Registry Anomaly

[Joe Ciaravino]

Windows 7 64 bit

I run Eusing Free Reg Cleaner as well as Free Windows Registry Repair. BOTH get stuck in:

"Empty Registry Keys"

Computer\Hkey_Users\S-1-5-21-2896351573-1439903457-3680831720-1000\software\classes\CLSID

The programs both stall there.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Joe,

I am NOT surprised
Thats a core registry entry - remove that and your in all sorts of trouble.

Please dont use registry cleaners

Roy

 

[MSClin]

I too don't recommend the use of both the registry cleaners you mentioned. Most of them will "brick" your registry and you may get specific errors in future when using the computer for normal things. Not only that, but most of this type of programs are pure scam - disguised malware. The web is full of malware disguised as registry tools. Some of them will even ask you to pay to fix the errors.

 

[Snick]

Hi Joe,

The only registry cleaner I would trust is CCleaner. I've used it for years & have never come across a "bricking" of a computer. Also, Eusing and Free Windows Registry Repair are garbage! If you have a backup and DVD/CD for it, you can boot to DVD/CD and restore to point prior to using your registry cleaner or, reimage your HDD/SSD if you have an image saved.

Take a look at this tutorial by Brink How to Boot to the system Recover Options in Windows 7

Do you have a Windows 7 x32 (32 bit) recovery CD? If not, is the computer you're using to post in SevenForums a Win7 x32 machine, if it is, you can create a repair disk.

Do you have a Windows 7 x32 installation disk? Do you know anyone who does that would let you borrow it. It is not copyright protected, only the 25-character product key (I'm a registered paralegal in the US)

Rule of thumb for newbies and veterans alike: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

[Joe Ciaravino]

Hi Joe,

The only registry cleaner I would trust is CCleaner. I've used it for years & have never come across a "bricking" of a computer. Also, Eusing and Free Windows Registry Repair are garbage! If you have a backup and DVD/CD for it, you can boot to DVD/CD and restore to point prior to using your registry cleaner or, reimage your HDD/SSD if you have an image saved.

Take a look at this tutorial by Brink How to Boot to the system Recover Options in Windows 7

Do you have a Windows 7 x32 (32 bit) recovery CD? If not, is the computer you're using to post in SevenForums a Win7 x32 machine, if it is, you can create a repair disk.

Do you have a Windows 7 x32 installation disk? Do you know anyone who does that would let you borrow it. It is not copyright protected, only the 25-character product key (I'm a registered paralegal in the US)

Rule of thumb for newbies and veterans alike: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Thank you.

I will uninstall Eusing and Windows Reg Repair and stay with CCCleaner in the future.

Mine is a 64 bit installation.

 

[Snick]

Win7 x64 so it is! Must of had a little brain fade!
Have you managed to repair your registry? Did you locate a Repair Disk, or Win 7 x64 Disk? I would be happy to create a repair disk on my Win 7 machine and upload it, however, I believe you can enter the repair environment on your machine without it, providing the deleted registry key(s) aren't an issue there. I'm going to go ahead and create a repair disk, then create an ISO file so I'll have it on hand for you if you wish, and for others with similar issues in the future.
Windows 7 automatically makes a backup every week or so. My desktop has one from 2/7/18. You most likely have an auto backup. Would you like me to assist you in restoring your registry from the backup? It's a several step process!

 

[JoWazzoo]

Have you tried booting to Safe Mode and then trying a Restore point before your hosed the Registry? I was ready to format and that worked. Before you do that you may want to boot to Command prompt and do a SFC /scannow first.

 

[Joe Ciaravino]

Win7 x64 so it is! Must of had a little brain fade!
Have you managed to repair your registry? Did you locate a Repair Disk, or Win 7 x64 Disk? I would be happy to create a repair disk on my Win 7 machine and upload it, however, I believe you can enter the repair environment on your machine without it, providing the deleted registry key(s) aren't an issue there. I'm going to go ahead and create a repair disk, then create an ISO file so I'll have it on hand for you if you wish, and for others with similar issues in the future.
Windows 7 automatically makes a backup every week or so. My desktop has one from 2/7/18. You most likely have an auto backup. Would you like me to assist you in restoring your registry from the backup? It's a several step process!

Thanks for your generous offer Snick. Whatever may have happened, occurred about 6 weeks ago and programs have been added/removed since then. It boots very fast with its solid state primary drive. I have all registry backups in my Eusing program. What would be the consequences of replacing the registry with a 2 month old version?

The thing is, is that the computer works just fine. No problems although it takes about 2 seconds longer to boot in the last 6 weeks. Other than that bit of anal obsession, everything works well. I'm simply curious as to why registry cleaners (with the exception of CCleaner) get "stuck" when trying to clean Empty Registry Keys.

 

[Joe Ciaravino]

Have you tried booting to Safe Mode and then trying a Restore point before your hosed the Registry? I was ready to format and that worked. Before you do that you may want to boot to Command prompt and do a SFC /scannow first.

Jo,

See my reply to Snick. I don't know whether or not there is a problem. I'd rather not risk breaking something.

 

[TechnoMage2016]

CCleaner? roflmao !!!

Of all the so-called registry cleaners, that I've tried over the years, that's the only one that damaged my registry so bad that I could not even boot up my PC. Please, even though it seems to have lots of Fan Boys, don't use it.

Being somewhat stubborn, I actually tried CCleaner twice, over a several years period of time. In both cases I had to Restore my Backup copy of my C: partition, to get my PC back in operating condition again.

So if you insist on using a Registry Cleaner, at least back up your C: drive with a FREE and reliable Backup Program, and save the backup to an External Hard Drive or Flash Drive of adequate size. I do both.
Remember, what a wise old sage told me years ago, "the only bad backup is the one you decided NOT to make". So anytime you're going to do something questionable, like futzing with your registry, do a C: drive backup first. OH...and, your backup/restore program must be on a Bootable Media, like a CD, and not on your hard drive.

Good Luck!
TechnoMage

PS: There are actually several SAFE registry cleaners, but most that work well for Windows 7 to 10 are Retail Programs. I tried one called "Windows Utilities" (WinUtil) and I liked it so much that I bought it. (and I typically HATE to buy software, if I can get it for FREE)

 

[Snick]

I ALWAYS have a recent backup before I try a new program, especially a cleaner of any sort. External Hard Drive are very cheap and getting cheaper all the time. By the way, CCleaner on default options, give you a choice to backup the registry BEFORE it attempts to clean it. Sorry to hear that others have experienced issue with it.

As for a free backup program, the general consensus here appears to be Macrium Reflect free, which I demoed a few months back. The GUI (graphical user interface) is slightly intimidating for newbies in my opinion & I usually suggest AOMEI Backupper free. The GUI is much simpler. As always, GOOGLE is your friend, YouTube has a plethora of videos on these tools as well as many others. If you trash your registry, Windows creates a new registry backup every week or two. C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack, which can be utilized to restore a corrupt registry, making re-imaging the C: drive or system restore unnecessary. Brink has an excellent tutorial on it in the Tutorial section, Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery, although the title is a little off subject, the process/steps to replace the registry components is identical. Additionally, Brian at Britec Computers UK has video demonstration on the subject, Restore Registry Hives on Windows 7 in Command Prompt, albeit, he doesn't include the cautionary check for 0 bits/bites in RegBack files, checks to see if your in the correct directories, etc., that Brink provides.

 

[Snick]

I don't believe SFC Scannow will repair the registry entries. Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

 

[JoWazzoo]

What would be the consequences of replacing the registry with a 2 month old version?

Any software and some changes made subsequent may not work correctly. Particularly new installs. Some may not work at all. Everything writes to the Registry these days

 

[Joe Ciaravino]

I just ran sfc /scannow just to check system files. It said that some system files couldn't be repaired (I NOW remember doing this a long while ago with the same results)................anyway, I went to the log that was generated but was denied access.

So there ARE some corrupt system files. There HAVE been for a very long time. I can't access the logfile and if I did, I wouldn't know how to fix them.

This might be off the original track, but I'd like to get to the bottom of this first, and get to the registry next. Can anyone offer help.

 

[Joe Ciaravino]

Win7 x64 so it is! Must of had a little brain fade!
Have you managed to repair your registry? Did you locate a Repair Disk, or Win 7 x64 Disk? I would be happy to create a repair disk on my Win 7 machine and upload it, however, I believe you can enter the repair environment on your machine without it, providing the deleted registry key(s) aren't an issue there. I'm going to go ahead and create a repair disk, then create an ISO file so I'll have it on hand for you if you wish, and for others with similar issues in the future.
Windows 7 automatically makes a backup every week or so. My desktop has one from 2/7/18. You most likely have an auto backup. Would you like me to assist you in restoring your registry from the backup? It's a several step process!

I'd like to take you up on your kind offer. First Maybe I should tackle the situation uncovered in the previous post.

Thanks!

 

[JoWazzoo]

You will need to use some "substring ** commands to dig out the errors in the CBS.log" as that file is HUGE. And then good luck. It can be a pain to isolate the files and find replacements as uncorrected errors are due to the backups being hosed as well.

Anything touched by SFC will have a [SR] in the entry, but they will be far too many of these in the CBS file. And CBS has a ton of other crap in them.

How do I analyze the command to detect corrupt files in Windows 7? - Super User

Search for:

"corrup"
"repair"
"Repairing corrupted file"
"Cannot repair member file"
"Repaired file"

Easiest to do this in a command prompt and log in to the directory that includes. CBS.log

then you can use something like

findstr /c:"Cannot repair" CBS.log | More

Or redirect the output to a text file

> sfcdetails.txt

instead of piping thru More

 

[Snick]

If you run System Update Redness Tool it parses the data and creates a section "missing files" and attach the CheckSUR log which will then be located at %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\ to your next post, I'm pretty sure I have replacement files for your missing/corrupt ones. You can do either repair first, reg replacement with RegBack or missing/corrupt system files, makes no difference, your choice.

 

[Snick]

Any software and some changes made subsequent may not work correctly. Particularly new installs. Some may not work at all. Everything writes to the Registry these days

Windows creates RegBack new every 7-10 days, if you haven't installed

You shouldn't loose anything using RegBack to replace your registry. If you have a program you installed that isn't working correctly after registry replacement, go to Computer, uninstall program, click on the program, select uninstall and most often on of the choices on the next menus is repair. It is on Avast free anti-virus and many others in my experience. If that option is unavailable, Belarc adviser, free program, will locate all your paid for installed program keys. You can print them to a file or paper. Reinstall programs, insert product key.

 

[RolandJS]

tweaking.com's registry backup / restore utility also does a great job of creating registry hives backups. Both on-demand and scheduled registry backups can be made into any specified directory or its default choice.

 

[Joe Ciaravino]

F8 Doesn't Do It

I can no longer get the Advanced Boot Options menu when I hold F8 during early boot. How can I get it back.

Thanks in advance,
Joe