Registry Mechanic = broken PC, any hope?

I am to reveal my almighty stupidity of using the Registry Mechanic that has turned my computer into an oversized paperweight - that is now in the shop. Let me first start off with a warning: DO NOT USE this overly marketed piece of S--T! It not only claims to fix/clean your registry (yeah, I bet), but will delete critical entries that results in an un-bootable PC.

Since I didn't back up the registry like a dumb a, is there any hope that it will work again if important parts of my registry were deleted?

 

GOOD GRIEF.................

 

Sorry to hear of your bad experience.......but don't feel bad....sooner or later most of us trash a computer or two along that long learning highway.....


You said that your computer is in the Shop?? Wont those people get it up and running for you ?

Is there hope....but of course there is always hope.......oh, what OS were you using ?? But before going any deeper into this subect wait to see what "The Shop" does.........then let us know.

 

Hi aka:snowman,

Thanks.

Yeah, it's in the shop. It's a Win98 OS.
I'll post back in this thread if they are able to fix it. Fortunately though, I have back-ups of almost everything I need before it happened. Nothing lost that I couldn't live without - except maybe a blank computer staring at me.

Even if they can't fix it, I'll just wipeout/reformat it with a fresh new running start.

Computers are like a love-hate relationship. Sometimes you just gotta get away from it.

 

R2D2


Glad to hear that you had backup's......that was using good sense....more people should take the time an do the same.........

Will keep an eye on this thread in case you need a helping hand somewhere in the future.......an offer what lil help I can.........SeeYa

 

I'm surprised to read this happened using Registry Mechanic. Registry Mechanic v5.1 is the weakest/safest of the four "pay" registry cleaning programs I own (although it does find more problems than earlier versions did). It invariably detects fewer "errors" compared with Ace Utilities, TuneUp Utilities 2006, and Registry Healer.

On 20 January 2006, I ran the registry cleaning wizard in TuneUp Utilities 2006 and allowed it to fix the errors it detected. I immediately noticed the Desktop shortcut icon for my printer had disappeared. I then discovered seven duplicate icons in my Control Panel. Running the "restore" wizard caused the printer icon to reappear, but it wouldn't function. The seven duplicate Control Panel icons were still present. Running the WindowsXP System Restore feature didn't help (as usual). I eventually decided to do a full system recovery and reformat my hard drive.

Before doing this drastic step, I decided to make current copies of the data files I normally had backed up on two (duplicate) CDs. I copied the key files from My Documents to a CD then repeated the process on a second CD when prompted. I then checked My Documents and was stunned to find all but two out of scores of program installation files in My Downloads were now inexplicably zero byte files. Around 80% of my (and my wife's) WordPerfect12 files were now zero byte files. Both CDs also had mostly zero byte files (note to self: never copy over both of your backup CDs; check each individually, never routinely make a second copy when prompted without verifying the data transferred to the first CD). I have since become paranoid about backup procedures. I now maintain multiple DVDs and CDs for data file backups, installed a DVD burning program, installed a second internal hard drive solely for backup purposes, and bought Acronis True Image and FirstDefense-ISR.

 

I have seen this with Reg Mech before . That is why I went TuneUp . Never a problem . And , they do not constantly bombard you with emails like the RegMech folks do . I am sorry you were so unfortunate and thanks for the warning . Many should adhere

 

next time I think you can duel boot the one with broken reg. in slave mode, if you have another harddrive and rescue all your files via my computer..

btw, ccleaner can clean up obsolete registryes with no backfire, and erunt will make a complete backup of registry. they're both free.

regards, gui

 

I was about to say the same thing. I've used Registry Mechanic for almost a year now, without any problems what so ever (knock on wood). Users take a chance anytime they use ANY of the registry cleaners out there, but this one is supposedly (according to several reviews) one of the safer ones out there.

I know that Registry Mechanic 5.0 AUTOMATICALLY creates a restore point, so that any modifications/deletions can be undone and restored, if something was done by mistake. Are we sure that this is the PC Tools version, and not another "RegMechanic" type spin-off? Perhaps it is an earlier version from 5.0, and I haven't used it on Windows 98, so perhaps there is some compatibility issue there, I dunno.

Have you tried contacting PC Tools, to see if they could offer any help? I would try contacting them to see if they can offer you help as well. Good luck.

 

Sorry to hear of your sad happenings. I have heard similar stories about various registry cleaners from time to time.

The safest registry cleaners that I know of are RegHealer and Ace Utilities. I have both. I alternate between them as the mood strikes me. BOTH of them back up all changes. RegHealer also allows backing up the ENTIRE registry before making a change, if you wish, or it will back up just the actual changes -- it's your call.

I have used RegHealer for a few months & Ace for 3 or 4 years. Never a blip with either of them.

Best of luck on getting your computer up & running again.

 

I'm up and running again, no data loss!

As I've emphasized before, DO NOT USE Registry Mechanic by PCTools.com especially if you're not familiar with working the registry. It had overwritten/corrupted some of my critical system files somehow. The tech said my Windows OS was f**ed up somehow and she deleted the Reg. Mechanic program. Never again.

If you ever get a corrupted PC (such as a nonbootable), don't reformat the hard drive to sacrifice losing your data. Take it to the shop. Chances are, they can resuscitate it. In my opinion, it's better to pay (if not too much) than spend hours of reinstalling gigabytes of everything back on your PC. It cost me $49 but oh well, saved me the hours and task of reinstalling everything.

So far, the registry maintenance I TRUST the most is RegistryFixer/Cleaner from Fix-It Utilities (paid) by VCOM http://www.v-com.com/product/Fix-It_Utilities_Home.html along with RegClean by MS (downloaded free from PCWorld.com). The registry scanner in Fix-It outputs registry results tagged with green, yellow, and red icons where the green ones are the safest to delete by default. Yellow icon is caution and red is risky to delete.

Also, I may have been able to fix my PC with a Rescue Disk (SystemSaver feature) throug Fix-It Utilities but unfortunately I hadn't bothered to create one before. I highly recommend this utility program.

 

i trashed my system with a registry cleaner before also. now, the only one i use, and i have not had any problems with it, it TweakNow RegCleaner Std. it's free too. (also, i only delete the safe to delete results)