..and How To Fix Them
|
|
The Windows Registry has this
reputation of being ‘No Man's Land’, a reputation that it does deserve, up to a
point. Indeed, it has a lot of undocumented settings and an endless list of
possible 'tips and tricks' which make some miraculous changes to your computer.
It also has a mysterious way of breaking when you least expect it, most problems
being so peculiar that it's impossible to pin them down through other means than
using a dedicated registry cleaning and repair program like
ErrorSmart.
Fortunately, some of the errors are more well-known, and can be fixed manually.
In fact, some errors are ‘content errors’ that is, settings which are valid, but
incorrect in their context, and cannot be reliably detected by registry cleaning
software.
However, as you will immediately
see, the range of errors that you can fix by yourself is fairly limited.
Furthermore, this is very unreliable since one mistake and you can corrupt your
registry, or enter incorrect settings that cause your computer to behave
erratically. You should only use manual registry cleaning as a last resort, and
only after creating a backup copy of your registry. Below are some of the most
common registry errors and how to fix them. Don’t try the manual fixes unless
you are willing to take the risk. | |
| |
1. Incorrect prefetch
settings
A considerable problem
is that of incorrect prefetch settings. Windows includes a prefetch
option, which uses the unnecessary space in RAM to preload parts of an
application, making it start faster. When the extra space is required by
another application, it is freed up, and when you quit that application,
the space is used for prefetching again.
To check your prefetch
settings, go to Start, Run, and type 'regedit' in the box that appears.
Now go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control >
SessionManager > Memory Management > PrefetchParameters and look for a
key called EnablePrefetcher. If the value of this key is set to anything
lower than 4, change it to 4 or 5 and restart your computer.
2. Slow Registry
Access
If the access to your
registry is slow, chances are it has already gotten very large and it
needs cleaning. Slow registry access results in slow booting times and
slow software installation, as well as frequent freezes when applying
settings in Control Panel. If you absolutely want to, you can clean the
Windows Registry by hand, although it's not recommended. You can only
reliably clean the traces left by uninstalled applications.
To do so, go to Start,
Run and type 'regedit' in the box, pressing "Run" afterwards. Once
Regedit is open, navigate through the keys in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Look for any
application-specific keys which belong to applications you no longer
have on your computer, and feel free to delete them if you think they
are no longer required.
3. Stubborn file
associations
If you cannot get a
certain file extension to associate with a certain file, chances are
something is monopolizing its entry in the Windows Registry. A simple
solution in this case is simply to have that setting removed. To do so,
go to Start, Run and type 'regedit' in the box. In Regedit, find the
appropriate entry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and delete it, then restart
your computer. After you have restarted your computer, that file
extension will not be associated to any program, and you can now
associate it with whatever program you want.
4. IRP Stack too
small
A frequent problem on
Windows is the size of the IRP Stack Size. This error frequently occurs
on Windows NT/2000 and newer operating systems, when you access a shared
server. A wrong IRP stack setting will result in an annoying and
unintuitive 'not enough server storage is available to process this
command' error.
To fix it, open Regedit,
and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet >
Services > LanmanServer > Parameters and look for a key called
IRPstackSize. It should be set to a value larger than 4, but no larger
than 12. A setting of 6 is usually a good option.
5. View Source does
not work in Internet Explorer
If you are learning
HTML, or you just need to view a page's source but receive a cryptic
error message, it may be that your Windows Registry settings do not
allow you to view page sources from Internet Explorer.
To check this, start
Regedit, and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Policies > Microsoft >
Internet Explorer > Restrictions , and look for a key called
NoViewSource. If it is set to '1', set it to '0', and restart your
computer.
6. Office XP Shortcut
Bar buttons appear blank
This is one of the most
annoying errors that you can encounter, because it's really difficult to
pin down. It manifests by not allowing you to customize buttons in the
Office XP Shortcut Bar, or by allowing you to do so, but displaying only
blank buttons. This is always due to a corrupted key in the Windows
Registry -- but fortunately, it is very easy to fix.
To repair this error,
start Regedit, and then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft >
Office > 10.0 > Shortcut Bar and look for a sub-key called 'Shortcut
Bar'. Delete it, and restart all Office Applications. Your old Shortcut
Bar settings will be erased, but you can now customize it to your
liking.
7. Dump Files are
dumped, but cannot be found
If you need a crash dump
file, but you cannot find any (these have the extension .dmp) despite
seeing Windows actually dumping them, this is most likely due to an
invalid setting in the registry. Essentially, it is due to an invalid
location being specified for the dump files, or due to using a location
that is periodically purged, such as a temporary file directory.
To solve this problem,
open RegEdit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet >
Control > CrashControl. Look for a key called DumpFile, and change it to
a path of your choice.
What you can fix and
what you cannot fix
The above registry
errors are quite common, and fairly well-known. Now, try to think about
this: how many of these errors could you name off of the top of your
head, before reading this article? Most people would answer ‘none’. The
Windows Registry is cryptic and there are an infinite number of
potential problems.
Some of these problems
can be fixed, but some cannot. For instance, OCX errors are very
difficult to fix by hand. These require you to analyze a handful of
other settings in order to find out the correct value of several keys,
scattered all around the Windows Registry. DLL errors are similarly
difficult to fix. How would you go about fixing an error you know
nothing about?
This is exactly why you
need a registry cleaning program. Powerful registry cleaners like
ErrorSmart use highly advanced
algorithms which can analyze thousands of registry keys every second,
and find the relevant fixes very quickly. Such a program can not only
save your system, but it also saves you a lot of time.
Registry cleaning
programs are even more efficient if you use them regularly. Doing so
ensures that your system remains clean and error-free, guaranteeing
maximum performance output from your system.
For more info on Error Smart click here
| 
