gHacks technology news » windows registry

Remove Shared Documents And User Documents From My Computer

Martin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:13:48 +0000

The Windows XP operating system displays several user related system folders in the My Computer overview. These system folders include Shared Documents and user folders. Some users, especially those who are working on single user computer systems, might want to get rid of these folders to receive a better overview of the connected hard drives and other hardware devices.

A simple Registry tweak can remove these folders from the My Computer display. The system folders remain on the computer system and are not modified in any way by the following procedure. Only their links that are automatically added in My Computer is removed.

To remove the Shared Documents and user document folders from My Computer do the following:

Press the keyboard shortcut [Windows R] to open the run dialog box. Enter regedit and hit enter to open the Windows Registry editor. Now locate for the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}

This can be done by manually navigating in the Registry or searching for part of the key. Please check the complete key as it might appear several times in the Registry. Deleting that Registry key will remove the Shared Documents and user documents folder from My Computer. It is recommended to create a backup of the Registry key before deleting it. This can be done my selecting the key in the Registry editor and opening the Export option under the File header menu.

The changes are immediately visible although a refresh might be needed if the My Computer folder was open during the procedure. The changes can be undone by double-clicking on the Registry backup file that was created in the process. Another option is to simply created the Registry key manually using the information above.

Tags: my computer, registry tips, shared documents, user documents, Windows, windows registry, windows-xp

Forensic Windows Registry Software Registry Report

Martin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:57:06 +0000

Registry Report is a forensic software program for the Windows operating system that can generate Windows Registry reports by loading Registry hives into the software. It should be noted that the Registry software can only load hives that are not currently in use by the operating system and is therefor ideal for analysing Registry hives that have been copied, backed up. The portable software program displays a minimal interface upon system start. The default language is set to German which can be changed by clicking on the extras > Sprache / Language menu entry on the top of the application window. Available languages are English, Japanese, Chinese and Dutch.

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.

Tags: forensic software, portable software, registry, registry report, registry software, windows registry, windows software

Changing The Windows Setup Source

Martin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:57:18 +0000

You might have experienced a situation in the past where Windows asked you to put the original Windows installation CD into a computer drive to continue. This could have been the result of a system file scan or because of an installation of an additional software package. The cause does not really matter here but the problem does. Windows is storing the path of the setup source in the Windows Registry during installation. Changes in computer hardware can then result in an invalid path in the Registry which will throw an error when the files are required.

A fix for the issue is to edit the path in the Windows Registry so that it points again at the right location. The following has only been tested in Windows XP. Windows Vista (and Windows 7) users are encouraged to let us know if it is also working in their operating system.

Press [CTRL R], type [regedit] and hit [enter]. Now navigate to the Windows Registry path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

and look for the key [SourcePath]. If the key is listed there check the drive letter and path that is listed as the value. If the key is not there you can simply create it by right-clicking and selecting New > String. The value needs to be the full path to the i386 folder of the Windows installation. This can be on a local hard drive, network drive or removable drive.

Another solution is the portable Setup Source computer program. It can be used to quickly change the setup source of Windows XP and the Windows XP service pack 3. The user only needs to enter the drive letters and path that points to the setup source. A click on the Go button will save the settings to the Registry.

Tags: portable software, setup source, windows registry, windows software, windows xp setup, windows-xp

Set File Associations Without Writing To The Windows Registry

Martin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:57:33 +0000

File associations are written to the Windows Registry by default. This usually happens during the installation of the operating system and computer software programs. Installing Microsoft Word will make it the default word processor on the computer system with file types like docx or doc opened by it by default. The same is true for many other applications like software music players, video players and basically any other tool that can open files automatically.

Only portable applications are problematic. A portable software is by default one that can be run from a folder without installation. It works out of the box and will not write data to the Windows Registry. But without changing the file associations it means that the user has to use the Open With dialog or drag and drop to open files on the computer system with a portable application.

The creation of PEM, Pure Enigmatic Magic, changes this. It has been created to fill the gap. The software program acts as a proxy that can be configured to associated certain file extensions with programs on the computer system. It could for example be configured to direct requests to open mp3 with AIMP2 instead of the default iTunes or Windows Media Player.

PEM is a tiny portable software program that runs quietly in the system tray upon execution. It uses about 400 Kilobytes of computer memory while doing so and will direct all requests to open the configured file types to applications that have been added by the user.

The user needs to type in a file extension and a relative path to an application that should open that file extension. PEM will then ensure that the file type will be opened by the program configured in its options instead of the default program that has been associated with the file type in the Windows Registry.

The software program is very helpful for users who work with portable software and makes a perfect fit for any USB software collection.

Tags: file associations, microsoft-windows, pem, portable software, pure enigmatic magic, software, windows registry, windows software

Windows Registry Monitoring With RegFromApp

Martin — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:32:51 +0000

RegFromApp is a super lightweight Windows Registry monitoring software program that can monitor the Windows Registry changes of selected applications. The Nirsoft application comes with the usual traits which include portability and data export.

The program can be executed right from the location where it was unpacked to after download. It will display a list of all processes that are currently running on the computer system given the user the choice to monitor one of them. Every write to the Windows Registry will be recorded in the program’s interface afterwards with the option to stop the monitoring at any time.

The Registry changes that have been discovered can be exported as .reg. It is furthermore possible to copy selected entries only which could then be stored in .reg files or regular text files as well. The program can be configured to either show the last modified values which is the default display mode or the original values in its interface. RegFromApp is monitoring both as long as the monitoring process is running. A command line version is available to run the program with parameters from the command line.

RegFromApp is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista

Tags: nirsoft, portable software, regfromapp, registry monitoring, windows registry, windows registry monitoring, windows software

Windows Registry Cleanup Tool

Martin — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:58:15 +0000

PowerTools Lite is a free software program to cleanup the Windows Registry and operating system. It is actually a lite version of JV16 PowerTools and currently in release candidate stage. The software has been designed with ease of use in mind. It suggests to perform a quick system scan at startup which will display the PC health and Registry health afterwards. It is unclear how this values are calculated and running the cleanup tool will have no effect on the values. The software comes with a basic and expert mode. Basic mode can be started with just one click and will scan the Windows Registry and locations to clean.

Expert mode allows a user to configure some of the scan rules before the scan is conducted. It provides access to four different configuration settings including a slider to change scan performance, words to ignore or search for and advanced options like removing all found errors automatically or ignoring entries that get recreated by the computer system.

PowerTools Lite will display its findings in four different categories: Registry Errors, Registry Junk, MRU and History Data and Temp Files. It is possible to take a closer look at every entry and deselect some or all of them in the process. The actual items that have been found will display the location of the item, the severity and description.

The program can create backups on the user’s request. It will also suggest to create a backup before starting the cleanup.

Tags: cleanup tool, jv16 powertools, registry cleanup, windows cleanup, windows registry, windows software

USB Flash Drive Write Protection

Martin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:00:56 +0000

System administrators might want to limit the use of external USB flash drives by making them read only. This can actually be useful in several situations like preventing users from copying local data to the external device or preventing malicious software from spreading on a computer network using those flash drives.

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.

Tags: registry, registry tips, usb, usb devices, usb tips, usb write protect, window usb, windows registry, windows tips

Windows Registry Watcher

Martin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:06:58 +0000

The Windows Registry is one of the major attack locations for malicious software and should therefor be protected by security software to ensure that no settings get changed or added to it. One prime example is the addition of new startup items to the Windows operating system. The Windows Registry contains several locations where those new files can be placed so that they are loaded during system startup.

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.

Tags: mj registry watcher, portable software, registry, registry watcher, security-software, software, windows registry, windows software

New Entry In Right Windows XP Start Menu

Martin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:23:40 +0000

The Windows XP Start Menu is divided into two parts. The left part can contain custom links to folders and applications while the right part is more or less static. It points to user folders like My Documents or the Control Panel of the Windows operating system. It is possible to change some of the folders so that they point to different directories. (see replace my music and my pictures in windows startmenu). There is however a possibility to add a new entry to the right Windows XP start menu. Microsoft reserved space for OEM links in the right location. The following article explains how to add a link to a folder of the operating system to the right Windows XP Start Menu.

Start by opening the Windows Registry with [windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [enter]. Search for the key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

Double-click on the Default entry in the right window and replace the value with a name of your own. If you want to link to a downloads directory name it downloads.

Create a new key by right-clicking and selecting New > Key from the menu. Name the key DefaultIcon. Double-click on Default again and enter a path to an icon on the computer system. You can for instance use shell icons. To use the generic folder icon you give the key the following value:

%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll,-4

Click here for a full list of possible values.

Open the subkey Instance\InitPropertyBag. Right-click and select New > String from the menu and name it command. Give the string the same name that you have chosen in the first step. We will name it downloads so that it matches the name that we have selected.

Create two additional strings by right-clicking and selecting New > String. Name the strings param1 and param2. Double-click param1 and give it the value explorer.exe. Double-click param2 and enter a path on the computer system, e.g. c:\downloads\.

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Create or edit the DWORD entry Start_ShowOEMLink. Double-click it afterwards and give it the value 1.

Now restart the computer, log off or kill and restart the explorer.exe process. The new entry in the Windows Start Menu should appear.

Tags: registry tips, start-menu, windows registry, windows registry tips, windows start menu, windows tips, windows xp start menu, windows-xp

How To Change The Edit Application In Windows

Martin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:47:25 +0000

The Edit option pops up in Windows after right-clicking a file type in Windows Explorer. Windows associated one software program that can be used to edit that file type. For image files it is usually Microsoft Paint while text documents are usually opened in Notepad. Those applications are set in the Windows Registry where they can be changed so that Edit will open a different application.

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"

Tags: default application, edit application, registry, registry tips, Windows, windows edit, windows registry, windows tips

Registry Analyzer

Martin — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:17:28 +0000

Registry Ripper is a portable software program to automatically analyze Registry Hives. It will analyze a selected Registry hive and export the findings into a selected text document. Registry Hives are locked by the Windows operating system which means that it is necessary to copy or access them before the operating system is running. This can be done with a Live CD or by booting into another operating system that can access the Windows partition.

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.

Tags: portable software, registry, registry analyzer, registry hives, registry ripper, software, windows registry, windows software

Remove Deleted DLLs In The Windows Registry

Martin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:09:53 +0000

Some software uninstallers leave lots of traces behind. This can be files in the program directory, in a Windows folder but also in the Windows Registry. There are uninstallers like Revo Uninstaller that will automatically scan the Registry and specific folders in Windows for traces of an uninstalled program helping the user to get rid of traces left behind by the software.

RegDllView is a portable software by Nirsoft that has been primarily designed to view the registered dlls (to be more precise dll, ocx and exe).It will display various information about each dll including its location, day it was registered and company.

The software can be used to unregister dlls but also to remove entries that point to dlls that have been already deleted on the computer system. Will it have a positive effect on system stability or performance? That’s unlikely but if you like your system clean and shiny you might want to remove the dll files anyway as they are no longer needed on the system.

Actually, it could be that some are still needed but have been removed from the computer system. It is therefor a good idea to check the missing dlls first before starting to delete their references in the Windows Registry.

RegDllView will display all known dynamic link libraries; Those that are no longer on the computer system are displayed with a red background to make identification easier. Selecting one or multiple of those removed dll files and right-clicking the background afterwards will display a menu with the option to “Delete All Entries For Selected Files”.

This will remove those deleted entries from the Windows Registry.

Tags: nirsoft, portable software, regdllview, registry software, registry tips, remove-dll, windows registry

Windows Registry Protection

Martin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:12:27 +0000

The Windows Registry is of uttermost importance to the Windows operating system. Malicious software makes use of the capacities of the Windows Registry regularly by changing system settings and adding malicious scripts to the system startup process. Many security software programs do not protect the Windows Registry from those dangers which is why running an program for additional protection might make sense.

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

Tags: registry, registry protection, registry tips, windows registry, windows registry protection, windows software

Windows Registry Recovery

Martin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:31:58 +0000

Windows Registry Recovery is a software program that has been designed to recover data after a computer crash. It was designed to extract data from the Registry hives of a crashed system with the option to analyze and export these information to import them on a new computer system.

Why could this be important? The Windows Registry contains important information about configured devices, users, software programs, network configurations or services and drivers and it might be faster and easier to copy those settings to the new installation instead of configuring the system manually.

The data recovery program can read all Registry hives. The hives can be found in the Windows\System32\config directory and can only be loaded if they are not in use. This is usually the case if you are accessing a crashed installation from a new system,

Data can be exported into Regedit4 format which makes it easy to import it to a different system. It is also possible to save the data as CSV files to analyze them in other applications.

Windows Registry Recovery provides access to the following information:

File Information – In this explorer you can see basic file properties and checksums.
Security Record Explorer – Displays all security records used in registry. Usage counter, owner SID, group SID, list of affected keys and list of SACL and DACL is displayed for every record with flags and permissions enumerated. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry hives.
SAM – Displays Machine SID and part of SYSKEY. Enumerates local user and group accounts and some of their properties. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SAM hive.
Windows Installation – Displays Windows name, ID and key, install date and user registration info. Enumerates installed software with descriptions and install date and list of installed hotfixes wih description. This explorer is available only SOFTWARE registry hive (Product ID and key are extracted in SYSTEM hive too).
Control Set – Displays all configured devices that worked on host machine. They are displayed in “like Device Manager” tree with some properties. This explorer is available for SYSTEM registry hive.
User Data – Displays user and machine name and tree based Start menu for selected USER hive. This explorer is available for USER registry hive.
Startup Applications – Enumerates applications that are registered to be run after startup. This explorer is available for SOFTWARE registry hive.
Services and Drivers – Enumerates all installed services and drivers with properties. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
Network Configuration – Displays all installed network clients, protocols and services. Enumerates all defined network connections with its TCP/IP configuration. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
Environment – Displays all environment variables. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
Shell Folders – Displays shell folders (folders known to system). This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
Outlook Express – Digs out all Outlook Express accounts and their settings. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry USER hive.
Raw Data – This explorer displays whole registry in known tree format. Contains powerful searching and data interpreter.

The data recovery software can be downloaded directly from the developers homepage. It is compatible with all Windows versions from Windows 95 to Windows Vista. The software program is fully portable.

Tags: data-recovery, export registry, import registry, portable software, registry crash, registry recovery, windows registry, Windows Registry Recovery

Export Internet Explorer Security Zone Information

Martin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:40:19 +0000

Internet Explorer assigns a security zone to any website that the user is visiting. Next to the two generic zones Internet (all that are not in another zone), Local Intranet (local sites) are Trusted sites and Restricted Sites. Trusted sites will usually have a lower security level than restricted sites. One could for instance move financial sites or sites from companies like eBay or Amazon into the Trusted sites list. Restricted sites are those that should be accessed with lower permissions. Good for websites that need to be accessed but are not that trusted.

If a user accesses the Internet with multiple computers he might want to use the same security zone settings on all of them. The easiest way to do that would be to export the security zones on one computer and export them to all others instead of adding sites to the zones manually on all computers.

Internet Explorer is storing the security zone information in the Windows Registry. To export the settings of the currently logged in user one would have to open the Registry with [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [Enter].

The Registry key is located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

A left click on Domains will select that key. The next step would be to open the File Menu and select Export. Enter a name and save the data as a file on the computer.

The newly created file has to be transferred to another computer. A right-click on the file at the new computer will open a context menu. The entry Merge will add the data to the correct Registry key so that the zone information of the first computer will be added to it as well.

Tags: ie, internet explorer security, internet explorer tips, internet-explorer, registry tips, security zone, windows registry

Prevent Windows Registry from remembering last key viewed

Martin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:54:00 +0000

“This is a guest post by Aseem Kishore, the lead blogger for HelpDeskGeek.com, which focuses on providing Help Desk tips to IT Professionals.”

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

Tags: registry, registry hives, registry tips, Windows, windows registry, windows script

Back To Basics: Backup Registry

Martin — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:55:05 +0000

The Back to Basics series looks at common tasks and problems that Windows users might encounter on a daily basis and explains solutions and ways to do those “things”. To kickoff this new article series I’m going to look at ways to backup the Windows Registry.

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.

Tags: back to basic, backup registry, registry, windows registry, windows registry backup, windows tips

View Saved Windows Explorer Folder Settings

Martin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:57:28 +0000

Windows Explorer can remember custom folder settings for each folder on the computer system. Those saved settings include the display mode, the window position, the last modified date and the last size of the Window.

The folder settings are stored in the Windows Registry and ShellBagsView from Nirsoft provides the means of displaying all of them. The software program is the usual Nirsoft program meaning it is fully portable, runs on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista and supports several command line parameters.

One reason why it might be good to run the program from time to time is to check if hidden folders are listed in the Registry. Those settings could hint at encrypted partitions or hidden folders on the system which is probably not desired.

The findings can be exported in html reports. There is unfortunately no way of deleting the entries. Another interesting finding is that Windows saves new directory information in the Registry even if the option “Remember Each Folder’s View Settings” is unchecked. If anyone knows a way around this, so that no information of that kind are stored in the Registry let me know.

Tags: folder settings, nirsoft, ShellBagsView, Windows, windows registry, windows tips, windows-explorer

Monitor Software Registry Changes

Martin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:38:13 +0000

The Windows Registry is a book with seven seals for many users. Many know that one can change Registry settings to apply tweaks or change system settings in Windows but most do not know what their applications are writing in the Registry. Not all applications make use of the Registry, especially portable applications do not need it at all hence the name portable.

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.

Tags: nirsoft, registry, registry monitor, software, Windows, windows registry

Auslogics Registry Defrag

Martin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:56:36 +0000

The Auslogics Disk Defrag software is a popular hard disk defragmentation tool and many users who like it will probably also find the Registry defragmentation tool useful. The Windows Registry is not defragmented during hard disk defragmentation because it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access.

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.

Tags: registry, registry defrag, Windows, windows registry, windows tips

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