Edit the Recycle Bin

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Edit Recycle Bin 2

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder

Or

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]

Empty Recycle Bin - SHELL32.DLL,31
Full Recycle Bin - SHELL32.DLL,32
Default Recycle Bin - same as empty

Make Sure The Recycle Bin Is Empty Before You Edit The Icons. This Way There Will Be No Confusion As To The Value Of The Default.

Modify Registry to Auto-Point to CAB Folder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Backing Up the Registry

Cleaning the Registry

Getting rid of obsolete entries

One symptom of having a large registry, especially one with redundant data, is that your computer doesn't seem to be as fast as it used to be .
Although having a slim and clean registry does not guarantee an increase in speed it doesn't help to clear out a few of the cobwebs.

The Windows registry is made up of two separate files, User.dat and System.dat. On a that doesn't have user profiles enabled, these are stored in the Windows folder.

Only attempt this if you are comfortable working with the registry and please make sure you have a recent backup, in fact do one now before you start.

Entries are usually easy to identify as in most cases they are stored in two distinct locations:

To locate and delete the obsolete entries, you use RegEdit.
This is accessed by selecting Start, Run, and then typing regedit in the dialogue box.

In the left pane of the RegEdit window, work your way down to

As secondary safety measure before I delete a key I export it to a safe folder this way I can, if needed, import just this section back in to the registry.

To do this select the key then select Registry on the tool bar, then Export Registry File.
When the save window opens make sure that Selected Branch in the Export Range box is selected, give the file a name, and save it somewhere safe.
Now when you are 110% sure that it is not needed you can delete the file.

Hkey_Local_Machine\Software has a similar structure to Hkey_Current_User\Software.
The main difference is that it contains settings that are specific to the computer, whereas Hkey_Current_User\Software has settings that relate to the currently logged-on user and can be cleaned in the same way.

Cleaning up COM entries

Cleaning HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT by hand is not advisable, and there is a program that can do the job.
Microsoft provides a program called RegClean, which can safely clean the entries in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. As well as removing obsolete data, it can resolve certain problems involving invalid links between these entries. You can download RegClean from the Microsoft Knowledge Base RegClean 4.1a or take a look in my Goodies section.

RegClean performs a detailed scan of the registry and depending on the size of your registry could take a while. It will then prompt you for permission to delete any obsolete or invalid entries that it has found but before deleting anything, it creates an undo file so that you can restore the deleted entries if needed, locate this file in the folder from which you launched RegClean, and double-click on it.

Tracking down unwanted COM entries.

Cleaning the registry is an brain taxing job and you will not have got rid of all obsolete entries
Using a third party software could be of help.

McAfee Uninstaller

The McAfee Uninstaller PowerClean module can identify many types of redundant registry entries. It can locate entries relating to invalid or non-existent application paths, file extensions and many others.

PowerClean backs up everything that it deletes, so you'll be able to restore any entries that you erase.

Norton Utilities WinDoctor

The WinDoctor module in Norton Utilities works in much the same way as the McAfee product. WinDoctor is especially good at locating COM-related problems.
Norton's WinDoctor lets you select the type of registry entry that you want it to fix.

WinDoctor to scans the registry then displays a list of the categories in which it encountered a problem, you have the option of clicking the Repair All button or to select a category and then click the Details button. You'll then be able to review, and optionally delete, each invalid or obsolete registry entry in that category.

Defragmenting the registry

Just like a fragmented hard drive, a fragmented registry can have an impact on performance So you need to defrag the registry.

See Defrag the Registry in section D

Using Windows 98's Scanreg command

Creating a Reg file

Defrag the Registry

When a registry entry is deleted, the space it occupied isn't immediately reclaimed. When Windows needs to write new data to the registry, it will try to put it in this empty space. But if the space isn't big enough, the new data is written to the end of the file instead. As a result, the registry is constantly growing.
Related keys tend to get scattered all over the place, making it slower for Windows to access them. Just like a fragmented hard drive, a fragmented registry can slow performance.

The registry needs to be totally rewritten (defragged) to take out these blank lines which will effectively reduce it in size.
I have tried the following proceedure myself with good results, shrinking my 5.4MB registry down to 3.8MB.

This will not work if user profiles are enabled and, depending on the size of the registry, the temporary disk space required for this proceedure can be as much as 100 MB.

The technique involves running RegEdit in MSDos mode to export the entire registry to a text file. You then use this text file to rebuild the registry.
During the rebuilding process, RegEdit reorders the keys and eliminates any unused space. This results in a smaller registry with all the fragmentation removed.

First restart the computer in DOS mode. One way to do this is to hold down [F8] as the computer is booting the when you see the Windows Startup menu, choose Command Prompt Only.

Now, type the following at the command prompt:

Regedit /e Temp.reg

Temp.reg is the text file to which you are exporting the registry and can be given any name you like, provided it has the extension .reg.

The export process can take a long time depending on the size of your registry.

When it is finished, type the following command to rebuild the file:

Regedit /c Temp.reg

Rebuilding is also time consuming, but it should be faster than the export process.
When it is finished, reboot your computer and check that everything is working normally.
If all is ok, you can delete Temp.reg.
You should now have a smaller set of registry files.

Microsoft Developer Network

[10-1] Control Panel {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
[10-2] Printers {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
[10-3] Recycle Bin {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
[10-4] My Computer {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
[10-5] Dial-Up Networking
[10-6] Network Neighborhood {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
[10-7] Inbox {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
[10-8] Desktop {00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
[10-9] Shortcut {00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

Reappearing values in the Registry?

Recovering Registry Data

attrib -h -r -s system.dat
attrib -h -r -s system.da0
copy system.da0 system.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.da0
copy user.da0 user.dat

Restore the Registry

Following this procedure will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer.

To restore the registry

1. Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.
2. Click Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode, and then click Yes.
3. Change to your Windows directory. For example, if your Windows directory is C:\Windows, you would type the following: cd c:\windows
4. Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each one.
   (Note that System.da0 and User.da0 contain the number zero.)

   attrib -h -r -s system.dat

   attrib -h -r -s system.da0

   copy system.da0 system.dat

   attrib -h -r -s user.dat

   attrib -h -r -s user.da0

   copy user.da0 user.dat

5. Restart your computer.

CFGBack.exe

Download

Emergency Recovery Utility

Below is a list of the files it backs up

• CONFIG.SYS
• AUTOEXEC.BAT
• WIN.INI
• SYSTEM.INI
• PROTOCOL.INI
• USER.DAT
• SYSTEM.DAT
• IO.SYS
• COMMAND.COM
• MSDOS.SYS

NOTE:
USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT are too big for a floppy but you can save to your harddrive.

Download

Failure Writing to the System Registry... Error Message

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
SharedDLLs

Clear The Run Menu

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
RunMRU