Windows-Easy

How to Delete Empty Registry Keys?

Do you know what empty registry keys are?

Empty registry keys are also called registry holes. They can increase the size of the registry, but they have no value in the registry. This uncontrolled growth of the registry may cause severe damage by corrupting and fragmenting registry files.

Do you know how the empty registry keys are caused?

One of the most important reasons is that when you uninstall various software and applications from your computer, there are placeholders left behind. And when you remove unwanted keys from the registry by a tool, it may just remove the malicious or unwanted values but can not remove the entire keys.

Do you know what influence the empty registry key can make?

An empty registry key can cause havoc to your computer. In other words, a malfunctioning registry can cause many kinds of errors, such as: system errors, fatal errors, blue screen, etc.

Do you know how to remove empty registry keys and fix registry errors?

It is a default that Windows has a Registry Editor that you can open by running the “Regedit” command. When open the Registry Editor, you can see a Windows Explorer-like folder structure. You can browse through the Registry tree and search for the registry keys which are unwanted and empty, and then delete them manually. However, manual deletion is not safe for computer, or may damage the registry even a small mistake.

So, if you want to delete the empty registry in a safe way, you’d better choose a registry cleaner to repair your registry in a professional way.

Do you know Registry Winner software?

Registry Winner is top-ranking error-resolution software which can delete the empty registry keys effectively. It will fix the computer errors and optimize the system speed. After many users using it, it is proved that this software is impressive to fix any registry error and optimize the computers performance.

First, before you delete and fix any error, the software can create backups of the registry automatically.

Second, you can easily scan your computer and remove the invalid DLL entries, delete the invalid COM/Active entries, uninstall invalid entries left behind from the registry.

To Solve “Disabled the Display Control Panel Message”

You may encounter problems trying to change your display settings if you have a certain policy set to prevent you from doing so. If you try and run the display control panel applet either by right clicking on the desktop and selecting properties or clicking on Display from Control Panel.

To fix the problem you can perform a simple registry fix.

1. Start the registry editor by clicking on Start\ Run and then type in regedit and click Ok.

2. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. If you have an entry for NoDispCPL, double click it to open it

4. If not you can create it by going to the Edit menu and selecting New and then DWORD value

5. Enter a name of NoDispCPL and press enter

6. Once you have this entry you should double click it and set the value to 0

Close the registry editor. The change will take effect immediately.

Computer takes a long time to start up or you have low resources

1.Click “Start”, then “Run”.

2. In the “Open” field type “msconfig” and click “OK”.

3.The utility that opens will have “Tabs” at the top. Click the one that reads “Startup”.

4. You will see a list of all the programs that run when you start Windows. They will have check marks in the boxes to their left. We do not want them all to start.

5. Remove all the check marks (by clicking on them) except the ones beside “SystemTray” – “ScanRegistry” – “LoadPowerProfile” and “Task Monitor”.
Also leave a check mark in anything that has the name of, or abbreviation of, your antivirus program or anything that looks like it might apply to “Norton” products.

6. Click “OK” at the bottom. You will be asked if you want to re-start your computer – do it.

If, in the future, you notice things that you are used to loading when you boot up, but aren’t – and that you want to load – then go back and check their boxes

Common Registry FAQs

Registry is what Windows uses to store hardware and software configuration information, user preferences and setup information on your computer. The longer you own your computer, the more errors and invalid entries your registry is likely to have. This leads to decreased system performance and an unstable computing environment.

Thus, your computer’s speed will continuously decrease and you will experience more freezes and system crashes. Some computer users try to repair their registries manually end up making the problems worse. Chances are that you wouldn’t know where to begin, and even if you did, it would take you hours (maybe even days) to perform the tasks that Registry Winner can do in just a few minutes.

Fortunately, there are reasonable and simple ways to run a registry error system scan to check for any errors. If the scan detects errors, you can then run a cleaning utility to fix those errors.

Here is an FAQ on registry error system scans:

1. What is the Registry?
The Windows registry is found in Windows 9X, Windows CE, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP and the Windows Vista operating systems. The registry is essentially the catalog or reference source for your computer.

When you attempt to open a program-for example, your word processor-your computer queries the registry to find where the program is stored. The registry contains references to settings and values for the operating system, the programs, user profiles, document types, property sheet settings, system hardware and ports. Basically, much of what goes into or comes out of your computer is noted in the registry.

Only those with a thorough knowledge of computers should attempt to change the registry. Before tampering with the registry, make sure that you back it up to avoid losing any information. If you make a mistake while altering the registry and it isn’t backed up, you may lose information vital to the proper functioning of your computer.

However, just like every other part of your computer, your registry needs occasional cleaning and reorganization. Using Registry Winner will help you clean your computer registry painlessly.

2. Why does Registry Impact PC Performance?
When you uninstall software and hardware it is highly probable that remnants are left behind in your hard drive or registry that clog up your system, without a good program to remove and fix these entries you’ll be left with problems that cause imminent trouble including:

• Corrupted entries left in your Computer Registry
• Broken links and short cuts
• Program folders, help files, fonts and configuration files
• Applications that load when your PC starts-up

3. You can use registry cleaner utility to free scan your system.
Detecting whether your system has wide registry issues can be ran with a free scan. The reliable registry cleaner software offer free scans. Registry Winneris one example in point. Once you run the scan, then will you really know how bad your computer is.

4. Registry cleaner programs fix the errors.
After running a scan, the registry cleaner software will tell you exactly how many registry errors your pc may have, if any. If you do have errors, you are advised to immediately fix them because if they indeed exit, your computer will gradually go through blue screen, slow speed and crashes, etc. Actually these registry cleaner software are automated programs that scan your pc and tell you how many and where the errors are. Meanwhile, they go through each of your registry entries one-by-one, removing bad or invalid shortcuts.

The Windows registry is a database which stores settings and options for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, operating system software, most non-operating system software, and per-user settings. If it does not work probably, everything of your computer will stop. Therefore, knowing more information about registry does more good than harm to your computer health.

How To Backup the Entire Registry in Windows Vista?

If you’re planning on making numerous changes to different areas of the registry in Windows Vista, backing up each individual registry key could quickly become frustrating.
 
 Luckily, there’s an easy way to export the entire Windows Registry.This way, after backing up the entire registry, you can make changes to several registry keys and then be able to restore them all at once if need be.
 
 Follow these easy steps to back up the entire Windows Vista Registry.
 
 Note: The steps below require working with the Windows Registry. Making changes other than the ones described below could cause serious problems.
 
 Difficulty: Easy
 Time Required: Backing up the entire Windows Vista Registry usually takes less than 10 minutes
 Here’s How:
 1. Click on Start.
 
 2. In the search box, type regedit and hit your Enter key. The Registry Editor program will open.
 
 3. Navigate to the very top of the registry key branches until you reach Computer.
 
 4. Highlight Computer by clicking on it once.
 
 5. From the Registry Editor menu, choose File and then choose Export….
 
 6. In the Export Registry File window that appears, choose a location to save the file to.
 
 Note: I usually recommend choosing your desktop or the C:\ drive. Both are easy to access if you run into problems later and need to use the file to restore data.
 
 7. Locate the File name: text field and enter a name for the backup file.
 
 Note: This name is for you to remember what the exported registry file is for. Since you’re backing up the entire Windows Vista Registry, I would recommend calling this file Registry Backup or something like that.
 
 8. Click the Save button.
 
 A Registration File with an REG file extension will be created in the location you chose in Step 6 and with the file name you chose in Step 7. Continuing the example from the last step, the file would be named Registry Backup.reg.
 
 9. You can now make as many changes to any area of the registry that you want.
 
 10. If after making your registry changes, you realize that they did not give you the results you were looking for, you can simply restore the entire Windows Vista registry back to the point at which you backed it up.

The Structure of the Registry

 

The Registry has a hierarchal structure, although it looks complicated the structure is similar to the directory structure on your hard disk, with Regedit being similar to Windows Explorer.

Each main branch (denoted by a folder icon in the Registry Editor, see left) is called a Hive, and Hives contains Keys. Each key can contain other keys (sometimes referred to as sub-keys), as well as Values. The values contain the actual information stored in the Registry. There are three types of values; String, Binary, and DWORD – the use of these depends upon the context.

There are six main branches, each containing a specific portion of the information stored in the Registry. They are as follows:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT – This branch contains all of your file association mappings to support the drag-and-drop feature, OLE information, Windows shortcuts, and core aspects of the Windows user interface.
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER – This branch links to the section of HKEY_USERS appropriate for the user currently logged onto the PC and contains information such as logon names, desktop settings, and Start menu settings.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – This branch contains computer specific information about the type of hardware, software, and other preferences on a given PC, this information is used for all users who log onto this computer.
• HKEY_USERS – This branch contains individual preferences for each user of the computer, each user is represented by a SID sub-key located under the main branch.
• HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG – This branch links to the section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE appropriate for the current hardware configuration.
• HKEY_DYN_DATA – This branch points to the part of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, for use with the Plug-&-Play features of Windows, this section is dymanic and will change as devices are added and removed from the system.

Each registry value is stored as one of five main data types:

• REG_BINARY – This type stores the value as raw binary data. Most hardware component information is stored as binary data, and can be displayed in an editor in hexadecimal format.
• REG_DWORD – This type represents the data by a four byte number and is commonly used for boolean values, such as “0″ is disabled and “1″ is enabled. Additionally many parameters for device driver and services are this type, and can be displayed in REGEDT32 in binary, hexadecimal and decimal format, or in REGEDIT in hexadecimal and decimal format.
• REG_EXPAND_SZ – This type is an expandable data string that is string containing a variable to be replaced when called by an application. For example, for the following value, the string “%SystemRoot%” will replaced by the actual location of the directory containing the Windows NT system files. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32)
• REG_MULTI_SZ – This type is a multiple string used to represent values that contain lists or multiple values, each entry is separated by a NULL character. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32)
• REG_SZ – This type is a standard string, used to represent human readable text values.

Other data types not available through the standard registry editors include:

• REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN – A 32-bit number in little-endian format.
• REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN – A 32-bit number in big-endian format.
• REG_LINK – A Unicode symbolic link. Used internally; applications should not use this type.
• REG_NONE – No defined value type.
• REG_QWORD – A 64-bit number.
• REG_QWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN – A 64-bit number in little-endian format.
• REG_RESOURCE_LIST – A device-driver resource list.

Enable or Disable Run Commands Specific to the Registry

This tweak controls the use of the Run command on the local machine.

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\Explorer
Create a DWORD value for each Run function that will be disabled.

Modify/Create the Value Name [DisableLocalMachineRun] according to the Value Data listed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: DisableLocalMachineRun

Modify/Create the Value Name [DisableLocalMachineRunOnce] according to the Value Data listed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: DisableLocalMachineRunOnce

Modify/Create the Value Name [DisableCurrentUserRun] according to the Value Data listed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: DisableCurrentUserRun

Modify/Create the Value Name [DisableCurrentUserRunOnce] according to the Value Data listed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: DisableCurrentUserRunOnce

Setting for Value Data: [0 = Disabled / 1 = Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

Enable or Disable the Windows Logo Key

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

Modify/Create the Value Name [Scancode Map] according to the Value Data listed below.

Data Type: REG_BINARY [Binary Value] // Value Name: Scancode Map

Value Data: [Enter Exactly as Shown Below]

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00

Exit Registry and Reboot

How to Enable System File Protection Popup Notification

Warning that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To enable SFP popup messages, navigate to the following key in the registry and change the “ShowPopups” DWORD value from “0″ to “1″:
[HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ SystemFileProtection]

The above registry key is one path, it has been wrapped for readability. The change will take effect when you restart your computer. To disable the popup messages, set the DWORD value back to 0 and restart your computer.

The default setting for Windows Me SFP Popup Notification is 0 (disabled). SFP Popup Notification will display messages for: Restoring a protected file. Removing a security catalog. Adding a security catalog.

How can I disable the registry run keys in Windows XP?

You can disable the following registry run keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current\Version\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

To disable any of the above keys:

1.Use the Registry Editor to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer.

2.Add Value Names per the following table, setting these REG_DWORD data types to a data value of 1. A data value of 0 will enable the run key:

When you restart Windows XP, the configured entries in the disabled run key(s) will NOT start