computer question:

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

i enjoy reading all the computer help that you guys give so i have a few questions myself:

I use the free spybot software to obviously check for spyware, and i can pretty much just get rid of the stuff that the software finds.

when the search finishes, all these registry keys stuff come up in the search......?

what exactly are registry keys......??

thanks in advance for the responses.

 

[KMA]

Window's set up parameters for software and hardware.
It's a set of values that determine the characteristics of a device or program, through manageable variables.

 

[KMA]

There is a file on your computer called the registry where windows stores many pieces of information. The registry is so critical a file that if one screws it up in certain ways, your computer will not work. However, many of the pieces of information in the registry (called keys), are used for less critical pieces of information. Before you do anything to the regustry, make a backup of the one you have. Instructions are all over the web. After that, you can tell the spybot program to to ahead and delete the keys. If the computer has problems, restore the registy and you can try deleting the keys one at a time to find the necessary one which you need to keep. However, in a lot of use, my Ad-aware and sbybotHD have not caused trouble by identifying and deleting keys. If you think of your computer as a body, the registry is the spine. Hopes this helps!!

 

[TBONEZ0295]

you go girl !with the info.................

 

[Rudy]

Simply put, the regidtry holds all the detailed instructions for what the computer should do in the manner of executing a program when you give it such a command. The spine is a good analogy in that regard, but is also the whole central nervous system and muscle memory. Whenever you change anything on the machine, from bookmarks to screensaver countgown to program options, it's stored in the registry on one of its hundred of thousands of "index cards." That's why the spybot programs go there to scub out the junk that spyware leaves.

This complex methodology started in Windows NT and the Windows 2000 and XP, and is why these operating systems are so much more stable than earlier versions of Windows. If anyone is still running Windows 98, has any stability problems, and is planning to keep the computer for another year or two, an upgrade to XP for $90 and another $100 in new memory to make it run more swiftly is an excellent life extender.

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

thanks for the replies, guys!!

think i'll stay away from changing anything in the registry.....

novice here.....!!