Free way of cleaning a computers faulty registry [Archive]

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JDarvall

18th March 2006, 08:42 AM

Anybody know of any freeware programs I can download to fix registry problems in my computer....

See, I'm continually getting this little popup windows on my screen yelling at me that my registry is corrupt, and if I don't fix soon, my whole computer will go to #####. I close these windows, but they keep coming up......and strangely, everytime they come up they recommend a different cleaning program......eg....

fix-reg.com
fixwin32.com
myregfix.com

Every one of these programs does a scan of my registry and reports over a hundred errors. Each program comes up with a different number of errors too ???? I don't get it. Shouldn't there be the same number of problems.

But, of course, after they've reported the errors they ask for my credit card details, to charge me about $30 to fix the lot, which of course I don't want to pay.

Any ideas. The problems been dragging on for a couple of days now. Nothings ##### itself yet. How do I address this problem ?

Thanks . Any ideas.

Jake

Ian007

18th March 2006, 08:57 AM

try this

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Cheers Ian

Ivan in Oz

18th March 2006, 09:28 AM

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tag=srch&qt=cleaner&tg=dl-2001&search.x=37&search.y=8

or try Tucows

chrisb691

18th March 2006, 09:35 AM

I'd suggest that you have a variety of nasty on your PC, that is causing the popups. Maybe it's spyware or adware, or something worse. Windows itself has nothing that will cause these popups.

I suggest you get Hold of "Spybot search & destroy", and maybe "A squared" for starters, both are freeware.

felixe

18th March 2006, 09:35 AM

Hi Apricotripper,
It sounds like you have some sort of spyware/freeware issue going on that keeps popping up and trying to get a sale!
If you do need to clean your registry try using "regseeker", it's the one I use, you download it, unzip it and run it straight away from the folder, no further installation required.
RegSeeker website : http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm
I suggest you also go to this website (rayshaw.com.au) this is where I got the regseeker link from. Ray Shaw is a writer for the "courier mail" QLD on computer and IT related issues, he has an informative and simple website and will have links to removing any spyware as well.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

Felixe

ThePope

18th March 2006, 10:35 AM

You've definately been infected with scumware, get yourself both of these programs and they should clean up the crap someone has so kindly installed on your system. Both are free and do a great job, if you still have problems let me know, there's always a fix somewhere for this s.hit

Spybot - Search & Destroy
http://www.spybot.info/en/spybotsd/index.html

Ad-Aware Personal
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

macca2

18th March 2006, 11:00 AM

http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/?ref=googleB
Try this one.
It came with the Netguide mag
macca

doug the slug

18th March 2006, 11:15 AM

RegSeeker website : http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Thanks Felixe, nice little programhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon14.gif

Ashore

18th March 2006, 11:45 AM

SIL had a similar problem 3 months ago after he up graded to XP he had a problem with not-ons not working with the up-grade,
spybot and adaware didn't clean it so he got a copy of Vet security suite and it cleaned the hole thing , got rid of all the crap , 23 viruses etc , down side cost was about $125 for the 12 months sub to Vet.

Rgds

Ianab

18th March 2006, 04:47 PM

It looks like that you are getting spam thru 'windows messenger service'. This is a built in part of windows which allows messages to be sent from one PC to another on the network. No one uses it for that, except spammers.
There is probably no fault with your PC, but you need to turn some things off and/or install a firewall to stop it.

Have a look at this page and see if it matches up with what you have.

http://elamb.blogharbor.com/hacked/messagefromsystemalert.htm

Bottom of the page tells you how to turn off the windows messaging and recomends you install a firewall, Zonealarm is good (and free)

Cheers

Ian

JDarvall

19th March 2006, 08:55 AM

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice. I'd be stuffed without this forum.

Ianab.......you right. Same sort of messages as those shown in your link.
I had some trouble downloading the cleaning programs though. For some reason, in the middle of downloading the internet would go off line, and then fail to reconnect unless I restarted the whole computer.

I managed to download that freeware from felixe though. And Dougs right. Nice little program alright. Quick. Thanks. The problems fixed. It also seemed to clear other hanging problems I was having.

So I need a firewall eh. How memory absorbing are these things to run ? I mean, I've heard there good as long as you've got a powerful enough computer to run it,,,,otherwise it can slow things down too much . I should just try one and see what happens.

namtrak

19th March 2006, 09:16 AM

If your running XP give Windows Defender a go as well. I run Adaware, spybot and Defender.

Ianab

19th March 2006, 10:20 AM

So I need a firewall eh. How memory absorbing are these things to run ? I mean, I've heard there good as long as you've got a powerful enough computer to run it,,,,otherwise it can slow things down too much . I should just try one and see what happens.

ZoneAlarm is good, and the price is right (Free) and shouldn't bog down your PC too badly.
If you find it slows you down, then spend a few bucks and get a bit more ram for your PC. Actually maybe go and get some more ram anyway, it's cheap and can make an old PC work twice as fast as it used to anyway.

Cheers

Ian

skratbag

19th March 2006, 06:16 PM

Hi,

If you have a router/modem and are running ADSL, you may have a firewall in the modem that can be activated. I have one in mine (Zyxel 660H) and it works just fine.

Regards

stevebaby

19th March 2006, 06:18 PM

http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/?ref=googleB
Try this one.
It came with the Netguide mag
maccaSecond that.Doesn't remove spyware but fixes heaps of registry problems.It's very good.

Robert34

19th March 2006, 06:44 PM

Have a look at this page and see if it matches up with what you have.

http://elamb.blogharbor.com/hacked/messagefromsystemalert.htm

Bottom of the page tells you how to turn off the windows messaging and recomends you install a firewall, Zonealarm is good (and free)

Cheers

Ian

I have clicked on this link 3 times and each time my screen went all blurry.
And I could not read it, so I had to reboot.

Is this a problem with my very old, slow machine. Or is it one these funky new sites that require a modern fast machine running XP.

I am hoping that you or someone else can answer this question.

Oh I spent most of the day yesterday doing computer house work. That is updating and running some of the previously mentioned programs in this thread.

Thanks in advance for any assistance on this question.

Robert34

Ianab

19th March 2006, 08:33 PM

Robert34

26th March 2006, 01:56 PM

Robert

If you aren't running XP or 2000 then that page wont apply to you.
If you are want to run ZoneAlarm then you can go to http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp and look for the downloads. The basic Zonelarm is free to download.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks Ian, I did download and install Zone Alarm. It looks like a good program.

But I had to uninstal it, as it caused my machine to lock up several times.
It could conflicting with another program on my machine. I have no idea which one though.

Oh I should mention that I am running Win98SE.

I shall also try some of the other links mentioned, and see how I go.

Thanks everybody for the links and advise.

Rob

macca2

26th March 2006, 10:56 PM

Rob............I am also running Windows 98SE. I use Zonealarms,AVG anti virus and Adaware, with no problems.
I used to run PC-cillin but when I upgraded to 2006 version it clashed some other programs, and also affected my computer on shutdown. (made it hang)
I also tried to run the latest Adobe reader. Similar problems.
It appears that some new programs don't like W 98SE.
Cheers Macca

Ianab

27th March 2006, 12:45 PM

Also, if you are running Win98 on an old PC chances are it doesn't have much ram. Most came with only 64mb back in those days. If you chuck another 256mb in them it gives them a whole new lease of life. If wont make them run like a new PC, but makes it a lot easier to run multiple programs, like virus scanner / firewall etc.

Cheers

Ian

Robert34

27th March 2006, 02:58 PM