is an entry named WriteProtect. It can be easily created if it is not present by right-clicking in the right window and selecting New > DWord from the menu. The following values are allowed for this entry:

• 0 – This will allow write processes on USB Flash Drives
• 1- This will block write processes on USB Flash Drives.

An alternative would be to delete the Registry key WriteProtect completely to enable both read and write processes. A restart or log off is required before the changes take effect.

Windows Registry Watcher is resource friendly portable software program for the Windows operating system that monitors thousands of values and Registry keys but also files and directory with the option to add, delete or edit any of the monitored locations easily. The Windows Registry monitoring application will update the information every 30 seconds by default. This value can be changed to another time in seconds between 0 and 9999.

The software can be started right away in Windows XP while Windows Vista users need to run it with administrator privileges. Some of the more interesting options besides the wealth of information that it provides are the option to configure custom or pre-defined security settings that range from light to highest security. The security settings define for example the frequency in which the keys are analyzed for changes.

The Windows Registry software can be used to backup and quarantine files. It supports audio notifications but can also be configured to send email notifications. The software can also be started from the command line using various parameters like starting the application with a specific security setting. The Registry watcher is probably not the easiest to understand if you do not know what you are looking for or how to configure the alert process.

MJ Registry Watcher is using less than 2 Megabytes of computer memory when running minimized in the Windows system tray.

It is actually pretty easy to change the default edit application in Windows to another one providing you got the location in the Registry to do so. Now, to change the default Edit application open the Windows Registry by pressing [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [enter]. Locate the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\SystemFileAssociations

In there you find all the different file types and they association. The order is filetype > shell > edit > command. Not every filetype has that chain but the most common ones do. To edit the default text editor in Windows you need to locate the text subkey and follow the path mentioned above until you reach the command key. There should be only one Default entry in there:

%SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1

To change the program that opens when clicking on the Edit option in the right-click menu simply change the path so that it leads to the application that you want to use, for example

"c:\program files\notepad++\notepad++.exe" "%1"

Most of the Registry hives are located in the \Windows\system32\config directory but some in other locations like Document and Settings. To analyze the NTuser hive one would load the file NTUSER.DAT which is located in the \Documents and Settings\username\ directory, select a name for the text document in the second step, select ntuser from the plugin list and click the Rip It button.

The analysis will save various system information in the text document which depend on the analyzed Registry hive. The analysis of the NTuser hive will for example reveal information about the logon username, installed applications, system and remote drives, various recent files lists, the programs that have been accessed recently and software that will start with the computer system.

Registry Ripper is a Registry analyzer that requires some knowledge about the locations of the various Registry hives on the computer system. It clearly aims at more advanced users and can provide the user with all kinds of useful information about a computer system and its users.

Registry Prot is a tiny program that protects important Registry keys from being manipulated without the user’s knowledge. It barely uses 200 Kilobytes of computer memory while running and will only become active when programs try to make changes or new additions to the Windows Registry. There is no list of all the Registry locations that are monitored by Registry Protection. Among the known locations are the various possibilities to add system startup items and the default applications for known file types.

Registry Prot might not be something for inexperienced users as the informational dialogs are sometimes hard to understand without the proper knowledge. A web search can aid in the decision making process.

Registry Prot Download

One of the things that bothers me the most is when I open the Windows Registry to edit a key and it loads up showing me the last key I had viewed. I normally go into the Registry to make one change and that’s it. I never go back and edit the same key. Wouldn’t it be great if you could open the registry and all the hives would load up collapsed like you opened it for the first time ever?

Luckily, there’s a little shortcut you can create to the registry that will get rid of that annoying little feature. It’s actually a script with a few lines of code. Just open Notepad and paste in the following lines of code:

Dim objShell, RegKey, Q

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

strQuote = chr(34)

RegKey = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit"

RegKey = RegKey & "\LastKey"

objShell.RegWrite RegKey, ""

objShell.Run "regedit"

Save the file with a .VBS extension, which stands for Visual Basic Script. To do this in Notepad, choose All Files for the Save as type combo box and name the file “Registry.vbs” without the quotes.

So now instead of opening the Registry and getting something that looks like this:

You can easily start from the very top of the Registry hives like normal!

If you want to make if more official, you can change the icon for the VBS script file to the Registry icon. In order to do this, you have to create a shortcut to the script. Just right-click on Registry.vbs, click on Send To, and then click on Desktop (create shortcut).

Now right-click on the shortcut icon and click on Rename. Name the shortcut Registry. Next right-click again and go to Properties. Click on the Change Icon button.

Choose the Registry icon from the list of icons. Finally you can copy your shortcut to the Start Menu for easy acce

RegBench which has been released in an alpha version can benchmark the various Registry hives. It is an excellent tool to run before and after optimizing the Registry to provide the user with an analysis of the effects of the compacting.

The tool is completely command line driven meaning that users need to either run it from the command line or batch script to run it. The Registry hives have to be specified as command line parameters.

The basic command is “regbench Hives”. Acronyms can be thankfully used to test the various hives. Available are HKLM, HKCU, HKCR, HKCC and HKU. To test HKEY_Local_Machine and HKEY_Current_USER the command “regbench HKLM HKCU” would be used.

A report will be generated in the end detailing the time per access, the enumeration time, the keys in the Hive and the total access time. Additional parameters include to specify a filename for the report and to verbose the command line.

The software program scans the Registry for various errors like links that are pointing to deleted files, font locations and pretty much everything coming up as an error in the Registry. Those entries that are found are later on displayed in a list. The user can check individual entries or clean them all in one go.

The Registry Cleaner is automatically creating a backup before cleaning the Registry. That way it is possible to restore the Registry to a state before the cleaning took place. The Windows XP and Vista Registry cleaner comes with another option called compact which compacts the Registry to reduce it’s size.

It is recommended to compact the Registry after cleaning it for maximum performance gain. A smaller Registry can reduce system start and overall system performance.

Comodo Registry Cleaner is compatible to Windows XP and Windows Vista and supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating systems.

The Windows Registry is the core of the Windows system and malware likes to use it to spread its disease throughout the whole system. A good way to be on the safe side is to backup the Windows Registry regularly so that it can be restored when needed.

Most of the time there is a Microsoft way to do things and an easier one provided by third party developers and their applications.

The Microsoft way to backup the Windows Registry:

Microsoft suggests to create system restore points which automatically include the Windows Registry. System Restore has to be turned on in Windows Services as a requirement.

Windows Vista users type systempropertiesprotection in the search box and press enter. Windows XP users on the other hand run %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe from the Run box (Windows R). The menus are easy to follow through, it is just a matter of selecting Create A New Restore Point, assigning a descriptive name to it and clicking on Create. Windows Vista users might have to overcome the User Account Control before they reach System Restore. They find the Create button in the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab.

The third party way to backup the Windows Registry:

Download ERUNT, a free software to backup and restore the Windows Registry that runs on most editions and versions of Windows including Windows XP and Windows Vista.

ERUNT requires minimal user input to backup the Registry. A click on OK on the welcome screen loads the program interface. It is usually not required to make any changes in this menu but to change the location of the Registry backup. It would be ideal to store it on another hard drive.

A click on OK creates a backup of the Windows Registry which can be restored by executing the program from the backup folder.

The Registry cleanup tool quickly scans the Windows Registry to find gaps, fragments and wasted space and displays a quick report after the Registry scan that outlines the gain from defragmenting the Registry.

A smaller Registry has several advantages including a faster system start and an overall increase in system performance. It is necessary to close all open software programs before starting the Registry scan.

RegDefrag provides access to automatic System Restore Point creation and Registry backups before starting the defragmentation. Both can be configured in the program’s options.

A html report can be created in the end which provides an in depths summary of the Registry cleanup process. The computer system has to be restarted before the changes take effect.

Reg From App is a portable program that monitors a specific application on the system and writes the changes made to the Registry in the program window which can be exported as a standard Registry file that contains all the Registry changes that have been made by the application since the monitoring process started.

Only running processes can be selected by Reg from App and the user is asked to pick one of the processes that will be monitored constantly from that point on. Constantly meaning as long as the program is running or the user is not stopping the monitoring.

Reg From App is a Nirsoft application with some limitations. It can only monitor one process at a time which can be bypassed by opening another program window. More pressing than that is in my opinion the missing possibility to start the monitoring before a program is started on a system to include the changes to the Registry that are done during program startup.

In Windows Vista users have to have the same rights as the application that is getting monitored which means that a regular user cannot monitor a process started by the administrator of the system.

The software is compatible to all 32-bit Windows NT systems including Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003.

Auslogics Registry Defrag reduces the size of the Registry by defragmenting it which has the effect that the Registry will take up less memory when Windows is running which does increase system performance including boot time. The tool initially scans the Windows Registry and displays a report of the fragmentation level of the Registry afterwards.

It is recommended by the application to close all open applications to maximize the effectiveness of the Registry scan. Once started the mouse cannot be moved outside of the program’s interface and even the usual ALT TAB or Windows keys are disabled. The user has the option to quit the application at any time or proceed with the defragmentation which requires a system restart.

As you can see in the screenshot above the tool was able to cut the size of my Registry by more than six Megabytes from 34 to 28 Megabytes which is a size difference of 18%. It cut down my boot time by two seconds.