When I utilize the "Clean and fix my computer" feature, registry errors are listed (as expected). Some errors claim that files do not exist, but they exist in different directories. For instance:
Severity 80
Description File or directory "C:\SwSetup\AMD\ATI\Support\11-8_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl\Packages\Apps\OpenCL64\" does not exist
However, C:\SwSetup\AMD\11-9_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl\Packages\Apps\OpenCL64\" does exist, and I would like the registry reference to point to the location of the existing directory, which seems like a simple thing for a program to accomplish. The only difference is a minor revision number in the directory structure, and a few levels less deep (C:\SwSetup\AMD\ATI\Support\ is now condensed to C:\SwSetup\AMD\).
It seems like back when jv16 PowerTools was in its version 1.4 build, it used to have this feature, but that was nearly a decade ago and I could be mistaken (either wishful thinking or another program did do this).
Most of the errors that are found (by any registry cleaning program) are similar to the above instance, and if jv16 was able to really fix these types of errors (as opposed to deleting them) it (jv16) would definitely be heads and shoulders above the rest of the competition. I realize that indexing or scanning the contents of any volume can take a considerable amount of time, but the time saved by an automated process that can find the "orphaned" file or directory reference would, by far, outweigh the time consumed by manually verifying each detected error (that can be truly fixed).
Fixing these types of errors manually repairs many application's functionality that has been broken since a "minor" update occurred, whereas deleting the errors does not. For instance, the new Java 7 installation (I performed a week ago) has two errors:
Severity 99
Description File or directory "C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\client\jvm.dll" does not exist
Item HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.7\
Severity 99
Description File or directory "C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\client\jvm.dll" does not exist
The file exists as ------------- "C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\server\jvm.dll" and fixing this error manually (by correcting the path to the file) has restored the java plug-in functionality in IE 9, Firefox 10, and Chrome 18.
If "fixing" is not feasible in my sense of the word, perhaps a message stating that, "The selected entries cannot be fixed automatically, so they will be deleted unless you cancel the operation. " would prevent any misunderstanding perceived by other users (such as myself) expecting these entries to be "corrected" and not "deleted."
Or an alternative method follows. After selecting various entries, provide a right-click menu option that says, "search for selected msising file(s)" that will search for the files in question and if it finds such file(s), it exports the current registry entries (as .reg files) and produces a secondary .reg file with the found pathnames saved in the (new) FIXUPS directory as "Entries to fix.reg" or similar. Then the user can opt to merge the new .reg files at their discretion, alleviating any liability on the part of the program, if necessary or proper.
Thanks for your consideration of the above,
Long-time fan and advanced user,
Clint Menzies
