Help please....560 invalid registry items on a new hard drive

[ohheckyeah]

Live Car one says I have 560 invalid registry items on a new hard drive. How is that possible? Should I let Live Care One fix the registry items?

[RoyGBiv]

1. Just a note ...

That's possible because Windows doesn't ever clean its own registry. The simple act of creating a directory and then deleting it can, in some cases, create an invalid registry entry.

This is what applications like CCleaner are for.

IOW, I wouldn't worry over the number. If you've never cleaned your registry, that doesn't surprise me in the least.

As to your main question, wait for someone with more current Windows awareness than me to answer. Why Syzygy seems to know about Live Care One. I do not.

[ohheckyeah]

2. But it's a new hard drive with a clean install.

Isn't that rather bizarre?

[RoyGBiv]

3. Oh ...

Well, that's a horse of a different color.

Still, whether it's indicative of a larger problem depends on what all has been done since first boot.

Not knowing how the application you're using works, I can't really guess what it might be finding. I'd have to look at a log of what items it says are invalid. You can sometimes get a whole crapload of invalid entries just from one program being deleted improperly.

[Duer 157099]

8. Clean install of what? Even so, no, it's not unusual

There was a time when I decided that I wanted to have a squeaky-clean registry and so I went about removing every unnecessary entry that I could find. Well, needless to say, I never succeeded and it's a good thing. I've come to accept that a somewhat "dirty" registry is not only normal and harmless, but that it's necessary in ways that are not easy to predict. The best analogy I've come up with is that of good microbes in the gut -- get rid of them and bad things can happen. Or, it's like redundant neural pathways, you can remove some of them or most of them but you'll never notice the harm until you damage something that the redundancy was overlapping. If that makes sense.

I guess what I'm saying is that Windows installs with a whole bunch of unnecessary registry entries, things that are there "just in case" you ever install or use such-and-such program. Lots of empty entries, just waiting to be filled by the appropriate programs if/when they show up.

And registry cleaning programs seem to use somewhat different criteria to determine what should or shouldn't be there, so it's no surprise that a clean install would still turn up unnecessary registry entries.

I would say that anything that a reg cleaning program turns up is likely safe to remove, if that's the recommendation of the software. It's good to use such tools now and then to keep the really wrong entries cleaned out.

Disclaimer: everything I've said is based solely on my own experience as an end-user and could be completely wrong from a programmer's standpoint, lol. It's just my observations.

[ohheckyeah]

4. Can I trust CCleaner to fix registry problems? n/t

[Why Syzygy]

5. Yes.

Ccleaner will ask you to make a back up. ALWAYS back up the registry before making changes. Live One Care does this too.

When you say new HD, is it a name brand PC? XP? If it's a new HD, does that mean this was the first OS installation? There could be a lot of stuff left over from the installation.

Did the systray every work right?

ETA: But. Ccleaner is limited in what it will fix. If you don't use it, do so first so it will get the easy things, then run LiveOneCare a second time. Do you have System Restore turned on?

btw... IE makes registry entries. Weird, I know. One reason I don't like to use it.

Another thing to do independent of the above. Unhide all files if you haven't already. Do a Find Files for "Prefetch". Delete it. Reboot. Ccleaner says it deletes it, but that hasn't been my experience.

[ohheckyeah]

9. I don't know how to back up the registry.

The software hasn't asked to do that. Does it ask after you click on fix selected items?

I seldom use I.E. I mostly use Firefox.

It's a news hard drive that was just installed in this computer. First OS installation.

When I checked system restore it said it the status was "Monitoring". I created a restore point though.

[Why Syzygy]

11. Are we working with XP?

The System Restore properties has a check box to TURN OFF SR. It should be unchecked for routine usage.

[ohheckyeah]

14. It's not checked so it should be on. n/t

[RoyGBiv]

6. Well, yeah, sorta ...

Note that I am more hesitant than most regulars here to give out advice about manipulating the registry. I'm a veteran of Windows 95 when a lot of registry manipulation tools were just plain bad, and deciding whether you should or should not do something was more often than not a matter of a coin flip. I have a sort of PTSD about it.

And since I don't use Windows regularly, there are gaps in my "front of the brain" knowledge.

CCleaner is good software and does its job well. But it will let you do things that can cause problems. This is why -- at least in the last version I've used -- it gives a warning about checking the list of problems before you tell it to fix those problems. You should always back up your registry before doing something like this and make sure you know how to restore the backup if necessary.

With all those caveats, I'd probably let it try to fix the problems.

[ohheckyeah]

7. I have no idea how to back up the registry.

It hasn't asked me to do that so far.

This makes me nervous.

[Why Syzygy]

10. Back up registry . easy

Start button > Run > regedit > (opens registry window) > (click) File > Export > save to your desktop. That's your registry backup. If I'm very nervous about something, I also do a manual Create point in System Recovery. Do you know how to do that?

Did you make any changes to the registry with the other fixes you tried?

[ohheckyeah]

12. I made a couple of changes with the other fixes

just two, though.

Thanks for the info. I did create a system recovery point.

[Why Syzygy]

13. Go get Ccleaner

and let it run a clean up. It WILL ask you if you want to make a back up. Also run the file cleaner. Check back here to report, and then you will want to run One Care again.


oh. and it occurs to me that McAfee may make a lot of registry entries. Especially when you have installed it and uninstalled it. Everything is fine. Sometimes when I uninstall a program with Revo, there will be 1,000+ entries removed.

[ohheckyeah]

15. Ok.

I got CCleaner and it found a shit pile of stuff...lots of things connected with Photoshop that I did uninstall. Evidently it didn't do a very good job of uninstalling.

I backed up the registry. I set a restore point.

I'm going to let CCleaner fix the problems it found. Will anybody be around in case this all goes to hell? I'll need help getting back into the computer.

Sorry to be such a pain in the butt.

I wouldn't be so freaked out if I could find the Drivers CD for the XP Desktop. I have the reinstallation disk for XP but no drivers. That would be a pain in the butt finding all of them.

[Why Syzygy]

16. I'll be around. (edited)

I use Revo Uninstaller. The Advanced option removes left over registry entries and files. I highly recommend it.

ETA: Worse comes to worse, Windows update would most likely provide the proper drivers.

[ohheckyeah]

17. Thank you.

A lot of the errors were default icon errors. Which may be part of the problem with my application icons not showing. I think I read somewhere that XP had a problemj with default icons disappearing.

Ok, it rebooted....YIPPEE. Thanks. It didn't however fix the original problem of the application icons not showing. Dammit.

:rofl: :rofl:

[Duer 157099]

18. Try the safe mode thing. Reboot into safe mode

and then reboot normally

[ohheckyeah]

19. I'm embarrassed to admit

I forgot how to boot up in safe mode.

[Duer 157099]

21. Try hitting F8 while rebooting

I think that's it. I forget all the time too.

[Why Syzygy]

22. If the Safe Mode reboot (edited)

doesn't work, try this. In the Customize window, Restore Defaults. Reboot. Then attempt to set your preferred settings.


ETA: Are the options in the Customize settings disabled (greyed out?)

[ohheckyeah]

24. I rebooted in safe mode and

am now back in regular mode and nothing changed with the notification icons.

The options aren't greyed out.

this is the first time I've had a computer problem that I could not find a fix to. It's really ridiculous.

[Duer 157099]

25. OK, well ... how about this

Go into the Taskbar Properties to the Hide Inactive Icons - and change the settings to the opposite of whatever you have it at now. See if that does anything. Then maybe reboot and try resetting it back. Or even better, do it while in Safe Mode! LOL, this is my method of troubleshooting, just keep trying whatever I can think of, whether it makes sense or not...

[ohheckyeah]

26. LOL...I like how you think.

This has gotten completely absurd. What the heck, I'm game.

[ohheckyeah]

48. Ok. Thanks.

I'll do that.

[canetoad]

20. Don't panic

I clean the registry after every new install. There is always a load of crap.

For cleaning tools, here are two that are excellent:

RegScrub XP http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048
RegSeeker http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Run both of these and CCleaner. Each will find things the other didn't.

Then grab copies of Erunt and NTRegOpt http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Erunt can back up your registry on each boot. Just remember to clean out the backup folder (in Windows folder) every so often as it becomes big. NT regopt optimises your registry hives.

All free of course.

[ohheckyeah]

23. Thanks. I'll check those out. n/t

[Why Syzygy]

27. Other suggestions ... this problem is not uncommon

I think it is related to Anti Virus software updates. I traced my issue to AVG's update.
This guy has McAfee and the same issue:

http://forum.soft32.com/win4/XP-problem-missing-system-tray-icons-ftopict224932.html

And the fixes are linked here >

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_n.htm#na

Now have official word that 'sys tray' has been renamed to 'notification area' :eyes:
Why use two syllables when eight will do.

[ohheckyeah]

28. Thanks.

I tired the kellys korner fixes with no luck.

[Why Syzygy]

29. Dang it!

If you are game, and Ccleaner is showing clean registry, try the Live One Care again?

I'm not one to give up. But I like targeted solutions. Rifle instead of shotgun approach.

[ohheckyeah]

31. Sure. I can try that again.

A full scan?

I've worked on this problem all damn day. I don't give up easily either.

[Why Syzygy]

33. Full scan so the registry gets handled.

:thumbsup:

[ohheckyeah]

41. Ok. Thanks.

I'm going to run it and go to bed. I think my husband thinks I've deserted him. :-)

[Duer 157099]

30. That 2nd link is one of my faves

I have learned a lot of what I know from that site! In fact, I'll bet the answer is there somewhere in one of those reg fixes.

:thumbsup:

[ohheckyeah]

32. Probably.

I think some of those fixes I don't understand what to do. I didn't try them all evidently.

I'll keep working on it.

I hate being beat by a piece of machinery!

[Why Syzygy]

35. Did you update to SP3? nt

[ohheckyeah]

37. My system says it is SP3. n/t

[Duer 157099]

36. I like to make my reg edits manually

So I just compare what's in my registry to the things in those .reg files on that site. In fact, the one I just checked ("user settings don't save in XP") I didn't have *any* of those settings in my registry, and my settings are saved just fine...

It's like voodoo or something

[ohheckyeah]

38. Where would I find that one? n/t

[Duer 157099]

39. This one:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/savesettings.reg

[Duer 157099]

40. Here's another, longer one

This one looks more complex, i wouldn't try doing this one manually, although I might spot check some of them

It's #117

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/nodesktop.reg

#134 might be interesting too

[Why Syzygy]

34. Good to know. I bookmarked. nt

[ohheckyeah]

42. Well I ran the live care again and it cleaned up the

remaining registry items but I still don't have my icons in my system tray. I'm going to sleep.

[Why Syzygy]

43. I'm finding more possibilities.

When/if you come back, use Ccleaner to see what programs are set to load at start up.
Tools > Start Up

How many?
IgfxTray?
Is McAfee still in the list? If you click 'Uninstall' in the same menu, is McAfee still there?
A lot of people are saying this is a system load issue. That fits in with my high suspicion that it is related to anti virus software since it loads asap.

***

Another popular suggestion is to 'log off' and the 'log on'. I don't know if this works if there is only one profile (which is my case). Alternatively, require a password to log on and see if the icons load normally.

***

Microsoft knows about this problem and they have told several of us to go to and take out the networking services (which BTW includes Plug and Play) This worked but I was concerned that since I have a home network that I need these services.. After reading all the posts here, I think the culprit is Plug and Play and not the networking service.. To answer tje copncern about turning Plug and Play back on when installing new components, The new hardware that you buy today is plug and play aware anyhow and doesn't need windows to help so I wouldn't worry about adding new hardware with Windows Plug and Play disabled.. It should find and install the compnent without any software help.. Besides, 90% of the time you need to use the manufacturers software to install the hardware anyhow..

***
(this one gets a lot of rave reviews)

Hey that worked for me, but instead of disabling the service I just uninstalled it all together. Thanks!


On Thursday, February 6, 2003 at 3:05 am, Sean Burns wrote:
>I've found an easier cure. It worked for me so you could try it:-
>Right-click on My Computer
>Click on Manage
>Expand 'Services & Applications'
>Highlight 'Services'
>Look through list of services on the right....
>Find Universal Plug & Play Device Host
>Right-click on it.
>Click properties.
>Change startup type to 'Disabled'
>Do exactly the same with 'SSDP discovery service'
>Problem should be solved.

***
(just fyi)

re: icons missing from system tray
Saturday, November 6, 2004 at 9:19 pm
Posted by Kenny (2 messages posted)

I've read all of the above posts and I have not seen any true solutions to this problem.
I took it upon myself to do some thorough investigation into this matter with the
missing system tray icons (I have this problem as well).

The problem began for me after the installation of Network Associates (McAfee) VirusScan
Enterprise v7.1.0. After the installation of the software, my system tray icons would
be missing after most boot-ups.

The problem is NOT related to Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, as I had this problem
both prior AND after the upgrade to SP2.

I reformatted a second computer and did a new install of Windows XP Pro w/SP2. All
system tray activity was normal. I then installed VirusScan Enterprise v7.1.0 and
the problem with the icons began again.

I have scoured the McAfee knowledgebase in hopes of finding a solution, but there
are none. I suggest that everybody who has this problem bring this to McAfee's attention
in hopes that they provide an official patch or fix for this problem.

Once again, I am ABSOLUTELY SURE that the missing system tray icons are the fault
of VirusScan v7.1.0. There MUST be something that this program triggers that causes
the system tray icons to disappear.

***
(I haven't taken time to evaluate this and am posting just for information - iow don't try it w/o assistance)

re: icons missing from system tray
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 at 8:01 am
Posted by Joe G. Weisenhurst (1 messages posted)

While I tried many of the solutions listed here, including the UPNP disabling and
systray.exe registry entry, the only one I found to work is listed below, from an
above post. The following should be pasted into a text file and saved with an extension
of .reg in order to work.

---cut_and_paste_from_here---
REGEDIT4


"NoTrayItemsDisplay"=dword:00000000
---end_cut_and_paste---

I've copied/pasted it here in order to keep the solution available in the event that
DigiPortal Software no longer hosts the file or provides the solution. Thank you
all for providing your solutions; I've seen that each one has helped at least one
other person and I am sure that they appreciate your feedback also.

* Related fix *

re: icons missing from system tray
Sunday, April 10, 2005 at 9:25 pm
Posted by Tech Guy (2 messages posted)

I FOUND THE ANSWER!!! I guess the system services weren't launching systray.exe??? I added C:\WINDOWS\System32\systray.exe to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and that solved the problem. I really hope this helps someone. I for one didn't want to disable plug n play or anything like that. Stay Blessed

***
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1034225301

And so on. The consensus is registry and start up timing. So, see what Ccleaner is showing for start ups.

[ohheckyeah]

45. Here's my startup:

How would I go about adding the registry item above?

I tried disable the plug n play and that didn't work.

I used CCleaner and completely uninstalled McAfee and rebooted....the only difference in the system tray was Windows Security Alert icon showed up in McAfee's place. Now that I have reinstalled McAfee the windows security alert icon disappeared.

It's not McAfee.

[Why Syzygy]

46. Hi . Just got here.

For starters, disable start up (in Ccleaner) for everything except Igfxtray and Ctfmon. Reboot. Then post list. You are going to want to disable most of those from start up and it might be necessary to do it from another location as well. I need to google a couple of those. Do you know what nwiz is? I am wondering why you have three start ups related to systray (Igfxtray). ...

[ohheckyeah]

47. I FIXED IT - Sort of.

You really aren't going to believe how:

Go to Control Panel and sounds. click on Place volume icon in the taskbar.

Go to control Panel and click on network connections. On Local Area Connect right click and click on properties. Click on Show icon in notification area when connected.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

As far as being able to set the other icons to show or not show it really isn't fixed.

nwiz.exe has to do with the graphics cards:
The nwiz.exe process is directly associated with the NVIDIA nView Wizard used for the configuration of the NVIDIA nView Control Panel, which is intended to maximize the capabilities of video display adapters using the NVIDIA engine.

[Why Syzygy]

49. ack!

Someone in the other thread had suggested that! I'm glad you did. Your machine will boot a lot faster, tho, if you disable a bunch of that stuff at startup. So, are you set now? Or onward?

[ohheckyeah]

50. I don't know what to disable at startup.

Any suggestions?

I didn't see where someone suggested that in the other thread. I should have read more carefully.

ONWARD!

[Why Syzygy]

51. Disable

start up (in Ccleaner) for everything except Igfxtray and Ctfmon. Reboot. Then post list.

Do you use the Windows Search thingie? The one in the list is not the normal Search in the Start menu. It's an extra application. Do you have Revo Uninstaller? Have you reinstalled McAfee at this point? Did you know that most of the techs around here recommend a free AV rather than Norton or McAfee?

[ohheckyeah]

52. what about McAfee

should it be disabled in startup? I use CCleaner for uninstalling.

I don't think I should disable my graphics cards stuff, should I?

[Why Syzygy]

53. Not if you're going to use it.

But I don't know what McAfee "backup" is. You have reinstalled it at this point?

[ohheckyeah]

54. Yes. I have re-installed it.

The backup is to create and restore backups of certain things.

[Why Syzygy]

55. After you disable

everything except those two listed and McAfee, why don't you start a new thread posting what is left in the list. Things that truly need to be in start up will reassert themselves. I think someone like Hobbit or canetoad would be the best to advise you on what to keep in start up. Under their direction, I disabled everything from startup except cftmon (linked to MS Word and will not stay disabled), Igfxtry (systray), Zone Alarm, Hotkeys and my Moon phase. That's it! I am now thinking that the icon issue may be related to the THREE different Igfxtray processes you're showing. I don't want to drill down on that, tho, until everything else is out of the way.

ps. I do not run resident anti virus, so there isn't any in my start up.

[ohheckyeah]

56. I appreciate the help

but I have to admit, I'm a little hesitant to disable my graphics card stuff. Could that possibly prevent me from getting anything on the screen?

[Why Syzygy]

57. Don't do anything

you are not comfortable doing. I don't know, but I really doubt it. The drivers should load during the boot up before start up. But, again, I'm not a hardware guy. When in doubt, I google the process name.

[ohheckyeah]

58. Thanks.

I'll do some more research on the nvidia stuff.

What are the three system tray entries?

[Why Syzygy]

59. The ones

that start with "Igfx..". One of them is for your hot keys, that's obvious. W/o googling, I don't know about the other one. I have ONE Igfx process. My hot keys are independent.

You definitely do not need Quicktime, Malwarebytes and Adobe loading at start up.

[hobbit709]

44. I can do a clean install of XP

Add SP3, drivers, install antivirus and antimalware programs, office applications and various utilities and then run Advanced Windows Care and get anywhere from 50 to 300 registry errors.
If everything works, then I turn off system restore and reboot-which wipes out the 1.2 Gb worth of restore points made just by installing all that. Then I turn system restore back on, rerun Advanced Windows Care-I guarantee it will find at least a dozen more registry errors at that point. Near as I can tell, Windows gives itself registry errors just by booting up and shutting down.

After all that I defrag the drive and it will find anywhere from 1500 to 5000 fragmented files depending on what all I installed on the system.

People are amazed when I finish doing this to their computers, they say it never worked that fast before.

Now on my own systems I give it some extra tweaks that are not for everyone but work fine on my personal configurations and my bootup time from power on to desktop averages about 30 seconds even though the C: drive has 10-15 Gb of Windows and applications installed-I keep no data files on my C partition.

[ohheckyeah]

60. I ran a program the tech who installed the new hard drive

recommended. It is Ace Utilities. It found a lot of registry problems that CCleaner didn't find and appears to have fixed them with no problems.

My startup is now:



I'm kind of sneaking up on making changes. Just one or two at a time. :-)

[Why Syzygy]

61. Look at this.

http://download.cnet.com/Startup-Inspector-for-Windows/3000-2086_4-10291346.html

Rec'd on this thread >

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=183461

I'm going to get it when I next do pc maintenance. Will look at Ace also.

Good job. :thumbsup:

[ohheckyeah]

62. I also downloaded and set up

Revo Uninstaller. I finally get it. (I'm a little slow sometimes.) Using regular uninstall leaves all that crap in the registry. All the stuff left behind from uninstalling an old Photoshop was really UGLY. :rofl:

I'll probably try disabling a few more startup stuff.

The reason I'm so cautious, is I let Windows Washer mess with the registry and it crashed my computer. I lost everything. So, I'm paranoid.

Is there a free program that wipes free space?

[Why Syzygy]

63. Revo has a tool

that will do that function. You have to hunt for it a bit, so let me know if you need directions to it. It's in the Tools (top) menu (click the down arrow on the left). It is called "Evidence Remover". Yeah, I never uninstall w/o Revo since I found it. Roy explained once why all those entries get left behind. Sloppy programmers or something... Maybe Micro Empire*. Maybe both.

*stolen phrase

[ohheckyeah]

64. I just found that CCleaner has a free space cleaner. n/t