Re: What are Window Registry Errors?

On Aug 11, 11:27 pm, "WeReo_ScoTTy" <Sco...@newsserver.net> wrote:
> "Cork Soaker" <Thunderb...@Hardy.invalid> wrote in message
>
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > WeReo_ScoTTy wrote:
> >> I got a email telling me I my puter runs too slow so I need to fix my
> >> "window registry errors."

The Windows Registry controls nearly every operational aspect of
Windows.

The most common cause of registry errors are applications that have
been removed. Most vendors are very careful about getting the
installation correct, but are not so good at making sure that the
uninstall works correctly. After all, the last thing a software
vendor wants you to do is remove their software from your computer.
Even shareware that you haven't registered might be something that you
show to someone who WILL actually register and pay for the software.

However there are other settings that can be set or configured either
from the GUI or from the registry, that can also help speed up your
computer.

One of the biggest problems is indexing services. Windows has an
indexing service that helps you find files more quickly. This isn't
so bad if you only have a few hundred files on your drive, but with
200 gigabyte drives the number of files on the drive can go into the
millions. Turning off the indexing feature can speed up your Windows
performance significantly. Google desktop also lets you index your
drive, and autmatically indexes when you add files. You might want to
turn google deskop off and stop indexing when slow performance is
unacceptable.

Much of these indexing problems are actually related to issues with
the NTFS file system. On Linux, filesystems like ext2 and ext3 sort
directories automatically, so indexing is faster and easier. In
addition, directories are separate from the file metadata, so all you
need to sort/index are the name/inode pairs.

Other things that can cause delays are the "phone home" functions of
various components from Windows or Vista itself to various license
checkers and even spyware. If there is now internet connection, the
system can "hang" for as long as 15 seconds at a time.

Many applications also have registry settings for heap size, including
Windows itself. Letting applications grab huge amounts of memory for
self-managed heaps made applications run faster on older versions of
Windows such as NT 4.0, but since Windows 2000 and later have context
switches that are about 10 times faster, it's better to give most of
the memory to the system and let it allocate the memory directly.

You might also want to stop "pre-loaders" for applications you don't
regularly use. Office, Open Office, and several other large
applications set up a process that pre-loads all of the DLLs into
memory and keeps them there even if you aren't actually running the
application. Office, for example keeps about 20 libraries totaling
almost 200 megabytes of memory. Lotus Notes 7, Microsoft Office,
Internet Explorer, and Open Office, all have "quick-start" processes
that should be turned off if you don't use the application all the
time.

This is an issue with how Windows manages memory. Windows has more
trouble with demand paged virtual memory, and tries to avoid it by
putting everything in memory immediately. On Linux and Unix, all
libraries are reentrant and very small. As a result, a common set of
libraries can be shared more efficiently, and less frequently used
libraries can be mapped to demand paged memory and swapped out.


> >> I went to this website and it fixed 30 'errors' for free. Does anyone
> >> know
> >> what the importance of these "errors" are and what happens if I do or
> >> don't
> >> fix the so-cawled errors?

Different registry checkers have different things they consider
"errors". Some of the more ugly registry errors, again caused by
removing applications include registry settings that try to change the
location of a library to suit an application. If the application is
removed, and the library is removed, but the registry points to the
missing library, you could crash the applications that use it, or even
Windows itself.

> > oligarch!


Rex Ballard