Registry deletions

Discussion in 'MRU Blaster Forum' started by brian gill, Feb 24, 2003.

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  1. brian gill

    brian gill Guest

    Many thanks for a great app.! Just as a matter of curiosity(no great state secrets on this machine!)-how secure is the removal of any entry? Is it a deletion,or is it multiply overwritten somehow?Not quite sure how you can make former Registry entries really invisible!Many thanks! ;)
     
  2. nameless

    nameless Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2003
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    MRU-Blaster doesn't do anything special to deleted registry keys and values to make then less recoverable. It is technically--but not always easily--possible for deleted registry keys and values to be recovered.

    To make deleted registry keys and values unrecoverable, you have to compact your registry, which requires a reboot and an element of risk. The easiest way to do this is with a third-party utility. (On Win9x, etc., you can also use regedit in DOS mode; search the Internet for more details, as I'm far too lazy right now to explain it). One nice utility to compact the Win2K/XP registry is NTREGOPT:

    http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm

    Of course, if you really want to do the job right, you have to overwrite unused disk space after compacting the registry (to overwrite where the old registry database files were, for recovery prevention).
     
  3. javacool

    javacool BrightFort Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2002
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    4,098
    That is correct - to completely make sure that all deleted registry items are irrecoverable, you would have to compact the registry and wipe the free disk space. But the risk of actually recovering deleted registry items from traces left on the disk is small (Windows will typically write over the space again when new registry entries are created - which, with Windows, is practically after every button or key press :rolleyes:), and in your case, the extra hassle and risk associated with the registry compacting process would probably not be worth it.

    While a registry compacting feature addition would technically be feasible, there is a rather high risk associated with it, including the risk of a completely corrupted registry. (Although who knows - perhaps a plug-in could be created to do it. :D)

    And a note: secure file deletion IS provided as an option for the Cookie Blaster and IE Temporary Internet File Cleaner plug-ins. :)

    Best regards,

    -Javacool
     
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