Anybody got any recommendations...
Nov. 9th, 2008 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thismaz... for a good, free registry fixer?
I am running WindowXP on my laptop. The machine is only two and a half years old, but lately it has been freezing, especially when I'm in Word. It is also generally slower to do anything.
I have done a defrag, although the defrag analyser said I didn't need one. I have run a thorough virus scan. I did have a Trojan a couple of weeks ago, but I got rid of that. But I'm thinking it might have left some damage.
Googling "registry repair" gave me a number of choices, but also the warning that they are a major source of malware. Obviously, I don't want that, so I don't want to just download one, no matter how 'respectable' the website looks.
I use Avast virus protection, but they don't do anything except anti-virus.
A search of the Microsoft site (I figured they were a reliable source, even if I find their programmes tend to be heavy to operate) led me to Registry Fixer and I downloaded that, but the demo version will only fix a couple of things and a review I read of it (yes, on one of those sites I am not sure I can trust) said that it was not very effective anyway. It's not that I am unwilling to pay the $37 for RF, I just wondered if any of you, oh my knowledgeable flist, have experience of a programme that you have used and found to be effective?
ETA: I also don't want to reinstall XP from disc, particularly, since from what I've read, that would result in me losing everything else and having to do a mass reinstall. I can do that. I might do that. But if I do, it won't be until I have some time off, at Christmas.
In the meantime, I'm hoping for an easier solution.
Getting rid of the laptop and buying a Mac is also, unfortunately, not an option. *g*
Has anybody more got any practical advice? Please?
I am running WindowXP on my laptop. The machine is only two and a half years old, but lately it has been freezing, especially when I'm in Word. It is also generally slower to do anything.
I have done a defrag, although the defrag analyser said I didn't need one. I have run a thorough virus scan. I did have a Trojan a couple of weeks ago, but I got rid of that. But I'm thinking it might have left some damage.
Googling "registry repair" gave me a number of choices, but also the warning that they are a major source of malware. Obviously, I don't want that, so I don't want to just download one, no matter how 'respectable' the website looks.
I use Avast virus protection, but they don't do anything except anti-virus.
A search of the Microsoft site (I figured they were a reliable source, even if I find their programmes tend to be heavy to operate) led me to Registry Fixer and I downloaded that, but the demo version will only fix a couple of things and a review I read of it (yes, on one of those sites I am not sure I can trust) said that it was not very effective anyway. It's not that I am unwilling to pay the $37 for RF, I just wondered if any of you, oh my knowledgeable flist, have experience of a programme that you have used and found to be effective?
ETA: I also don't want to reinstall XP from disc, particularly, since from what I've read, that would result in me losing everything else and having to do a mass reinstall. I can do that. I might do that. But if I do, it won't be until I have some time off, at Christmas.
In the meantime, I'm hoping for an easier solution.
Getting rid of the laptop and buying a Mac is also, unfortunately, not an option. *g*
Has anybody more got any practical advice? Please?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 03:32 pm (UTC)*g* My problem is that I would be worried about deleting something. And now I wonder why I would be willing to trust a computer programme to chose to do exactly the same thing, without asking me. I guess because I don't trust windows not to offer me the choice to delete something essential, but I would trust a especially designed programme not to do it.
I only have a couple of things in my start up. I always refuse that option when I install something. In task manager the two things that were using CPU capacity, when I looked this morning, when it froze, were pctsSvc.exe, which I think is associated with the spyware doctor and System Idle Process, which appears to be a valid windows function.
I'll check out those registry keys, thank you. See if there is stuff there that I don't want.
Thanks again.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-10 05:55 am (UTC)It stops responding, the cursor won't move and the screen unusually whites out. The bottom task bar is still there as well as the blue margin at the top of the screen. Sometimes I can click on another programme, but if I try to do anything in it (other than maximise or minimise) it will become non-responsive too. Sometimes after a while any buttons I have clicked suddenly catch up with me, as it unfreezes. Sometimes I eventually get the 'this programme in not responding' message. The programmes that seem to become non responsive most are Word and Outlook, or Word and Windows Explorer. Firefox usually doesn't.
Yesterday Word slowed down so that I had to wait for the words I'd typed to appear on the screen, but that was caused by an Avast download. The odd thing is that they never used to cause slowness. I don't know if that is another symptom of the same, or whether the download was just a particularly big one.
I do appreciate you taking the time to think about this. Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-13 06:24 am (UTC)Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I am so grateful to you for the trouble you've taken here.
I'll try that. And your beautifully clear instructions give me confidence that I won't do anything stupid or dangerous.
*hugs you again*