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Written By: Ron Thompson Email: rdthom@netcom.com Language: vb4 System: Win95 Date: July 19, 1997 Version 1.0.1 Status: freeware Copyright: Ron Thompson, 1997 Why I wrote this --- - ----- ---- RegChk was written so I could find the 'junk' in the registry. After installing and uninstalling several hundred programs, I knew that there must be lots of stuff in the registry that pointed to files that moved or were no longer on the harddrive. There are many utilities, many articles written, and many commercial products dedicated to removing a specific app from the registry. I could find nothing that took the registry point-of-view to tell you what was moved or gone from the harddrive. Now something does. What does it do? ---- ---- -- --- RegChk scans the registry for files and directories and checks to see if they exist. RegChk does NOTHING to the registry. It simply shells 'regedit.exe /e regchk00.txt' which exports everything from the registry to a text file. Even the text file is treated as read-only (as a side benefit, you now have that all-important registry backup you've been meaning to do). A separate report is generated for each drive. What info do I get? ---- ---- -- - ---- Each missing file is reported in regchk_*.out where * is the drive letter you checked. Each reported file has 3 lines of data similar to the following: D:\COREL\OFFICE7\QUATTRO7\QPW.EXE [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.WB1\shell\open\command] @="D:\\COREL\\OFFICE7\\QUATTRO7\\QPW.EXE %1" Line one is the actual filename or directory name that RegChk checked for existence. Failure to find it is what caused this report entry to be generated. It may find some 'funny' things, because filename parsing from the registry is not an exact science. I'm constantly adding filters to eliminate the 'funny' ones from the scan. (If you find a 'funny', email it to me, I'll add it to the filter and email you the new code) Line two is the key I found just before the file or directory. It MAY NOT BE THE EXACT KEY, but will be *very* close to the problem. Line three is the raw data in which I found the filename. It's for reference in case the filename looks 'funny' What do I do with it? ---- -- - -- ---- --- You can use this information to edit your registry. THIS CAN BE A VERY DANGEROUS THING TO DO. If you're not comfortable in the registry, stay out, and just forget you ever saw this program. MISTAKES IN REGISTRY EDITS CAN EASILY DESTROY ALL THE DATA ON YOUR SYSTEM, AND PERHAPS ON OTHER SYSTEMS AS WELL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. That said, use the information to delete data and keys for files and directories that no longer exist on your system. Use your own discretion in deleting references.
>Hi Ron > I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the great little >program!! I have just one question, when deleting items from the >registry, should I delete the value or the entire folder? > > Thanks > > Kent As to folder or key deletion, it depends. The short answer is, if you know for sure the app has been uninstalled, you can probably delete the folder. If not, you may not even want to delete the key. For instance, I have a program from Seagate called BackUp Exec. RegChk told me the following (in regchk_d.out): d:\backupexec2\BESCHLOG.TXT [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Seagate\Backup Exec Scheduler] "LogPath"="d:\\backupexec2\\BESCHLOG.TXT" I would only delete the key, since the folder contains other keys and information about other parts of the still-installed backup program. But I know something about this file. I know it's the log file for the backup unattended scheduler. I know that it doesn't exist because I've never run the backup SCHEDULER. And since this program is still installed and I may someday use the schedule function, I'm going to leave this key alone. (sounds like the basis for a no-nag feature!) On the other hand, it found on D: d:\UnInstaller 4\custom.dtb [HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\MicroHelp\UnInstaller4] "CustomRulesDataBasePath"="d:\\UnInstaller 4\\custom.dtb" Now, I *know* I removed the uninstaller4 demo months ago, so in this case I can remove the entire uninstaller4 folder. =========================================================================== >Dear Ron, >Hi, my name is Matt and I have a few questions I hope you can answer. >Firstly, thankyou for your freeware program, as I am a bit of a greenhorn >I find it great to surf around for helpful programs that are simple and >easy to use. >I've had my 486/4x100 for 2-3 yrs and I'm only just really getting the hang >of it now. (I can't have my 6yr old son knowing more about it than me!!) >Anyway I was wondering how to read regchk_c.out. I started to print the >regchk.txt file but stopped it once it got to 100 pages (it goes beyond >1000 pages, the txt file is 1.43Mb). >Thanks, hope to hear from you soon >Matt Thanks so much for taking a look at the program. Here's one entry from regchk_c.out, and an explanation by line 1 c:\windows\socks.cnf 2 [HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\Services] 3 "Socks Conf"="c:\\windows\\socks.cnf" Line 1 if the filename or directory RegChk was verifying existence of. Line 2 is the registry folder that the filename in line 1 was found in. line 3 is the original line that the filename was extracted from. The original entry (line 3) is important. Filenames with spaces may be extracted improperly. This way you see the original data, and can make an informed decision on what to do with the entry. The regchk_c.out file is there as a somewhat faster way of seeing registry data that RegChk found fault with. ========================================================================= Thanks for writing, check out http://www.sageinst.com/regchk Now, let me tell you how I use it. Once I get the filename or directory name that RegChk thinks doesn't exist, I go to Windows Explorer and make sure it *really* doesn't exist. For example RegChk says that the file d:\UnInstaller 4\custom.dtb did not exist. Sure enough it doesn't because I removed the UnInstaller4 demo months ago. So in this case I deleted not only the key and data, but the whole dang Uninstaller4 folder from the registry, which I found by using FIND in regedit looking for custom.dtb. After doing a few edits on the registry, I run Microsoft's RegClean 4.1. That way I can see right away if anything I've done has caused problems. One of the things I noticed before using RegChk and cleaning up things was that RegClean would find 50-60 "bad" entries every time I ran it. The number of bad entries dropped every time I cleaned out a few things, until now, it reports no problems at all. And my system is amazingly stable now. Odd behavior from something that isn't even there! >If I delete data and keys for files and directories that no longer exist >and leave the references alone, will that in itself avoid the problems that >we all have when we screw with the registry? I don't quite get what "problem we all have" means. If you mean corrupted registry, or regedit errors from "oops"-type things, that's pretty straightforward to fix. Once your system is in good working condition, export your registry to a safe place, with a filename that includes the date (such as reg_97aug16.txt). Then, just before installing new software or hardware, export your registry again. Get the program INCTRL3 from zdnet's software library and use it to monitor the installation. It will give you a list of every file/directory/registry change during the install. If the thing you installed doesn't work out, use the INCTRL3 report to rip out all the parts of the program, then use RegClean to check it's integrity. I hope this answers your question. If not, just let me know, and I'll try to clarify it. Ron At 08:11 PM 8/15/97 -0400, you wrote: >Ron: Thank you for writing and making public your regchk program. It is >very obvious that the registry scheme was not designed for the user and I >hope some day someone writes a program trap and decode it and to place it >into an .ini type file. In the mean time I shall use your fine program . >In your Docs the following statement appears, "That said, use the >information to delete data and keys for files and directories that no >longer exist on your system. Use your own discretion in deleting references." >If I delete data and keys for files and directories that no longer exist >and leave the references alone, will that in itself avoid the problems that >we all have when we screw with the registry? I realize that is like asking >the doctor to guarantee his prescribed medicine but just a little more help >info in your Doc would be mighty comfortable and I think it can be done >without exposing you to more liability. Every other registry program I have >seen, just doesn't do the job. Thanks again. >James
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