Strange things in my registry

The strange things one sees when one is up in the middle of the night reading one's registry...

In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\AppCompatibility

I see things such as...
AOL.EXE
ARMYMEN2.EXE
WORM.EXE
WORMLOADER.EXE
CASINO4.EXE
Doom95.exe
Jungle.exe
Monopoly.exe
sabrina.exe
SOUTHPARK.exe

None of these .exe have ever been installed on my computer.
Google hasn't enlightened me.

Anyone know how they are placed there and why?

Thanks,
Optigrab

 

Long shot, because I really have no idea, Optigrab. But is there any chance you enabled "Application Compatibility-Mode" ?

From Microsoft KB: How To Enable Application Compatibility-Mode Technology in Windows 2000 SP2 and SP3

-snip-

"The Compatibility-mode technology is currently used by Windows 2000 to ensure built-in compatibility for many popular programs."


I do not have any of those .exe's listed in my registry (XP-Home).

(and why are you up in the middle of the night reading the registry....hummm?)

 

The only thing that I can find is this:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q="worm loader"&btnG=Search&meta=

I'll keep looking

Cheers

 

dear optigrab, these are normal entries. some from Microsoft knowledge base and some probably by you. in case you haven't installed any of those ( games mostly ) and you are feeling uneasy, you can just delete those entries. these are just there for compatibility as many of them are coded for old versions of Windows so newer versions of Windows emulate older environment for them. in case you delete those entries you'll have to tweak the compatability settings for those files when you try to run them. not a big deal.

 

Snapdragon found the following link, and it would suggest what Amrx is saying...

http://groups.google.ca/groups?hl=e...%2413898530%2435ef2ecf%40TKMSFTNGXA11&rnum=11

Cheers

 

snapdragin:
"Long shot" indeed - it appears to me you hit the nail on the head. Thanks! I followed the instructions to disable Application Compatibility-Mode. Will let the world know if this causes any problems. Since you asked, had a bout of insomnia this week and was cruising through the registry on an unrelated quest to find out why my cable connection has been terribly slow - even in the middle of the night. What a life of adventure I lead!

Blackspear:
Thanks for links 1 and 2. Link 1 (and AMRX) has persuaded me that it seems to be Application Compatibility-Mode. Your 2nd link is the same one I stumbled across last night - you may have suspected that I saved time by borrowing heavily from that fellow's post (it was the middle of the night!).

AMRX:
Thanks for the advice - I'll probably get around to deleting a lot of those entires since I don't see myself installing any legacy games anytime soon.

Cheers to you all!

 

After what AMRX said, and the bits & pieces I could understand at the Microsoft link, it does look like they included the more popular games/programs back then for their 'Application Compatibility' in one of the Service Packs. I don't know W2K very well, but it kinda makes sense. LOL

Hope everything turned out alright when you disabled the Application Compatibility-Mode, optigrab.

ROFL!! I'm thinking most of us have that kind of adventure in the wee hour's of the night. What better time to go into the registry but when we're sleep deprived.

snap