I want to remove some processes from the registry


hermanntrude
Avatar
#1
I've read that if you edit your registry you can remove unwanted processes from running in the background. I am sure there are many unwanted processes set to run in the background on my computer but I don't know how to know which ones they are, or which ones will destroy my computer if i remove them.

How do you do it? Are there lists of the essential registry entries somewhere? If you delete one but find u want it back, how do you get it back?
 
hermanntrude
#2
anyone seen durkadurka recently?
 
hermite
Avatar
#3
Here's something to read that may help: --

Just make a copy of the registry before you change anything in it.
 
hermanntrude
#4
nifty. thanks
 
#juan
Avatar
#5
Hi Herman

Here is a free registry cleaner that will allow you to decide what to throw out:

http://tinyurl.com/4fa6kt

Good Luck...
 
hermanntrude
Avatar
#6
thanks juan. the first one told me it would fix only 19 errors for free, and i had about 700
 
FUBAR
Avatar
#7
--

Try this, it will find loads of problems but they tend to be pretty reliable with their products.
 
hermanntrude
Avatar
#8
I tried juan's registry cleaner. It found 350 invalid paths and fixed them. we'll see what the reuslts are over the next day or so i expect
 
lone wolf
Avatar
#9
Yeah ... it found a whole bunch of invalid paths and funny files here too. Cool ... just so long as in a couple of days I don't have to lay out long green for a thing-a-ma-bob to fix that job....

(canya tell I don't trust online gimmickry?)
 
Droz68
#10
a really good program for cleaning up unwanted files, and cleaning registry is ccleaner, don't have a link on hand at the moment but google will get you there

it's free so no limits on repairs or anything lame like that ...
 
Dexter Sinister
Avatar
#11
I would suggest before you do anything, go here, this Black Viper's one of the sharpest guys out there: --

Find your OS on his list, and look carefully at what he tells you about the services it wants to run, and whether you can safely disable them, or whether you can set them for manual start rather than autostart. Windows likes to start up a lot of stuff that most of us don't need.

Then run Windows Task Manager and look at what it tells you is running under the Processes tab. Where Task Manager is depends partly on how your system's been configured. It'll show up after Ctl-Alt-Del on a button in the Windows Security panel if you're system's set up with the classic interface, or it'll be available in the popup list you get after a right click on an empty part of the task bar. Any process you see running there that isn't on Black Viper's list is something one of your programs has added. If you have a Logitech mouse, for instance, you'll probably see a process called EM_EXEC.EXE running. That's the mouse driver; the system will work if you kill it off, but you won't have full functionality with the mouse. You may also see similar driver processes related to your particular hardware, like video card drivers, printer drivers, you'll see something from Nero Burning ROM if you have that, you'll see anti-virus processes (or you certainly *should*) and so on. You need to know what things are before you remove them, and you can't remove them with Task Manager, all you can do is kill them off temporarily. For that you need to get into the registry, or they'll just show up again the next time you reboot.

Unless you're a serious expert, I wouldn't recommend doing that manually with regedit. And if you know how to do that, you don't need any help from me anyway. There are multiple places in the registry that things are started from, and there are freeware utilities that'll guide you through it. I use one called StartupCPL, which you can find at --. Its greatest advantage to me is that it shows the full path name associated with the processes Windows starts, which'll give you a clue about whether you can safely remove something. Note, though, that what StartupCPL tells you gets started isn't necessarily what the Task Manager will show you is running. It doesn't, for instance, tell me that EM_EXEC.EXE is started anywhere, nor is there any indication that it gets started when I do a manual search in the registry for Run keys. What I see in the registry getting started is a process called Logi_mwX.Exe, but it doesn't show up in Task Manager's list. What I presume is happening is that the Logi_mwX process starts up other processes then disappears, leaving them running.

Be careful though. It's altogether typical of Microsoft to make the core of the system a large and easily corrupted database and provide no good maintenance or management tools for it. With regedit, for instance, search the registry for the name of an application you've uninstalled. Odds are you'll find it's left footprints all over the registry. That'll happen every time you install or uninstall things, the database doesn't get properly cleaned out, over time it just gets bigger and bigger and becomes an increasingly inaccurate description of your system. No registry cleaner (I use -- one and -- one) can fix that, they can only postpone it. At some point, though fortunately it usually takes a few years, you have to wipe the drives and start over to get a clean system.
 
Avro
#12
Where's a mod when you need one?

BAN!
 

Similar Threads

43
Death of Long Gun Registry
by Durgan | Dec 23rd, 2007
54
Gun Registry Dies Tomorrow!
by Colpy | May 19th, 2006
519
The Gun Registry Must be Deregistered!!
by bluealberta | Dec 15th, 2005
36
Canadian Gun Registry
by missile | Dec 21st, 2004
no new posts