terrypin

Sorted thanks, hopefully before you go to any trouble digging around. I had a response in microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize which happily got it fixed this morning. I'll paste it below for the curious and those perhaps ending up here on a google search over a similar problem: ------- Open Regedit.exe and navigate to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\explorer.exe In the right-pane, create a new REG_EXPAND_SZ value named "TaskbarGroupIcon" Double-click "TaskbarGroupIcon" and set it's value as follows: %SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe,13 Disable Taskbar buttons grouping and enable the option back. ------- In my case I hit the immediate obstacle that I had no key called HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\explorer.exe But I nervously created one first and then proceeded with the rest. Voilà - my yellow icon back again! And that's survived a reboot, so I feel reasonably confident it's sorted. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think that key was one of the many that RegSeeker found. There were scores described as 'redundant' or 'obsolete' or words to that effect. I deleted all 5000 plus entries it recommended. There's bravado for you So maybe I will be encountering a few more quirks! BTW, deleting those 5000 reduced registry sizes by only 1-2%. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I ran Dureg and got this output D:\Program Files\Resource Kit>dureg /a Size of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT : 13651571 Size of HKEY_USERS : 15707395 Size of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE : 34282119 Total Registry data size: 63641085 i.e about 62149 KB Not much different to last report from NTRegOpt of about 55800 KB But did you say you got the sum of FIVE hives? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks, I'd appreciate it. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

OK, thanks. Did that, from the folder in which I'd placed the VBS file, but I just got: D:\Docs\Windows Xp>cscript //nologo RegSize.vbs ========================================== Computer: . ========================================== D:\Docs\Windows Xp>

WDGC: Thanks, very interesting. Downloading Dureg now. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

soulin: Thanks, but then what? I'm not a programmer, just an experienced end user. Am I supposed to just run VBS file? Does it matter where it is located? When I ran it I got these 5 windows in succession, clicking OK each time. Meaningless to me: http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/WMICwindows.gif -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks, Takeishi, that explains it. I also asked Lars Hederer, NTRegOpt's author, and his reply was that 'the formats are different'. But while that explains the difference between NTRegOpt's result and that from a registry export, your analysis covers the comparison he didn't address. Although it's straying off the original topic, can I raise a puzzle that I think has only arisen since I installed the two registry cleaners that emerged during this discussion, RegSupreme and RegSeeker. Somehow the normal yellow folder tray icon has been replaced by the blue 'monitor' shown here: http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/FolderIcon1.gif The correct yellow one is still used in My Computer folders, as I've also shown in that same shot. Anyone have any suggestions how that might have happened, and how to get my yellow one back please? I half-heartedly ran Repair from PowerToys TweakUI, but that didn't fix it. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

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. __ __ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> OK, thanks. I too am now very curious about the major variations. My 3 equivalent sizes are also wildly different: RegExport11May05-All.reg 125,540 KB RegExport11May05-HKCC.reg 34 KB RegExport11May05-HKCR.reg 22,702 KB RegExport11May05-HKCU.reg 34,149 KB RegExport11May05-HKLM.reg 86,656 KB RegExport11May05-HKU.reg 38,878 KB -------------------------------------- Subtotal 182,419 KB NTRegOpt (an hour earlier) 55,588 KB -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

OK, thanks, I'll try that next. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK <{POST_SNAPBACK}> deXter: I deleted the cache directly as you said. Then I ran and used Skip and Normal, which gave me 1532 entries in 72 secs. I repeated that (although I was actively web browsing during that second run, unlike previous tests during which I twiddled thumbs) and after 224 secs got 3056 entries. Once again, suspiciously close to twice as many. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

WDGC: How do you get the sizes of each section in Regedit? And what is 'COMPUTER[ALL]'? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

OK, thanks, I'll try that next. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks. It looks good. First run (with no options re Normal/Aggressive to fret about) it took 14 mins and displayed no fewer than 5,415 entries! -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

deXter: OK, I managed to install that latest version. So far the couple of tests I've done give similar bizarre results: #1 Normal 139 secs 1158 No deletions; no other user activity, New scan: #2 Normal 254 secs 2344 What do you/others get when you do similar tests? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

deXter: Title bar says RegSupreme 1.3. It's the demo, 30 days trial. Tried downloading that latest, but I'm getting: "www.macecraft.com could not be found. Please check the name and try again." Any other users able to reproduce inconsistent results like mine? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Soulin: wmic isn't recognised here, either in Run or from Command Prompt window. I suspect it's only valid on XP Pro? I have XP Home. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

deXter: Are you sure RegSupreme is reliable? I just tried a series of tests, deleting nothing, and doing nothing else on my PC. It gave very strange results. Doesn't inspire confidence! #1 Aggressive: 1305 entries #2 New scan, Normal: 2293 entries Should be the reverse if anything, if I'm interpreting 'aggressive' in the usual sense. #3 Restart, Normal: 1190 entries So what about the 2293? #4 New scan, Aggressive: 2446 entries. Tool 272 secs, much longer than #2 #5 New scan, Aggressive: 2896 entries Another 450 entries from nowhere! (Took 256 secs, i.e. faster). #6 New scan, Aggressive: 3087 entries More, and more, and more. I wonder if it would go up indefinitely? #7 New scan, Normal: 3440 entries As for #2, seems quite illogical. And the 'Help' says nothing about the definitions of Aggressive and Normal. Anyone else use this tool please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK soulin:

deXter: Thanks, I'll try RegSupreme. I also use Norton WinDoctor. And I'm assuming NTRegOpt removes unwanted stuff too, to reduce size, but I'm not sure. At0mic: ntuser.dat was one of my 11. userdiff makes 12. Anyone know its purpose please? Author of NTRegOpt doesn't include it and (although he intends to look at it more closely) says that deleting it appears to have no impact! BTW, I didn't get email notification of these new posts in my own thread. Where in this site's confusing hierarchy will I find the appropriate setting please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks. I've changed it to 'Change to: No Email Notification'. Hopefully that doesn't mean what it says though! I still want emails notifying me of any replies to my posts... Somewhere there's a setting I think I have correctly configured to achieve that, but darned if I can find it again now! Must say I'm a member of dozens of online forums and this is the most confusing I've come across. For example, I interpret 'Subscribe' as just that: subscribe to (join) a forum, period. I gave another example, about the option 'Send me any updates sent by the board administrator' earlier. And why are options about email not under 'Personal Profile'? Maybe regular users have become familiar with the site's layout, but IMO there are too many links and too many options. As yet another example, why do I need 'My Controls' and My Assistant? And why do I need to dig around in the latter, and then follow several other links just to get a moderator contact? Why not a simple 'Contacts' link on the Home page? Etc... -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I emailed Xper yesterday. No reply yet. Meanwhile I continue to get unwanted emails for all new posts in Windows XP forum. Does that happen to any other user here? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks, Martin. So I take it no one here in this Forum about 'Site & Forum Issues' knows the answer to my problem? I will e-mail Xper then, if I can work out how to do that! A simple email address would have been good... FWIW, I have 8 new unwanted emails about posts in the Windows XP Forum. No one here knows how that happens? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I meant to add that the setting 'Send me any updates sent by the board administrator' is not checked. BTW, I think that is misleadingly worded. 'Enabling this option will add your email address to the administrators mail list and you will receive any updates sent.' I initially interpreted 'any updates' as administrative or general matters, not 'all posts to the forum by anyone'! But, as I said, I unchecked it pretty fast, but am still getting emails. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

None of the links at the page 'My Assistant' appears to work, including the one for finding out how to contact a moderator. (Java scripts broken? Presumably the site does work properly with Firefox?) Nor have I had any reply to a couple of emails sent to msfn@msfn.org, so I assume that's just an unattended address? Hence my resorting to posting here. I'm trying to find out why I am getting an automatic email advising me of every new post in the only forum I've joined, 'Microsoft Windows XP'. I can't see what setting I might have inadvertently configured wrongly? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks At0mic. The author of NTRegOpt responded very quickly, and I now understand that there are eleven files making up registry. For anyone else ending up here with a similar query, here are their names and locations (on my system). \WINDOWS\system32\config\sam \WINDOWS\system32\config\security \WINDOWS\system32\config\software \WINDOWS\system32\config\system \WINDOWS\system32\config\default \Documents and Settings\LocalService\ntuser.dat \Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat \Documents and Settings\NetworkService\ntuser.dat \Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat \Documents and Settings\[user name]\ntuser.dat \Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat That squares off with the size of 58 MB. Anyone have thoughts on the second question please, i.e. about the large size of that? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

This is a question in two parts. First, am I right that 'The registry' is a collection of these 5 files (with no extensions) in C:\WINDOWS\System32\config: * default * SAM * SECURITY * software * system Second, and more difficult, what sort of size is regarded as 'reasonable' for the registry in total? I got around to running a program I have called NTRegopt today for first time in about 2 years, on my XP Home PC. Directly prior to that I'd used System Mechanic, which deleted 64 registry entries, and rebooted. At conclusion of NTRegopt, I got message that it had reduced size by 2% to 58,372,096 bytes. That still seems pretty enormous to me. So I decided to try cross-checking it some way. After some reading/googling, I concluded the registry was made up of those files above. I used R-click>Properties to get their sizes: * default 512 KB * SAM 24 KB * SECURITY 56 KB * software 29.035 MB * system 9.250 MB Adding those, I get about 38.7 MB, which is nearly 20 MB smaller than NTRegOpt reported. Can anyone explain this variance please? (I've emailed the author of NTRegOpt too.) -- Terry, West Sussex, UK