More detailed info about RSP tools?

kake

I have been examining the evaluation version of RegSupreme Pro. My general impressions of both the program and the web site are quite positive. However, the documentation isn't really what it should be in this kind of a utility product - too many questions are left without an answer (at least for someone not too familiar with Window's inner life but looking for a reasonably secure way to clean up the registry). Here are the most important of those I'd like to get an answer to to really know what I'll be getting if I register the program - and in what extent I dare to use it :)

1) Installed Software:

What are you supposed to use this tool for? How is the list generated? Does it contain all the programs RegSupreme Pro can find some trace of or only those with an executable somewhere in the file system? Wouldn't some additional information about each program, like where the executable resides and whether the program is part of the initial installation or installed later, help sorting out the ones that can be get rid of from those that shoud be left as they are. And what does the Remove button do? Does it remove the selected program only from the list or remove its registry references or uninstall it altogether?

2) Starting programs:

Roughly the same questions as above. What does the tool do when you click the Remove button?

3) Add/Remove menu (referred to as Uninstall menu in the Help):

What does "you can also remove obsolete items from this list" in the Help text mean? In which way obsolete? Is the Uninstall function identical with the Windows' one or better in some ways (like cleaning up the registry more thorougly)?

4) File types:

Again, what happens with the remove button? How can you tell unnecessary extensions from necessary ones? Does this list correspond with the Registry cleaner's "Useless file extension" problems?

5) Shell extensions:

Does the list contain only the really working ones or also all the junk left in the registry? If there's also junk, how can you identify it? And how do you know which are "unneeded"?

Besides, there's no Modify button visible on my screen. Why?

6) IE context menu:

My list is totally empty, even though there seems to be several options my IE's context menu. But perhaps the reason is my somewhat ancient IE version (5.00 - I'm really using Opera). Or is this also a non-98 feature (my PC is a venerable Win 98 SE one)?

7) Open with menu:

I suppose that with this tool, you can break the association with the file extension and the program opening it automatically (Online Help isn't very informative in this subject, either). Why doesn't it function in Win 98? The feature would be very welcome - or is there another simple way to do it in Win 98?

8) Removing list entries in general:

Does the principle of being able to remove ALL the listed entries apply to other tools, too, than the Registry cleaner (normal mode)? If not, are there general guidelines about what can/should be touched and what not?

jv16

The answers to your questions are the following.

1) The tool allows you to list traces of installed software directly from the registry. You can use this information in many ways, and remove left-over entries of software you have already uninstalled. The list is extracted from various places of the registry.

It's very difficult task try to show more information about the listed software. By difficult I mean it's impossible to show any more information (such as the installation date or the installation path of the software) of all items, it is possible to 'guess' in a way most of these 'guesses' are correct. The jv16 PowerTools 2005's Software Manager does this. RegSupreme Pro doesn't because RS Pro is designed to be as lightweight as possible.

The Remove button removes all detected traces of the software from the registry. It doesn't perform an uninstallation (i.e. run the software's uninstallation program).

2) The Remove button removes the software from the list of starting programs, i.e. the removed program stops to automatically start upon each computer startup.

3) By obsolete the docs mean that you can remove left-over items from the list. In other words, if you have a software in the Windows' Add/Remove list you have already uninstalled you can remove it from the list using the Remove button of the RS Pro. The Uninstall button does exactly the same as Windows Add/Remove.

4) The Remove button removes the selected file type registry entries from the registry.

5) The list contains all detected shell extensions. You must detect the items you wish to remove manually, i.e. go through the list and remove all items you don't think you will need. If you don't know what you will be needing, don't remove anything. There is an error in the docs about the Modify button, there is no such button. This will be fixed in the next released version, I will also do some other improvements based on your these questions.

6) By context menu item the program means additional items, i.e. items created by third party software to the IE's context menu, not the standard ones.

7) The feature is only for NT based operating systems because the structure of the registries (NT-based vs Win9x) are so different.

8) Only the items found by the registry cleaner should be safe to remove. The only general guideline there is is the following: only removes the items you know you can remove. If you don't know, don't remove anything.