WDGC

I posted my yesterday post [Yesterday, 06:00 PM Post #20, page 2] to a couple of other fora and received a few interesting responses : 1. "Many of the keys in the registry are virtual, faked, and/or in memory only. For example, the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT keys are in multiple locations yet they're all the same keys - not duplicates. The HKLM/HARDWARE key only exists in memory and is re-created every reboot. etc, etc, etc." 2. "because your registry files are compressed." 3. "Well, for starters, regedit "mirrors" several areas of the registry to other, more "user-friendly" places. For example, the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key doesn't even exist inside the registry; it's a mirror of HKLM\Software\Classes. HKEY_CURRENT_USER is a mirror of your user account's hive stored in HKEY_USERS, which is actually another set of mirrors I think. There are at least a few more I know of, and I expect there are several others, possibly a dozen or more. Also, the registry is a database. Data stored inside is compressed, or at least encoded, and the size will differ." 4. This reply gave a method of using REGEDIT which gives significantly different sizes to those I had previously obtained [5 Hives Total 28576 KB compared with 63301 KB previous] and a link to "Dureg.exe - Registry Size Estimator". Here is a link to the forum : http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=13575&sid...88c005af0932316 _ _

When I open REGEDIT, in the left hand pane I see MY COMPUTER [what I called 'COMPUTER[ALL]'] and when this is expanded HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT HKEY_CURRENT_USER HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE HKEY_USERS HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG appear. Highlight each entry in turn, > File > Export, go to wherever you saved the 'exports' and note the file sizes. __ __

Quite a haul! My best effort was about 700 entries after some months of neglect.

With reference to registry size, OS Win. XP Home Edit. SP2. The 11 files named by the author of NTRegOpt : \WINDOWS\system32\config\sam 256 KB \WINDOWS\system32\config\security 256 \WINDOWS\system32\config\software 12032 \WINDOWS\system32\config\system 9984 \WINDOWS\system32\config\default 512 \Documents and Settings\LocalService\ntuser.dat 232 \Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat 256 \Documents and Settings\NetworkService\ntuser.dat 232 \Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat 256 \Documents and Settings\[user name]\ntuser.dat 2560 \Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat 256 TOTAL 26832 KB Using RUN > REGEDIT : HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT 8908 KB HKEY_CURRENT_USER 6445 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE 39397 HKEY_USERS 8505 HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG 46 TOTAL 63301 KB COMPUTER [ALL] 47902 KB Three different results! Any explanations for the discrepancies?

Give RegSeeker a try. I've used it for about 2 years without any problems - also has other capabilities you may find useful. The version available, 1.35 beta, is the same as I first downloaded about 2 years ago. http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Thank you for the suggestion. However, I was able to obtain the same file in .doc format and open with MS Word Viewer 2003. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&DisplayLang=en

As far as I can determine, MS Works is needed to open .wps files, or a converter to allow opening with MS Word - but I don't have either program. Is there another way to open such files?

Have a look at BootIt NG - partitioning, imaging, and boot management. Free 30 day trial or $US35 to buy. http://www.bootitng.com/ I've used it on many occasions for various partitioning procedures and image creation and restoration - and not had any problems.

I followed many of the suggestions listed here: http://hollow-refuge.net/Bold/viewtopic.php?t=229 Didn't have any problems and achieved considerable space savings.

When I set a keyboard shortcut of the type Ctrl + Alt + Letter, if Z is used the shortcut only functions until the next reboot, although Properties for the particular application will still show Shortcut key: Ctrl + Alt + Z. A keyboard shortcut for mplayer2.exe [WMP] - irrespective of key - behaves similarly. All other keyboard shortcuts work as expected. The OS is Win. XP Home Edit. SP2. Any suggestions as to what may - or may not - be happening here?

Thank you. Just what I was looking for.

Do you mind telling me which program it is?

A search reveals any number of MD5 Checksum tools, all of which read well. Never having used such utilities, I'm not aware of the pitfalls to avoid when using, or the features to look for, in an MD5 Checksum application. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

I have since learned the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\firefox.exe\shell\open\command with value data "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "%1" [inverted commas included] needs to be present for Firefox to appear in the "Opens With" list. The key was present but, for whatever reason, did not have the value data set. Adding "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "%1" to value data has fixed the problem.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I have already done so. However this is very much a "second best" solution - not at all convenient when I desire .html and .htm files to always open with Firefox.

I have Firefox 1.01 installed, the OS is Win. XP Home Edit. SP2. However, Firefox does not appear on the "Opens With" list and using the "Browse" feature to select the desired application does not effect the required change. On my other computer after installing Firefox it automatically appeared on the "Opens With" list. Is there a way I can manually add Firefox to the list, or, somehow else overcome this problem?

As stated in my OP " I am now using F'fox 1.0.1 [.zip vers.]". From other information I gathered it seemed likely the issue was between .zip and installer versions of Firefox. Sure enough, deleting the .zip vers. and installing the "installer" vers. has fixed the problem.

This leads to the same dialogue box as "right click, Open With, Choose Program", and the result is the same - nothing changes. After making the appropriate selections Firefox still does not appear in the "Opens With" list.

The OS [Win. XP Home Edit. SP2] is on the C:\ partition and I had Firefox 1.0 [installer vers.] installed to C:\Program Files. I am now using F'fox 1.0.1 [.zip vers.] on the E:\ partition, after uninstalling F'fox 1.0. IE has always been the default browser. However, since F'fox has been in the E:\ part. all saved web pages [.htm & .html] open with IE, and I am not able to change to "opens with Firefox" by right click, Open With, Choose Program. Is this somehow related to F'fox now being in the E:\ partition, or is it because of a difference between installing and extracting to a folder? Short of putting F'fox back in C:\Program Files, or making F'fox the default browser, is there a way I can once again have all saved web pages open with F'fox?

For the past couple of days when I open a number of folders and they are grouped on the task bar under the title "Windows Explorer", the accompanying icon is not the standard yellow folders one, but another. This "rogue" icon only appears with the "Windows Explorer" group title, the clicking of which shows standard yellow icons beside the names of the folders comprising the group. Idle curiosity prompts me to ask why this is so, but irritation from this aberration demands I seek a remedy. Is there one? I haven't changed any icons, and folder properties and Windows Explorer properties show standard icons. The OS is XP Home Edition SP2.

Since a clean install of XP Home Edition and the application of SP2 about 1 month ago, I have on 7 occasions found the following Event Viewer entry: Event Type: Warning Event Source: Tcpip Event Category: None Event ID: 4226 Date: 7/02/2005 Time: 1:50:53 PM User: N/A Computer: WDGR Description: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts. Data: 0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 54 00 ......T. 0008: 00 00 00 00 82 10 00 80 ....?..? 0010: 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ During the previous 3 years of the original installation I did not once find this entry logged. All programs and applications on the new installation are the same as on the old. Is it somehow related to SP2? The only information I can find about Event ID 4226 suggest this is a warning that a malicious program or a virus might be running on the system, or that it is related to file sharing or P2P programs. I don't use P2P programs or file sharing and haven't had the slightest indication of a malicious program or virus running on the system. A-V and spyware, malware, etc. scans and checks are clear. Any knowledge or experiences regarding this matter would be appreciated.

The results of anti-adware tests shown at http://windowssecrets.com/050127/ seem to indicate Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is the most effective of a number of similar products. Do the results obtained by forum members who have used this application, bear this out?

Below is a copy of an enquiry I posted at the AVG Free Forum, however it has not elicited any responses. _ After an OS [Win.XP Home Edit. SP2] clean install about a week ago I installed AVG7 Free Edition, as I had used it previously and found it to my liking. However on 5 occasions since I have found this Event Viewer entry: Event Type: Error Event Source: AVG7 Event Category: Fatal Event ID: 100 Date: 15/01/2005 Time: 7:18:53 PM User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM Computer: WDGR Description: 2005-01-15 09:18:53,515 WDGR [001324:001524] FATAL 000 AVG7.AM.WSC.CServiceModule unhandled exception caught (299, Wed Sep 22 00:51:41 2004) What does it mean? As far as I am aware AVG is working as intended - as is everything else. _ When I previously used AVG7 the OS was SP1. Since posting to the AVG forum another 4 E. Viewer entries have been logged. Can anyone here shed any light on the matter?

About 20% of the time when using Wordpad the right click context menu does not appear. Rebooting restores the function. The OS is Win. XP Home Edit. SP1 and I haven't noticed this problem - or any other problems - in other applications. Any ideas, suggestions, as to cause and remedy?

Much appreciated.