Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with registry

Pick our presents!

mittenbex — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:49:24 -0800

We're getting married! GREAT. Now, what do we register for? We're 25 and 31. Both out of our parents house for years but neither of us are what can be considered 'well stocked' on the housewares front.

Between us we have two lamps, two twin beds (yikes), a futon, coffee table, an oldddddd recliner that I'm afraid will NOT be joining us at our future mutual home, several TVs and limited amounts of cookware.

We know to register for all the 'regular' stuff you see on those 'suggestion' lists provided to you by the stores when you register.

We're looking for unique items you might have obtained over the years that you find to be godsend. Couldn't live without or wouldn't want to at least.

Items of any sort. We are not opposed to asking for fun stuff!

We: both like to cook, go camping, have movie marathons, read, have an appreciation for the 50s and 60s type Americana decor.

I know he'd love to be set up with a good tool set but isn't really a hand person (more would like to learn to be) so he'd like to know what are the essential things to obtain.

So - either suggestions for lesser known items. OR recommendations for brands of cookware/towels/bedding/etc thare are good quality but not too pricey. Neither of us are into the whole fancy schmancy brand stuff. We are both practical but still appreciate quality.

Thanks guys!

Fixing a netbook's corrupt registry sans optical drive?

Teira — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:50:25 -0800

How exactly does one go about fixing a corrupt XP registry or reinstalling XP on a device with no optical drive? Okay, so out of the blue with no problems earlier, I start up my netbook (dell mini 10v) and find myself confronted with the lovely missing/corrupted system file error. Now I realize this is going to require some effort with a boot CD, but serendipitously, this laptop has no drive. Now I figure I have three options here for self repair, and I would love to be corrected on these

1) Hopefully there's some way to use my desktop to load the netbook as a target drive, much like holding T at startup on a mac, and fixing things up that way... I have no idea how to do this and googling/mefi...ing aren't proving terribly useful

2) I can figure out how to boot from a thumb drive. I have a fairly speedy 16 gig one, a boot .iso, and my BIOS set to take it first, but I'm a little unsure if I need to do anything special. Do I unpack the ISO into the thumb's root directory? Do I attempt to install windows, onto it and try to use that boot to run a system restore? Again, provided instructions aren't very clear

3) I could force the target drive issue with brute force: ripping open the netbook and shoving the drive in my desktop for intense treatment. I don't want to do this. Please don't make me do this.

Am I being a drama queen here? Are there much easier ways to go about this?

This is a lot of question.

Also since Dell's kind enough to have stopped sending OEM discs with computers, my install discs and .iso are vanilla microsoft installs. I'm going to have horrible, awful driver issues aren't I?

My god, it's full of permissions.

Iosephus — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:34:39 -0800

Registy editing permissions, group policies and Windows Defender, I think... Windows Defender, I guess I never cared much for you. It sat there disabled for a long time, but anyways I idly tried to turning it back on. Security Center said unable to. Googling lead me to a certain registry key that had to be edited manually (this being Vista Home Basic, wtf Microsoft?), called DisableAntiSpyware that was disabled by group polices or some such. So to regedit we go. Trying to delete the key tells me I don't have the permissions for it. I see the "edit" submenu of regedit should allow me to gain permissions. Nope, after I change to Administrators having full, I can't save it for unknown reasons (says unable to save). And that's as far as my googling led me.

This is certainly not critical (I have no stuff for WD to take care of re: malware or so), but I figured it would be a good time to learn how to do this kind of damned thing regarding registry fiddling. Help?

HELP ME FIND A REG CLEANER OR FIX MY FLASH PLAYER PROBLEM!!

bbfunluvingal — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:03:06 -0800

I would like to dowwnload a registry cleaner, but find all the comparisons seem to be sponsored by a software company trying to sell THEIR cleaner, which of course, is "the best" of those compared. Is there a truly independent comparison I can refer to? Or, is RegCure REALLY the best one to try or do they just have a huge marketing budget!?? My problem is the stupid flash player ver 10 won't download properly, and I'm hoping a reg cleaner will help. Anyone know?

What's your most favorite kitchen /cooking item?

kdern — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:54:51 -0800

Planning our wedding registry. What's your most favorite kitchen /cooking item? Do have a utensil, tool, pot or pan that you LOVE to use and couldn't imagine cooking without? My favorites so far... tongs, silicone rubber spatulas and cooling racks.

Links helpful.

More tools for troubleshooting/viruskilling, please.

The Great Big Mulp — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:18:40 -0800

What software should I add to my Windows diagnostics/antispyware/antivirus kit? So, I'm a tech who does a small amount of on-site service, usually for either individuals or small businesses and almost always on Windows XP or Vista machines (though I occasionally see 98 Second Edition or 2000), and I'm looking for things to add to the list of software I bring with me. Also, I generally try to keep it all in the free to very inexpensive range. Here's what I carry around at present:

Adaware
Antivir
AVG
Burn In Test
Dial-A-Fix
HijackThis (which kinda scares me, so I never use it)
Malwarebytes' AntiMalware
Spybot - Search and Destroy
SpywareBlaster
SuperAntiSpyware
Windows Installer Cleanup
... and a copy of the Windows Defender installer.

I have a fair amount of software in the malware/spyware removal realm, but not much in the way of hardware or registry diagnostics. So, what more should I be bringing with me? (I was inspired to ask over the course of this thread and have been looking over some of the other stuff there, like Combofix.)

Need to compare registry before and after an install and end up with a merge-able regfile

John Kenneth Fisher — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:41:42 -0800

I need to scan an XP registry BEFORE an installation, then rescan the registry AFTER the installation, and end up with a merge-able reg file that I can then apply to multiple computers via AD or startup script. Finding a program that simply compares before or after (like regshot), or exporting a text file before and after and comparing then via, say, Windiff, is easy. But with the results being in the many thousands, I need a way to end up not with a text list but an actual regfile that contains said changes.

If I may call upon a rather out-of-favor Mefi-ism, Administrators! Hope me!

Listing .org domains

chexov — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:37:25 -0800

Is there a way to find organisations that have registered an .org domain within certain geographical boundary (country, region, town)?

What website offers the best baby registry service?

micketymoc — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:33:23 -0800

What site offers the best baby registry service? Special difficulty - the parents-to-be are in the Philippines, the friends and relatives are scattered everywhere else. We want to sign up with a baby registry service that offers the least trouble and best value for international gift-givers. Our family and friends are scattered all over the world, specifically New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, South Africa, and in the US: New York, Michigan, California, and Massachusetts.

What site would that be, and why?

Wedding Gifts

tastybrains — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:17:53 -0800

Please help me find something decent to get my sister & brother-in-law as a belated wedding gift. Just as a disclaimer - I have looked over lots of other wedding gift idea threads here. There are some good ideas, but none that really seemed right.

It's really hard to explain why I am having such a hard time finding them the right gift. It would be harder to do if I didn't explain that they have very East Coast expectations of weddings and wedding gifts. So, my budget of ~$150-200 is kind of pathetic compared to what they expect. In fact, normally I would love to give more, except that I catered to all of their previous expectations in terms of a lavish shower and bachelorette party, and spent a lot of money I don't have ALREADY. So, my budget might be a little small based on East Coast fancy wedding standards, but it's a lot to me right now.

I think if this was just any couple, or even just friends, I could find something and just buy it and not worry too much. But because this is my sister, I feel like it needs to be at least sorta good. But these days, I feel very alienated from my sister.

Here are ideas I've ruled out:

So, I can't give money, because (1) I don't like to give money unless I can cover the cost of my plate at the wedding [it's a NY / east coast thing, I think], and $150-200 doesn't cover that, and (2) I don't want to be too obvious about not spending a lot.

I can't give something off their registry, because everything has been purchased off of their registries. Literally, EVERYTHING. Except gift cards, but that presents the same problem as giving cash.

The other wedding gift idea I liked was one that was given to us -- a gift basket of wines to celebrate different milestones in our wedding. However, I already told my sister about this idea, and she's actually used it for wedding gifts for other people, so it wouldn't really seem very fun or creative at this point. Next time I'll keep my big mouth shut.

-----

In terms of what they do like -- I don't know what to tell you. My sister loves different kinds of food and wine, but my brother in law refuses to eat anything but hamburgers and chicken parm, and I don't even think he drinks anything but crappy beer. Their tastes clash so dramatically that I am afraid to give them anything artistic or decorative. They have a dog. That's all I've got.

What I do want is:

- Something I can purchase online.
- Something that can be delivered to NY/NJ
- Nothing to "weird" as that doesn't go over well with the groom

Thanks!

Have you registered your library?

newrambler — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:08:16 -0800

Help me furnish our new library by making an online registry! The main library in my system is moving to sleek new quarters in the fall, and they need some new furniture. My director asked if I could make a sort of registry site where people could "buy" chairs and tables and so on, and I said, "Yeah, probably."

I've been looking some e-commerce software, but while some might work, they all seem bigger and clunkier than what I need.

Basically, I just want people to see pictures, quantities, and prices for the furniture and then be able to "buy" a piece (probably via PayPal). So the site would say "there are 5 chairs available," and then after someone "bought" one, it would say "there are 4 chairs available."

Is there a program out there that would work well for this, or would I be better off building my own form? If I choose to do the latter, what kind of skills will I need? Like donnagirl, I work for an awesome library that is giving me time specifically to devote to this project, and also like donnagirl I have some basic html & css skills, and I've also done a little cut & paste php jiggery-pokery, but I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination. I anticipate doing more similar sorts of things for the library, so learning new skills would, I think, be worthwhile in the long run, but if there's a simpler solution in the short run, that would also be helpful.

How do I change the location of my WinXP application data?

underwater — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:08:58 -0800

How can I move application data to another drive? I'm using WinXP. I followed advice to use 2 partitions to make backups easier. I have Windows and my applications on a smaller C: partition and my data on a larger D: partition. The problem is that my application data is on my C: drive and it is filling up. So I need to move the application data to my D: drive.

I have recreated the folder structure on the D: drive and copied all of the application data there (I'm talking about the data in C:\documents and settings\username\Application data\, where username changes for each of the login profiles).

The webpages I've found say that at this point I should go to regedit and change 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folder\AppData' from value 'C:\documents and settings\username\application data' to 'D:\documents and settings\username\aplication data'.

However, at that regedit value on my computer, it doesn't say 'C:\documents and settings\username\application data'. It says '&USERPROFILE%\Application Data'. So I'm not sure what to change the value to. There is only one value here, so what do I do with the multiple user accounts? I obviously don't want to mess up the registry.

Advice, please? Do I indeed just change this value to something? Will I have problems with specific applications finding the original data? Is there another, better strategy? Thanks for the help.

Registry edit that can call an individual user's SID in Windows?

Psionic_Tim — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:28:07 -0800

How do I change a registry value that is user-specific? The location is different on every computer, due to the use of the SID in H_Key Users. Look inside for boring specifics. Here's what I'm working on, and I'm surprised it takes this much effort to accomplish. We're rolling out Office 2007. What we've decided to do is use the Quick Access Toolbar as a small substitute for simple commands that our users would not like to have to hunt down. That part's figured out.

What's stumped me is a registry edit that I'd like to make. Office 2007 has an option that will put the Quick Access Toolbar beneath the ribbon. I tried to make this option change from the Office Customization Tool, but it doesn't list it as an option.

What I need to do is change the value of:
HKU\(user's SID)\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Toolbars\Word\QuickAccessToolbarStyle

The problem is, each user's SID is different, and I can't find an environment variable for the SID so that every user's computer would modify that registry key.

I've written a batch file that can call the SID and manually change it, but I'd like to integrate it into the OCT setup so the end user doesn't have to run the batch file to set the option.

Any ideas?

What are you doing to my computer?

DarkForest — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:23:12 -0800

I'd like to have a log file of everything an application does to my Windows (XP) system. All files added/removed, all changes to the registry, and everything else it does to the disk. Can this be done free or cheaply? I'd like a separate log file for each application, or at least have each log file entry easily traceable to an app. I'd like this for a couple of reasons. I'd like to know what some apps are doing to slow down my system, lengthen boot times, etc. I'd also like to be able to back up and restore custom settings for some apps in an automated way rather than reconfiguring manually. And I just like to complain, complain, complain about windows and the registry. I don't need suggestions on how to speed up my system. I understand that stuff.

TweakUI alternative for a networked PC?

monkeyforest — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:46:46 -0800

LockdownFilter: Is there an feature-similar alternative to TweakUI that will run on a networked PC where Regedit & tweakUI are disabled by the administrator? All I want to do is edit/delete the 'new filetype' icons in the Windows XP context (right-click) menu. I've found the simplest way to do this has been to use tweakUI, but it has been disabled by the domain administrator(s) of the PC I am currently using. Access to the other features of TweakUI would be nice as well!

Is there any way to keep Windows from spoiling?

zek — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:24:22 -0800

Is there any software or technique that will help me keep my Windows installation clean and manageable over the course of a year or two? I am sick of reinstalling Windows! It seems every year I go through a cycle where I have to reinstall Windows from scratch due to all the "crap" that accumulates on the computer. Over the years, there's some software I install, like small shareware programs, which behave like a nice houseguest. But other software is like the legendary rock band that trashes the hotel room, adding numerous drivers and processes, adding mysterious services, making massive registry changes, and so forth. Itunes and VMware would be examples.

I find that one too many of these "rock band" installations eventually bogs down the OS to the point where I either begin having performance or reliability issues or I begin losing track of which processes and services are legitimate and start suspecting malware. Generally it takes about 9 to 18 months before my computer gets to this point. Then I find myself flushing the toilet and starting fresh.

So here I am, starting from scratch again tonight. Install Windows 2000 Professional, apply Service Pack 4, install DirectX, so on and so forth.

Any words of wisdom? Are there any third-party programs that can help keep the crap from backing up, or at least organize it, so that my registry, winnt/system32, etc isn't a steaming heap after 12 months? Does it make sense to create different user accounts to do different tasks (i.e. a login for video editing, a login for tinkering with shareware, etc), or will this be futile due to too many programs trashing HK_Local_Machine?

Windows 2000 specific help would be appreciated -- sorry, it's what I use.

My Registry Feels So Dirty - Do I need to further de-virus my computer?

CRS — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 07:30:55 -0800

Apparently, my Dell laptop was hit with a virus this weekend. I fixed the problem by using the Windows XP reinstallation disc to repair it. Do I need to do anything else? My laptop froze up this weekend and when I restarted it, I could not get past the splash screen. Every time I tried to log in, I was immediately logged out. The problem is exactly described in this article at Microsoft Support, which indicates a virus rotorooted my registry.

Anyway, I did not have access to this support article until after I repaired my machine by using the XP reinstallation disc. After setting loose the repair function, everything works. However, I am concerned that I will still have something malicious lurking about my computer.

Is there anything else I need to do to make sure my computer is clean? I run AVG and Spyware Terminator for virus/spyware protection.

How to extract parts of a backed up WinXp registry and import into the current one?

Smegoid — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:55:33 -0800

I have an old and less than ideal backup of my windows registry. The only part that doesn't work is the system part (I manually deleted some hardware profile entries and buggered the thing). Is there a way to grab ONLY the hardware profile entries from a registry backup and then insert them into the broken one? Regedit doesn't seem to allow me to open, edit and copy from a backup registry. Windows has been giving me problems with hardware profiles (unable to erase or rename them). So, feeling adventurous, I deleted all instance of the new hardware profiles from the registry, leaving all but the one that I liked. Naturally I bungled the affair and now can't boot.

Using recovery console I swapped the broken system registry file with the repair one (leaving the sam, security, software and others intact). Now the system boots, but obviously most of my hardware changes are out of date. It seems like it would be a trivial fix to simply copy the hardware profile entries that correspond to the ones I deleted from my backed up registry and paste them into the current one. I don't want to restore that backup because it's still a few months old and I added some new drivers and hardware.

Thanks!

I want an espresso machine.

sneakin — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:42:16 -0800

Can my partner and I still make use of a gift registry even if we are not doing a traditional ceremony-then-reception type event? So, my girlfriend and are going to tie the civil union knot. We are leaning towards just going to City Hall, doing the deed and then having a big ol' party sometime after. Here's the thing, I am greedy for some of the trappings of a traditional wedding-- like registry gifts. Is it kosher to still have a registry even if people won't be present to witness the nuptials? I guess I'm a bit insecure that the more non-traditional we get from our end (same sex wedding, no ceremony, etc.) the less traditional we are allowed to be in what we ask from our guests.

Opinions? Experience? Suggestions for other ways to do stuff? Thanks a lot in advance.

Who will stop Domain Registry of America?

amtho — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:17:48 -0800

Yet another one of my clients has been confused by a Domain Registry of America "invoice" mailing, and now I'm even madder at them. I saw this FTC ruling from 2003, but is there any kind of action/suit against the company now? If not, why not? This is the third or fourth client of mine to go through this. These are smart people, they're just busy and they are very conscientious about paying all their invoices. Naturally, when they receive a mailing warning them that their domain name is going to expire, they just put a check in the envelope and send it off. I only found out about it because I asked how many years they'd like to renew the domain name, and they told me they'd "renewed" it last week. I got suspicious, mentioned the usual technique of Domain Registry of America, and the first word of the reply message from my client was an expletive.

I am so tired of this. It would be easy to assert that this company's entire business model is built on the kind of advertising that confuses people. Is there some kind of class action suit, or going on? I've spent a number of otherwise-billable hours helping these people untangle this issue, and my clients have lost time, too.

If there's a good reason why a suit _can't_ or _shouldn't_ be filed, I'd love to hear about it from AskMe contributors who, whether or not they are lawyers, would of course not be my lawyer and would not be rendering me official legal advice.

More than 2 IE7 connections?

Steven C. Den Beste — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:21:36 -0800

How do I make IE7 use more than 2 connections at once? I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to IE7, and now that I'm used to it I do like it. But there's one aspect of it that drives me nuts: IE7 won't open more than two connections at a time total among all my tabs, no matter what they're connected to.

I have a cable modem which is connected to one of the ethernet ports on my Linux server. The other ethernet port on the server is on my LAN, and my computer connects to that. All of my web browsing is done using my server as a proxy. (And NAT.)

With IE6 there were registry patches you could make which would increase the number of connections it would use. I found one place online that recommended this for IE7:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:0000000a

A value of 10 seemed excessive to me so I set it to 6. Result: no change at all. If I have two downloads going I can't access anything else online.

Anyone know what I can do to correct this? It's not an inherent aspect of my system; Firefox uses more connections simultaneously, and so did IE6 before I upgraded. (Do not suggest "Switch to Firefox". I use them both, and there are times and places where IE7 is the better solution for me.)

My suspicion is that IE7 is treating the entire web as a single server because of my proxy. The question is what can be done about increasing the number of connections it's willing to make to my proxy.

pranks needed.

goldism — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:41:53 -0800

Does anybody have any ideas of some practical jokes i can play on a colleague by remoting into his registry? I only have access to his HK_LOCAL_MACHINE and HK_USERS branches. so i cant, to my knowledge, change his homepage to something childish.

i got him with a bunch of directories on his desktop that were not removable in windows.

He in-turn got me with, loading up a screenshot of my computer on bootup making me think the computer was frozen.

i need some ideas to retaliate. nothing damaging please. 5th grade humor is welcome.

Is Compacting the Registry Safe & Worthwhile?

Richiedude — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 18:16:49 -0800

Is compacting the registry safe & a good thing to do? will it improve performance and speed things up? What specifically would this to for me? I'm using Registry Mechanic on a windows XP machine.

XP unusably slow after STOP errors and running checkdisk - what's going on?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:29:42 -0800

So it's come to this - I see no other option than to ask a "help me fix my PC" question. After some troubleshooting the STOP errors seem to have been resolved, XP now boots successfully but is excruciating slow to the point of being unusable. Details and specs below the fold. Specifications:
-Intel Celeron 2.4GHz
-1 x 512 MB RAM
-XP Pro SP2
-PCI Firewire card
-onboard: USB 2.0, VIA Gigabit Ethernet adapter

IDE config:

1M: HD Maxtor 80 GB U-ATA
1S: empty
2M: DVD Burner
2S: DVD-ROM

First, the BIOS would occasionally fail to find the boot device (HD). Setting the primary master to "Not Installed" and rebooting, and then back to "Auto" remedied this for the time being.

Then a few days ago the machine started throwing a bunch of BSODs during normal operation. I recorded some of them for your viewing pleasure:

0x000000F4, 0x00000003, 0x829FF020, 0x829FF194 0xc000000E, 0xC000000E, 0x00000000, 0x05357000 0x0000007A (0XC03E1128, 0XC0000185, 0XF844A074, 0X08195860) ACPI.SYS 0x0000008E (0XC0000005, 0X8054AE34, 0XF6505BF4, 0X00000000)

Eventually XP wouldn't boot at all: system32/config was 'corrupted', or something along those lines. I assume this happened as a result of one of the STOP errors.

For some reason CHKDSK wouldn't run on this machine, so I took out the drive and ran CHKDSK on it with the drive attached to another machine. It did find a bunch of errors and corrected them all.

I put it back in its own box, and ran CHKDSK again from the Recovery Console (ran fine this time, and found no errors) and also a FIXBOOT for good measure.

Which brings us to the current situation. The system32/config error is gone, and Windows does boot, *but*:

-The XP splash screen fades in very slowly and seems halted here and there.
-Upon logon, the desktop background loads but no icons or taskbar appear.
-I can load explorer and systray via taskmgr, and sometimes they eventually load on their own without intervention, but this takes a *long* time. Somewhere in the ten minutes order of magnitude.

So technically speaking, Windows now runs, but it's so excruciatingly slow it's basically unusable.

Additional details:
-I have run a Spybot Search & Destroy scan: it found some threats and removed them. No new findings upon further boots and/or Spybot runs.
-I would scan for viruses, but I can't install AVG Free: I just removed the old 7.1 version (had to anyway as it was no longer supported), and the 7.5 installer happily skips from "pick a directory" to "Installation Complete!" but never seems to have touched a file at all! Doesn't even create the specified directory in Program Files.
-Network now also doesn't work. The Network Connections window says "Connected" but the machine receives no IP address nor lease from router. Router and rest of network are running fine.
-I tried System Restore with a variety of restore points from the past two weeks or so, but after going through the process (which also takes very long) it reboots and tells me that restoring to the previous point failed.

In short, I'm confused and could really use your insight. What's causing this and how can I fix it? Thanks in advance for any light you can shed upon this. If you have any questions or need any further details, I'd be happy to answer and provide them.

Save the ITunes, Save the world!

keep it tight — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 05:10:59 -0800

Help me save my GF's ITunes! There is of course... My GF's Dell laptop had an issue yesterday and on advice of the Dell Tech Support, we tried a System Restore. This didn't fix the problem, but oh well...

Later, she went to sync her ipod and noticed that any songs downloaded after the System Restore wouldn't play (error message said they weren't licensed to play on her PC) so we went back to System Restore to "undo" the procedure. After about 30 mins of the laptop sitting doing nothing, seemed the restore wasn't responding, we decided to re-boot....

BLUE SCREEN!

c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE

I can get on the HARDDRIVE via a USB to IDE direct cable, but how do I get the 200+ songs that were on the "pre-restore" version of ITunes??

Please be my hero!

( I looked up the error on MS and saw recovery setps. HOWEVER. it says not to run on OEM installs of the OS)

Dell has been no help.