RegSofts Free Window Registry Repair 2.0

Almost all Windows users gradually experience the downfall in their PC's performance. Much of it can be attributed to Windows Registry Errors. By using Free Window Registry Repair regularly and repairing your registry your system should not only be more stable but it will also help Windows run faster. For your convenience it automatically backup any repairs made so that you always can restore Windows registry to the original state.

Key Features:
• Repair invalid registry entries that are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages
• Increase system speed and stability
• Set a variety of Registry cleaning preferences
• Improves system performance
• The automatic creation of Windows Registry backups, with the option to restore them.
• A simple, user-friendly interface
• 100% Spyware FREE, NOT contain any Spyware, Adware or Viruses.

Why do you need Free Window Registry Repair?

* The registry is a heart and soul of any Windows system. It contains information that controls how your system appears and how it behaves. Almost all Windows users gradually experience the downfall in their PC's performance. Much of it can be attributed to Windows Registry Errors.
* By using Free Window Registry Repair regularly and repairing your registry your system should not only be more stable but it will also help Windows run faster. Within few minutes and fewer mouse clicks, you can easily attain maximum optimization of your windows registry with Free Window Registry Repair. It will scan your complete registry and fix the registry problems.
* For your convenience and for insuring maximum protection Free Window Registry Repair automatically backup any repairs made. So you always can restore Windows registry to the original state using restore button.

Author: RegSofts Software
Platform: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
File Size: 780 kb
License: Freeware
Last Updated: April 21, 2009

Direct Downloading Link: http://www.regsofts.com/download/RegpairSetup.exe

Registry Repair with Auslogics Registry Cleaner

Registry errors can cause many problems, starting from computer slowdowns to system hanging and crashes. Auslogics is proud to offer one of the most stable and reliable registry cleaners available on the market. It is designed for fixing and repairing the Windows Registry and is absolutely FREE!

Why use Auslogics Registry Cleaner?

• Fixing registry errors helps to avoid system crashes.
• Registry cleanup will speed up your computer.
• Auslogics Registry Cleaner is recommended by industry experts.
• It is safe to use as all changes are backed up and can be easily restored.
• This is one of the most popular registry cleaners on the Internet.
• It is absolutely FREE!

Causes of Registry Errors

Windows Registry is a database that stores crucial settings and options of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Registry entries are created for each application and driver installed on your computer. When running, a program may access the Registry thousands of times per second.

Just like any other database, the Registry becomes a real mess without proper maintenance. When you uninstall programs, invalid registry entries can be left behind and cause registry errors. As a result your computer slows down, starts freezing, and crashing. That's why it's very important to clean the Registry regularly.

Supported Operation Systems

Auslogics Registry Cleaner works with the following Windows versions:

• Windows XP with SP2 or later (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

It does not support Windows 95, 98, 98SE, 2000 or Windows ME.

Safety of Use

Unlike some other registry cleaners, Auslogics Registry Cleaner doesn’t try to find as many problems as possible. It only deletes safe items by default. Novice users should only clean those items. However, advanced users can select the Advanced scan mode to scan categories with higher risk level.

Authors’ website: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/registry-cleaner/

Direct Download: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/registry-cleaner/download/

Trojan Hunting in Svchost.exe with Svchost Process Analyzer

"Svchost.exe" (Generic Host Process for Win32 Services) is an integral part of Windows OS. It cannot be stopped or restarted manually. This process manages 32-bit DLLs and other services. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services portion of the registry and constructs a list of services that it needs to load.

Under normal conditions, multiple instances of Svchost.exe will be running simultaneously. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services, so that many services can be run depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This allows for better control and debugging.

Svchost.exe groups are identified in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Svchost

Each value under this key represents a separate Svchost group and appears as a separate instance when you are viewing active processes. Each value is a REG_MULTI_SZ value and contains the services that run under that Svchost group. Each Svchost group can contain one or more service names that are extracted from the following registry key, whose Parameters key contains a ServiceDLL value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Service

To view the list of services those are running in Svchost:

1. Click Start on the Windows taskbar, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type CMD, and then press ENTER.
3. Type Tasklist /SVC, and then press ENTER.

Tasklist displays a list of active processes. The /SVC switch shows the list of active services in each process. For more information about a process, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

Tasklist /FI "PID eq processID" (with the quotation marks)

The svchost.exe file is physically located in the folder C:\Windows\System32. However, one of the most important services organizers can also be used as a driving vehicle and a hiding mechanism for viruses, spyware, Trojans, or worms.

The possible symptoms of the infections are:

• Your system becomes sluggish and you find that something called svchost or dllhost is taking nearly 100% of your CPU.
• Your system reports that svchost has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated. After that, various things fail to work properly, if at all.
• After you log in, your system automatically reboots in one minute.

Note that you should not be confused from the small difference in the svchost.exe and scvhost.exe (which is called svchost virus). So, the svchost virus is actually a process named scvhost.exe (notice on the “c” and “v” are switched) which is designed to confuse people with the harmless svchost. Scvhost.exe will go into your system and completely shut it down. The virus is actually a Trojan Horse, named W30/Agobot-S virus. This virus will also allow hackers to access your computer and steal passwords and personal data.

The approach of hiding dangerous content in svchost is understandable, since you need to have pretty advanced computer skills for its troubleshooting. The free Svchost Process Analyzer free utility is letting anybody analyze and troubleshoot the system in terms of the presence of the dangerous files and processes. The software lists all svchost instances and checks the services they contain. This makes it easy to uncover Svchost worms like the infamous Conficker worm.

While Svchost Process Analyzer does not provide the details that popular process managers like Process Explorer provide, it does list the information in a comprehensible manner. The process analyzer will scan all svchost processes that are running on the Windows operating system upon startup. A click on details will open the main application window, that lists every svchost process in the top window and details about the selected process in the window at the bottom.

Each entry in the lower window is displayed by name, service name and file. Svchost Process Analyzer is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 and Windows 2008.

Main Features:

• 100% freeware.
• Doesn't require runtimes.
• Doesn't require installation (absolutely portable).
• Doesn't write to the registry.
• Doesn't modify files outside of its own directories.
• Does not contain adware / malware / spyware.
• Small, single executable file, does not require significant computer resources.

Developer: Neuber Software.

Website and Downloading Link: http://www.neuber.com/free/svchost-analyzer/index.html

How to Uninstall Programs in Windows OS

Beginning with Windows 95, all versions of Windows have an Add/Remove Programs control panel that facilitates uninstalling programs. In DOS and Windows 3.1, you were required to manually delete the folders, files, and autoexec.bat and config.sys entries in order to uninstall a program. However, in Windows 95 and later, you are not required to manually uninstall programs.

Why Uninstall Programs in Windows?

You might want to uninstall software on your computer to free up hard drive space or if you are, for example, replacing one antivirus program with another.


Automatic Uninstall through Add/Remove Programs

The following instructions describe how to use the Add/Remove Programs control panel in different Windows Operating Systems:

Windows Vista

1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.
2. In Classic View, double-click Programs and Features. If using the Control Panel Home view, under "Programs", click Uninstall a program.
3. Select the program you want to remove, and click Uninstall. Alternatively, right-click the program and select Uninstall.

Windows XP in the default XP view

1. From the Start Menu, select Control Panel.
2. Click the Add or Remove Programs icon.
3. Select the program you wish to remove and click Remove.

Windows 2000 and XP in Classic View

1. From the Start menu, select Settings, and then Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
3. Select the program you wish to remove and click Add/Remove.

Using the Uninstall program from the Start menu

If the program you wish to uninstall is not listed among the installed programs, there might be an uninstall program for that item on the Start menu. You can look for such an option by following the instructions below:

1. From the Start menu, select Programs or All Programs.
2. Find the folder for the program you wish to uninstall and highlight it.
3. In many cases, on the menu that appears, you will see an uninstall option.

If the program has neither a listing in the Add/Remove Programs control panel nor its own uninstall program, you might try installing it again, and then trying to uninstall it via the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

Using Uninstall Third-Party Software

Review list of free applications in the Software section of the site menu to choose the one that will automatically perform the software removal for you.


Manual Program Uninstall

Just because Windows XP has the Add/Remove Programs feature it doesn’t mean your application will appear in the list. Furthermore, even if it does appear, it’s no guarantee that the uninstall feature will work. When you run across one of these situations the items listed below will help in getting rid of the application. Be aware that these steps may not remove everything associated with the application and can impact other applications on the computer. Have a backup or restore point and use caution.

To understand the steps needed to perform to remove all (or most of) the traces of the program on the computer, you need to realize what is happening when you install the software.

There are several things that happen during the installation of a program. First, of course, is the copying of files to the specified program folder (which is usually somewhere inside the Program Files folder). Also some files such as shared libraries (.dll files) can be copied into a folder inside Program Files called Common Files and some files such as drivers or shared libraries (again) are copied into the ‘WINDOWS’System32’ and ‘WINDOWS’System32’drivers’ folders. After that the installer makes some changes inside the windows registry. The windows registry is a unified place where all the settings for programs and for windows itself are stored. The installer can make changes inside the registry for several reasons. For example if a shared library needs to be registered. Or if certain types of files need to be associated with the program being installed, so that the user could open them (e.g. if you install Microsoft Word, then you will be able to open Microsoft Word documents). After this is done, a key is added to the windows registry in a place where the Windows Add/Remove tool looks for installed programs. During the installation all these operations are logged in a special file (e.g. setup.log), and the installation program usually puts that file inside the application’s folder along with the uninstaller. When a user tries to remove a program through the Add/Remove tool, windows looks for the registered uninstaller inside the registry, and executes it. The uninstaller goes through the log file and undoes all the changes done during installation. That is, it deletes all the files that have been copied, all the registry keys the installer created etc.

However, if there is no log file, or if there is no record of the changes made to the registry the uninstaller might fail to uninstall the program, and it will stay there until it is removed by other means.

Note that the following operations should be performed with great care, since you enter to the sacred space of the Operations System, and improper deletion of the wrong entry might cause other utilities or operating system malfunctions.

• Find the directory for the application and delete all the files in the directory. Delete the directory.
• Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
• Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER’SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
• To remove the application entry from Add/Remove Programs (if present) open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’SOFTWARE’Microsoft’Windows’CurrentVersion’Uninstall and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
• Some applications have Services attached to them. If this is the case, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’System’CurrentControlSet’Services, locate and delete the service.
• In Windows Explorer, navigate to the individual user settings and delete program references. Common places to check would be:

C:’Documents and Settings’All Users’Start Menu’Programs and delete relevant entries.
C:’Documents and Settings’All Users’Start Menu’Programs’Startup and delete relevant entries. C:’Documents and Settings’%YourUserID%’Start Menu’Programs and delete relevant entries. [Do this for each User ID listed]
C:’Documents and Settings’%YourUserID%’Start Menu’Programs’Startup and delete relevant entries. [Do this for each User ID listed]

If no entries were found in the previous step and the application launches automatically, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER’Software’Microsoft’Windows NT’CurrentVersion’Windows and delete the entry.

Sources and Additional Reading:

http://kb.iu.edu/data/aixt.html
http://video.about.com/windows/Uninstall-Programs-in-WinXP.htm
http://www.theeldergeek.com/manually_uninstall_programs.htm
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-force-uninstall-a-program