A program to scan and fix the registry?

Does anyone know of a program that will scan your registry and fix the problems that it finds (like missing files or what not)? I'm having a problem with my Add/remove tool in xp and can't figure out what's going on and I thought maybe it was something wrong with my registry. I would like a free trial or a freeware registry scan fixer tool.

 

i think u may try out this mayb u can get a lill or more help
http://www.topcatcomputing.com/articles/displayarticle.asp?docid=10

 

Hmm most of the freeware registry scanners or just cleaners, I doubt they can solve the problem.

Can't you use system restore?

 

I used system restore and reinstalled windows xp and I still can't see some items in my add/remove. Thanks Jayk

 

Hi Notageek,

Did you perhaps use a tool called RegSeeker?
If I remember me well, there is stated on their site that it could perhaps "corrupt" your add/remove-option, and in that case they have a fix on their site.
I suppose that fix is only in case it is RegSeeker that "corrupted" it and not for other cases.....

 

Thanks for the info FanJ. I don't know it regseeker was used. I didn't mess with the reg my wife did. So I'm not sure if regseeker was used. All I know is I uninstall ZA and my wife got on the computer and started messing with stuff and I came back and tried to remove a program she installed and it wasn't there same with other programs.

 

Just to be sure: did you scan your system with AV, AT and SpyBot S&D and/or AdAware?

 

I scanned with 2 AV's both ad-aware and spybot. iIt came out clean.

 

Oops, I'm afraid I don't have the answer....
I guess we have to wait until a XP/registry guru jumps in.
Sorry !

 

i dunno whether notageek saw my post or mayb he din think it was important anyway if u want to fix register mayb RegFix works... if it doznt u can ofcourse try system mechanic 4
anyway wateva i am sayin... i want for ur good.. so take advice frm others too b4 attampting anything u dunno

 

It's OK. I bust my butt trying everything I know and read online but no luck so far. Thanks. FanJ

 

I seen your post bro. Sorry. I'm getting ready to try it now. Thanks for the help. I'll post back if it works.

 

If all this is about a program your wife installed..but you can not find it in the add/remove..and you are thinking that it should be there..I can tell you programs can be installed and not show up there.


In any case..starting from that point...try Belrc Advisor..it is free and will tell you alll that is on that PC..

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html


Then you can compare what you find in that add/remove.


But it appears here that you are sure if you fix the registry that this will help the add/remove mystery for you ?

 

OK Here's the the downlow. I went to add/remove to remove ZA. and I seen bunch of programs in my add/remove (NOD, Macafee, Pixa among others). I come back and none of them are there just the hotfixes that i had to redownload after the reinstall. Now when I open addremove there/s nothing in there but hotfixes. LOL It's a true mystery. Even spybot and media player isn't in my add/remove.

 

This is why some programs do not show up in the add/remove

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=223182

See here also...
http://www.theeldergeek.com/kbi_add_or_remove_programs.htm

Damaged Registry Repair and Recovery in Windows XP (Q318159)

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318159




Add or Remove Programs
The redesigned Windows XP Control Panel now contains a section called Add or Remove Programs, the third of the nine categories under Category View in Control Panel. The tip groupings below correspond to the Classic View in Windows XP. The final table below shows available feature access comparisons via the two Control Panel styles.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/addorremoveprograms.htm

Remove Invalid Listings from Add/Remove Programs

http://www.theeldergeek.com/remove_previously_deleted_app_listings.htm

 

I tried the regfix and it didn't help. II'll check out system mechanic 4 and see what happens.

 

man u r not havin problem in ur registry but in the add/remove program section of ur system... i think mayb when uninstalling one of program... mayb a shared dll was removed too... dunno mayb that was a common dll and was needed by ur comp...
hav u tried registry backup?? if u hav win XP hav u tried runnin on the last well known configuration option??

 

Maybe this is only for W98:

Suppose you have WinZip installed (just an example).
For WinZip showing up in Add/Remove, there has to be the following reg-key:

reg-key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\WinZip

Value:
DisplayName

Data:
WinZip


Notageek,
Maybe you could look for a program on your system that IS installed but does NOT show up in Add/Remove.
Then go to the reg-key like in above example and have a look whether there is yes/no such Key and Value and Data.

 

I think so too sub..and i think it happened uninstallin that ZA..it has many steps you must do first on that program to stop it from running etc..before you hit that old add/remove button. They still have a whole page of things to do in that uninstall.

 

FanJ I looked in my registry for the keys and the programs that are gone are gone from there also.

 

Man the fellows over at the M$ newsgroup said it was in my registry. The only program that uninstalled was ZA. How can I check to see if all my dlls to see if all my dlls are there?

 

From RegRun quote:

All Windows 9x or NT compatible programs must include an Uninstall program, sometimes though the program
may get removed but entry in Add/Remove programs doesn't, from this key you can remove those orphaned
entries.
To see which application each sub-key represents, open it and there should be at least two values
'DisplayName' and 'UninstallString'. 'DisplayName' is the name used in the Add/Remove programs list, and
'UninstallString' is the program used to uninstall the application.
To remove a program from the list you can simple delete the sub-key representing that program.

- End quote -

That's why I suggested to have a look for such a key and DisplayName.

But, once again, I'm not completely sure whether this is also true for XP....

 

Promise, I went to ZA web site and found a page on how to uninstall ZA for XP. http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/znalmInstallXPFAQ.jsp;jsessionid=1U1CEhYvaoBJTzTwPuf04uUpk52HUpu4uhHiO2wZT4X3kRUqvWEd!-959
Here's the webpage I went to. I did everything it said to do.

 

It is not true..and if you look at my second post you will see how anyone can HIDE it from not appearing there. Even Microsoft made those reg tweak on a few programs they had installed that people wanted to dump.

 

So what could it be than?