Poll: Do you think a registry cleaner is worth using?

Now that helps me understand why you probably did not just install the Linux O/S to replace the Windows O/S on your wifes computer. If I were to try to replace my WinXP with one of the Linux programs I might find problems running some of these aplications, and if I had to change applications, would the tens of thousands of files which were created by those Microsoft programs work in the replacement programs?

MS calculator plus
MS office
MS works
MS streets and maps
MS office small business tools
MS games
MS paint
MS picture it
MS beta client
MSN Explorer
MSN gaming Zone
MSN messenger
Windows explorer
Windows messenger
Windows media viewer
Windows journal viewer
Windows defender
Windows movie maker
Outlook Express
Internet Explorer

Is there a possibility that some other software brands might also have difficulty? I rely heavily on Adobe, Delorme, Google Earth, Creative, Nero, Sony, Kodak, Jasc, Paperport, Broderbund, and others.

If a person wants to change to Lindows or an other of the Linux O/S is there an upgrade disk available or would they have to do a clean install?

>Now that helps me understand why you probably did not just install the
>Linux O/S to replace the Windows O/S on your wifes computer. If I were
>to try to replace my WinXP with one of the Linux programs I might find
>problems running some of these applications, and if I had to change
>applications, would the tens of thousands of files which were created
>by those Microsoft programs work in the replacement programs?
>
>MS calculator plus

I'm not familiar with this one, however there a dozens of good calculators for Linux, ranging from scientific to financial.

>MS office
>MS works

This is easy... Open Office is free and will work with most Microsoft Office and/or Works file formats. If you need even better compatibility (e.g. Open Office's spreadsheet graphs don't come out looking like Excel's), then you can buy SoftMaker Office for <$100 USD.

>MS streets and maps

Google Maps?

>MS office small business tools

I've never used any of these, but I'd be surprised if there weren't something equivalent in the Linux world. Whether the Linux equivalent would be file compatible is another issue. For example, instead of MS Project, I use GanttProject. It's free (and there's even a Windows version), but it only works with its own .GAN files or .XML files which may be exported from MS project.

>MS games

There are clone versions of almost any popular game you can think of. How well the clone matches the original varies from game to game.

>MS paint

GIMP (or GIMPshop) are the best known but there are others. All work with all standard graphics file formats.

>MS picture it
>MS beta client

I have no idea what these are.

>MSN Explorer
>MSN gaming Zone
>MSN messenger

Since MS owns MSN, the odds are that some MSN things may not be compatible. OTOH, using Pidgin - a universal IM client that can talk with MSN, Yahoo, AOL/AIM, Google, ICQ, IRC, MySpace, and other IM systems - I can IM almost anyone anywhere.

>Windows Explorer

I prefer Total Commander on Windows. On Linux I use either Krusader (Krusader integrates a file manager and web browser in a single application), EmelFM2, or Konqueror. If you want something that looks like MSWE, try Thunar or Nautilus. There are many others.

>Windows messenger

Pidgin (see above).

>Windows media viewer

Too many options to enumerate.

>Windows journal viewer

Don't use it, don't know.

>Windows defender

Malware is much less of a problem when running Linux. Windows' market position makes it a much more attractive target for malware writers. Linux comes with a really good firewall, and you can add antivirus and anti-spyware tools if you like. ClamAV is the best known, but there are others. AVG 7.5 is available for Linux.

>Windows movie maker

See my comments on Windows Paint. There is no shortage of Linux multimedia creation and/or editing software.

>Outlook Express

The problem with Windows email clients is that they don't use standard file formats. There are some great Linux email clients, but importing your existing mail from Outlook express will be a chore. Arguably the best email client for Linux is Mozilla Thunderbird. Evolution and Kmail are also popular. If you want something simple and integrated, check out Opera for Linux.

>Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox has already stolen a large chunk of MSIE's customer base and tuns great on Linux. There are others, e.g. Opera.

>Is there a possibility that some other software brands might also
>have difficulty? I rely heavily on Adobe, Delorme, Google Earth,
>Creative, Nero, Sony, Kodak, Jasc, Paperport, Broderbund, and others.

Some of these will be easy, others less so. In the end, there's always the virtualization option. Wine is a Linux application that allows users to run native Windows applications under Linux. It can work very well or not at all or somewhere in between. If you load Virtualbox for Linux, you can install Windows as a guest operating system running under Linux. The commercial equivalent is VMware. If you have only a few "must have" applications, these might be worth considering.

>If a person wants to change to Lindows or an other of the Linux O/S
>is there an upgrade disk available or would they have to do a clean
>install?

You'd need to do a clean install. As far as choosing among the myriad Linux distributions, if you're used to Windows, I'd recommend you look first at PClinuxOS (PCLOS), which is the most Windows-like, or Kubuntu which offers the best balance of power and Windows look and feel. As a result of legal actions by Microsoft, Lindows is now Linspire. It's OK, but overall, I've never been too impressed by it. PCLOS does a much better job of making a Windows user feel at home in Linux. The downside of PCLOS is that its installation repositories have far fewer applications to chose from than any of the Ubuntu distributions (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Eubuntu, et al). Ubuntu is built on Debian as its base distribution, while PCLOS is built on Mandriva. Linspire is built on Ubuntu.

It sounds like I will have to abandon 95% of my programs and start to learn new prohrams all over again. There is no way unless Linux would pay hundreds of dollars a month that it would be worth the effort.

Linux may be a great program to some people but sounds like the great car with great features but you cannot drive it to work or to school or to church or to the mall or to the beach or shopping, or to grandma's. I have a difficult time adjusting to changes within the Microsoft programs Office 2000 to office 2003 was a real challengs. I would fear that changing from MS office 2003 to a linux compatible office suite might be a greater adjustment than changing to MS office 2007 which I am not looking forward to because of the problems that I expect to encounter there.

I am willing to try lots of things but I am not willing to give up my Microsoft applications. Probably 95% or more of what I do on the computer is done in Microsoft applications. The rest is done in Adobe, Scansoft, Delorme, Norton, AOL, and a smattering in other programs.

I do appreciate you taking the time to communicate on this subject. I have had communications with others (many others)who simply tell me that linux will work better and have been unwilling to discuss its compatibility with the Microsoft applications.

BTW I definately liked MS-DOS (in which I created all of my own menus and wrote several of my own programs)far more than any of the Windows operating systems.

There seem to be two highly polarized camps on migrating from Windows to Linux. Some describe it as dirt simple and only a moron would have trouble with it. Others perceive it as a quagmire, a true nightmare experience.

Since I run both systems, I see it as somewhere in between. For folks who are really married to some Windows app(s), it would be seriously problematic. For example, my wife uses Picasa and Greeting Card Factory. Aside from her email and web browser (Thunderbird and Firefox), that's pretty much all she uses, so she's effectively married to WinXP MCE. If she were a "power user", I could migrate her to some comparable Linux apps, but she's not, so I leave her happy in her Windows world. As the family IT department, I have to spend more time supporting her and maintaining her machine, but I don't mind doing it. Besides, my daughter and stepdaughter are also on the network and they're also Windows users so I don't see my getting out of the Windows support business anytime soon.

For folks who run mostly web-based apps and email along with the occasional Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents, migration to Linux would be a trivial move with a minimal learning curve..

For myself, I do run a lot of Windows apps, but nothing I couldn't replace with Linux equivalents or run under Wine, Xen, or VirtualBox. I keep my Windows machine because it's a business necessity. However, I'm only a couple of years from retirement. When Windows ceases to be a business necessity, I plan to move to almost 100% Kubuntu.

Does AOL have a version which works well on Linux. I have a broadband connection and AOL now offers a their service for free. they have a web based AOL but my family will not let me part with the client software. so I still use AOL as an application. If I wqasa to build a computer with the intent of installing one of the linux operating systems,

A. Does AMD or Intel based computer make a difference
B. Do they intergrate easily into a LAN with Windows computers.
C. Would I have to be concerned about hardware choices, or are most devices compatible
D Would sharing resources such as printers and scanners across Windows machines be a problem.

I am reluctant to make the jump because I fear the horror show that may occur, but I have twice purchased linux O/S discs with the intent of "giving it a try" I had even gone to extent of ordering a HD switch so that I could run as two different computers in the one tower. The switch had sold out and I did noy order an other. When the time comes to upgrade this baby I might just try building a new machine from scratch and commit this one to Linux.

>Does AOL have a version which works well on Linux. I have a broadband
>connection and AOL now offers a their service for free. they have a web
>based AOL but my family will not let me part with the client software.
>so I still use AOL as an application. If I wqasa to build a computer
>with the intent of installing one of the Linux operating systems,

TTBOMK, AOL's client isn't available in a Linux version.

>A. Does AMD or Intel based computer make a difference

Not at all. I've run it on Pentium 4 and 5 as well as Athlon and Athlon 64x2 and Opteron. My dual boot notebook runs runs a Transmeta Efficeon CPU and the utility computers I occasionally build all use Via C7 CPUs.

>B. Do they integrate easily into a LAN with Windows computers.

They can, but you need a Samba driver on the Linux side.

>C. Would I have to be concerned about hardware choices, or are most
>devices compatible

Sometimes you may run across some truly oddball hardware that needs a special driver, but it's rare. I know I never have (see my comments above about machines using Transmeta and Via CPUs).

>D Would sharing resources such as printers and scanners across
>Windows machines be a problem.

Using Samba on the Linux machine, it's certainly doable.

>I am reluctant to make the jump because I fear the horror show that
>may occur, but I have twice purchased Linux O/S discs with the intent
>of "giving it a try" I had even gone to extent of ordering a HD
>switch so that I could run as two different computers in the one
>tower. The switch had sold out and I did noy order an other. When the
>time comes to upgrade this baby I might just try building a new
>machine from scratch and commit this one to Linux.

To this I can offer several comments...

Most Linux distributions are available as live CDs. What this means is that you can boot from the CD-ROM and run Linux without installing it. Once installed, you can mount the native FAT or NTFS file system under Linux to have access to your Windows files and to use the extra storage space.

If you have a Windows machine with at least 5 GB of free HDD space, you can boot a Linux CD-ROM and install it. You will have to resize the Windows partition(s) to create a 5+GB free space partition, but once done, Linux will install GRUB (a boot manager) which will allow you to boot into either OS. Every Linux installation CD I know f does this automatically. For resizing partitions, I can recommend vCom's Partition Commander 10.

You can download VirtualBox for Windows for free. Once installed, you can run any flavor of Linux as a guest OS running under Windows. I do this all the time to evaluate Linux distributions. VirtualBox creates an HDD image file for each guest OS which allows you to use persistent native Linux file systems. This is better than using a live CD since your changes don't go away when you shut Linux down.

Links:
http://www.virtualbox.org/
http://vcom.avanquest.com/cat/prod.php?pid=2177

No, not that I am aware, but you can use Gaim or Kopete instant messenging clients to use AOL messenging.

For the first few years that I was on line I never bothered with the Internet. I used prodigy but not prodigy internet, and tham I used AOL but I think I did click on the internet button a few times just so that I could say I had. AOL (at that time ) was so good and had so much that there was no need to leave AOPL and move to the outside world then refered to as the the World Wide Web www.

Today I do go all over the internet but a greatdeal of it I do through AOL. My family is so stuck within AOL that I am still a paying subscriber. If I were to cancel my AOL they would be out of their minds and almost immediately start their own account or go to netzero, Walmart connect, Prodigy online or some other program for the internet.

I am surprised that AOL has not developed a software package for Linux. I did beta testing on a Gateway device about 8 years ago. It was an internet communicating devise without any memory or storage capabilities. It used Redhat and had a version of AOL for internet communications.

Yes Mike, many people have come to rely on Microsoft programs, but they are not the only options, nor are they the best options in many cases. For example, you mentioned that you rely heavily on adobe acrobat, well... don't we all, however, did you ever notice how long it takes to start up? Isn't that annoying? Evince, a PostScript and PDF File Viewer has been around for 9 years already and it works like a snap. Google Earth is available for Linux and runs faster than the windows version. Creative? not sure which program you refer to there. Nero has a linux version, however Linux has available K3b which is the best CD/DVD burning software I have ever used. Sony, Kodak, Jasc, Paperport, Broderbund, and those other brands you refer to make their own software, mostly for Windows and Mac, but this does not mean those ipods, digital cameras etc won't work under Linux. That is far from reality. Picasa is another outstanding Google program for organizing your photos and is also available for Linux. Just remember that there may be a single Microsoft program which does blah, but there may be 10 or 20 programs that do the exact same thing under Linux.

However, when in doubt search google, we all use it and we all contribute to the world of freely available information, this is the philosophy behind open source.

If you think that discussing software is confusing, you are not alone. The world of Microsoft software is somewhat of a smoke and mirrors show since Microsoft does not release the source code which is required to compile and create the binary executable. This binary executable is the end result which you know as a program like MS calculator, MS office, or whatever. Microsoft would have you believe that these are your only options which is not true. When people do find the gold mine of open source Linux they would try to convince you that Windows is still better or costs less(Ha.!! 2nd richest man in the world let's not forget) One huge example of this smoke and mirrors show has been the Microsoft Office package. This suite of productivity programs can be quite expensive. People can spend more money on this program than they do for a new computer and there are a variety of confusing options for student edition, teacher edition, professional edition, I'm a milk cow edition, etc... A drop in replacement for Microsoft Office is a package suite of programs called Open Office and is available from www.openoffice.org. This productivity package is a shining example of the power and freedom of open source software. You will find the Open Office suite is able to create word documents(directly exportable to PDF format), powerpoint presentations, spreadsheets, and many more types of documents including professional quality business cards. The entire package of programs is free and does not require a signup or registration, and is extremely intuitive to use.

Again, I hope that this discussion will allow you to save money, and learn more about what your computer. If and when you make the leap of faith to Linux, you will see that there is a world of options that you never knew before.

for years I have not have unquestioned answer and unanswered questions which I find frustrating.

The price is no real advantage because there are ways to get legal registerable copies of the Microsoft programs free or almost free. it gets even easier if you do not insist upon the brand new latest version.

Some of the requirements that I just don't seem to hear discussed include.

1. Is the program readily installable in the Windows operating systems and which ones.

2. When installed in Windows will the program intergrate with out problems.

3. When installed in Windows operating systems will it multitask alright with windows programs

4. When you click on a file in Windows explorer which has the file extension for that program, will the program open and the file open in it.

5. Will automatic updates work with the program or will I have to go in every few days to see if there are updates.

6. Will by antivirus program intergrate with it.

7. Will a replacement program for example Adobe intergrate with Microsoft Word, or would I be forced to find a linux word processing program which will intergrate with the replacement for the Adobe program.

8. Will the programs uninstall from Control Panel Add/Remove, or will I need an additional program to uninstall linux programs?

9 When creating shortcuts to desktop, can We go into windows explorer and find the proper excutable for the link or does it look different.

10. Has linux worked hard to close the gap or will people who convert find that it will be similar to the change between Windows and Mac where thay had to abandon communications with all of their friends and family for a time until they could close the gaps themselves.

There are lots of questioins such as these which need to be addressed and there is just no web site which addresses these questions.

Case 1:

Windows - "it gets even easier if you do not insist upon the brand new
latest version." Free in Windows world.

Linux - You have the latest version at all times because updates are
free and quick. Free in Linux world.

Case 2:

Windows - "Is the program readily installable in the Windows operating
systems? and which ones?" - Answer: No, because you have to search on the
internet for a free, trial, or share version.
Linux - Yes, the program is installable in Linux because you only have to
access the package manager screen. This has also been known as
apt or "Advanced Packaging Tool"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Packaging_Tool
This tool allows you to retrieve the latest programs, configure, and
install them.

for example:
apt-get install googleearth
or
apt-get install skype googleearth picasa

Case 3:

"When installed in Windows will the program intergrate with out problems?"
If we are talking about Linux programs and I think you are, then you may
be misunderstanding something.
Yes, if you run Windows and install a Windows program, it should run.
However, Linux programs on Windows? Well,there may be a Windows version,
such as Google Eearth, Skype, or The Gimp, but generally, Linux programs
were developed on the Linux platform, so they were meant to run on Linux.
You may be able to compile a version to run under windows. You could
get the source code for many Linux programs and do it yourself,
However if you wanted to do this under Windows you would likely have to
purchase a software development kit or something in order to do the same
thing you could do in Linux for free.
I believe if you are at all interested in trying a Linux program, you can
make a small partition using the Ubuntu installer. Just resize your existing
Windows partition and add a small Linux partition. It's easy and fast.

Case 4:

"When installed in Windows operating systems will it multitask alright
with windows programs?" What windows does with the programs that you want to
run is unknown. Meaning that because Microsoft is proprietory, they do not
reveal exactly how things are run underneath your program. An Operating
System is a master program that allows you to run other programs. That is
what windows is, but in Windows you see only the interface. Linux is also
and operating system, but which you can see the interface and also see how
it works underneath so that you can change it to make it better if you are
so inclined or inventive or find free help and tutorials on how to do
things.

Case 6:

"When you click on a file in Windows explorer which has the file extension
for that program, will the program open and the file open in it?" This is a
Windows question. Again, how can we tell if it will? Nobody can sure Windows
will work. In Linux, you can manage the application which should be
responsible for various file types, by right clicking on any file and
choosing a default program to associate with it.

Case 7:

"Will automatic updates work with the program or will I have to go in
every few days to see if there are updates." Answer: Even worse, in windows
you would have to search out on the internet the newest version, then
uninstall the old version from control panel and install the new one. In
Linux, you are notified of updates for programs you have installed, and you
can update them automatically using the package manager such as 'apt' or
'synaptic package manager'

Case 8:

"Will by antivirus program intergrate with it." - You need an antivirus in
Windows. You do not need an antivirus in Linux. Although there are excellent
virus scanners available for Linux including ClamAV which can also scan
Windows partitions for viruses.

Case 9:

"Will a replacement program for example Adobe intergrate with Microsoft
Word, or would I be forced to find a linux word processing program which
will intergrate with the replacement for the Adobe program." Sounds
like you have mental scarring, however Open Office and Evince solve this
problem nicely.

Case 10:

"Will the programs uninstall from Control Panel Add/Remove, or will I need
an additional program to uninstall linux programs?" With any programs, it
depends entirely on the programmer(s) who created the program. This is a
design decision by the programs creator.

Case 11:

"When creating shortcuts to desktop, can We go into windows explorer and
find the proper executable for the link or does it look different." In
Linux, the same type of functionality can be found as Nautilus or
Konqueror. Yes, you can make short cuts anywhere in Linux.

Case 12:

"Has Linux worked hard to close the gap or will people who convert find that
it will be similar to the change between Windows and Mac where thay had to
abandon communications with all of their friends and family for a time until
they could close the gaps themselves." Obviously you don't use a Mac or you
would not ask if anyone has to abandon any kind of communications with
friends and family. haha... Yes, Linux has closed many gaps and now has many
advantages over Windows. For example... security, speed, and ease of use.

Case 13:

"There are lots of questioins such as these which need to be addressed and
there is just no web site which addresses these questions." Answer: Google

Let me make this clear. I want to use one of the linux operating systems to replace my Windows operating system Windows XP.

I absolutely positivley very very very definately do not want to give up any of my applications (most of which are Microsoft programs). So many people keep saying that Linux is so much better than Windows that I would like to try it out myself I want to install it to replace Windows and nothing else. I keep on hearing talk about software. "this is equivalent to" or "this is as good as" or "you can replace it with" It seems that for some sick reason they also want to replace all of the programs too. WHAT IS WRONG WITH STARTING WITH JUST THE O/S? If it is a good operating system you should not have to change to other programs.

I am sure that there will be a transition. I don't think that the Linux O/S will look and feel so much like Windows that a person could use it for 4 weeks and not know that someone had replaced their windows with Lindows. It just makes sense to change the O/S alone and once people have made that adjustment, they can slowly begin to change out and replace applications one at a time.


Why do they keep seeming to be hedging and dodging Even you seem to hedge. Can you give simple answers honest answers which may lead to more questions, but will lead to understanding.

For instance of the last 500 updates to your O/S and your programs how many did you have to intervine or in some way act upon in some way. How many were fully automatic or just click "NOW" or "OK" and they were done. There will probably be some major changes that some people will not want to accept. They should know about them first. I had one computer in real trouble. Nothing had been updated for years. The man said if it need to be updated I don't want it in my computer. I set everything I could to automatic and replaced some programs with others which would update automatically.

You said that I do not own a Mac I do not. I have had them in the past. My first modern computer was an Apple 3C. I would not own a Mac today because I just do not have a need to park a Mac beside my PC. I am not heavy into Graphic arts. I do not do animations or cartoons. I do create and share word documents, Web pages, Data Sheets, Spread sheets, Forms, Photographs, Powerpoint Presentations, and other documents with lots of people. I print out and mail copies to people who are on Macs, because they have so much trouble downloading and opening files. Mac is now making their computers ands software IBM compatible

If the Linux people expect to convert people, they have to start by making their Operating System compatible with the world; with Windows programs. Over time people probably will change one or two programs each year, but to think that they will take the extreme high risk leap of faith and change everything all at once, is overly optimistic.

People need incentives.
Cost is not much of an issue to most people. They steal or recycle programs.
Security is not much of an issue. There are security programs to take care of that.
Simplicity is not an issue. People have learned Windows and there are lots of windows users to help out. .Changing and adapting will be.
Speed might be, but speed is a relative issue for which quantitive data would be needed.

"For instance of the last 500 updates to your O/S and your programs how many did you have to intervine or in some way act upon in some way."

In the last month I updated my computer about 3 occassions, maybe
4. I was notified by an orange light that came on at the top right
of my screen where my clock is. It says "software updates
available" in a small balloon that appears. So when you click on
it it gives you a summary of each update like a checklist with
an update summary description. This way if you don't know by the
package name what it is, you can read it if you want more details.
Then you click the install updates button, and Ubuntu prompts you
for your administrative password. Linux asks your permission to
change itself unlike Windows. This has big security implications
for Windows. ie. the Blaster worm.
Linux uses a hierarchical user permission structure which allows
you to restrict access even from yourself, so that you rest
assured that you are at least reminded of your security when you
type in that password.

"How many were fully automatic or just click "NOW" or "OK" and they were done."

They are all automatically managed but require your permission and
review for each. It takes approximately 3 seconds of attention and
the typing of your administrative password.

"There will probably be some major changes that some people will not want to accept. They should know about them first. I had one computer in real trouble. Nothing had been updated for years. The man said if it need to be updated I don't want it in my computer. I set everything I could to automatic and replaced some programs with others which would update automatically."

I believe I answered this and nearly all questions regarding in
the above. If you can drive a car you can operate a computer.
Period.

"You said that I do not own a Mac I do not. I have had them in the past. My first modern computer was an Apple 3C."

Modern? That is prehistoric my friend. In terms of "Internet time"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_time) You are talking
about tools in the stone age. And referring to this prehistoric
stone age tool known as the Apple 3 Effing C you go on to tell
us...

"I would not own a Mac today because I just do not have a need to park a Mac beside my PC."

(Robert Goulet: Single tear...)

"I am not heavy into Graphic arts. I do not do animations or cartoons. I do create and share word documents, Web pages, Data Sheets, Spread sheets, Forms, Photographs, Powerpoint Presentations, and other documents with lots of people."

I think you make a good point here. That you spend an enormous
amount of time on your computer, which is now very common. But
the process of doing all of the things you just mentioned is
atrociously time consuming on Windows, and very fast and easy
on Mac or Linux. And it's free.

So don't give us this...

"I print out and mail copies to people who are on Macs, because they have so much trouble downloading and opening files."

Ha ha, that is so ********

"Mac is now making their computers ands software IBM compatible
If the Linux people expect to convert people, they have to start by making their Operating System compatible with the world; with Windows programs."

It is, and they are. Linux programs such as Gaim (like MSN
messenger) allow Linux users to chat/video/audio with other
Windows users. Anyone can make a word document with Open Office
You can make a web site with 100's of various programs and tools
on Linux. If you use Google, you are using Linux. Google runs on
a cluster of Linux servers. Anything that plugs into a wall any
where at Google, is Linux. Do you use a cell phone? It just may
be linux as well.

"Over time people probably will change one or two programs each year, but to think that they will take the extreme high risk leap of faith and change everything all at once, is overly optimistic."

You know what happens when you ASSUME right?! You make an *** out
of U and ME. So where do you get high risk from?

"People need incentives. Cost is not much of an issue to most people. They steal or recycle programs. Security is not much of an issue. There are security programs to take care of that."

Oh really? perhaps you have not studied internet security. In fact
it is a gigantic issue. Identity theft is one of the fastest
growing crimes in the world.

(from http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html)
In recent years, the Internet has become an appealing place for criminals to obtain identifying data, such as passwords or even banking information. In their haste to explore the exciting features of the Internet, many people respond to "spam"

Jacob Chappelle wrote:-

"The most common question when people hear about Linux however, is yes, it sounds like a dream come true, "but what about my programs..?"

&

"You want to install a new video player application"

Jacob, I would like to move to Linux, but I don't want to install a player or any program produced by MS other than AutoRoute.

I found DOS easy to use, but Windows is such a mess that I still use Psion computers for all my 'office managment' tasks. I write all my letters, banking accounts, databases, spread sheets etc on Psions. They don't crash and 'boot time' is less than 1 second!

I only use Windows because the software for my Canon cameras and my GPS receivers only runs on Windows.

OziExplorer is probably the best mapping/GPS program available, but again it's only for Windows and PPC.

LandyReg, nobody is telling you that you have to install a video application, that was just an example detailing how you would do it in Windows vs. Linux.

My point was that the process of installing a program is extremely simply in Linux, but not in Windows. You can install virtually any kind of program on Linux. But, if it's specifically a program that was created by Microsoft, then you have to understand, that Microsoft does not release the source of their code, because if they did, we would be able to compile it ourselves and use it on Linux, but Microsoft would not make the money off you that they do. This is the reason you can get people like me, recommending Linux, and using it, because for every program that you can use on Windows, there may be a number of programs available on Linux/Mac/FreeBSD which do the same thing or better. Linux / Mac / and FreeBSD are all derivatives of the the unix type of operating system which has over 30 years of development in scientific laboratories. AT&T, Berkley, MIT, and many other Universities have participated in the development of Unix and it's Open Source variants.

Google skills are life skills

Comparing registry cleaners by comparing their reports is a pretty useless exercise, as you've already discovered. Registry cleaners are tools to do a specific job. To compare them, you need to look at how well they do the job, nothing else. So what you should focus on is whether your computer ran any faster after cleaning than before and not worry about how many errors a competing product claimed were left behind. Conversely, saying one registry cleaner is better than another because it reports more errors before cleaning is just as meaningless. The numbers you are comparing may be as much about marketing as anything else. The true measure is in how well they work to make your machine faster and more reliable.

I used Registry Mechanic 7.0 to clean a registry which had to be about as bad as one can get (it corrected 1653 of 1654 errors). There was no improvement at all (none that I could detect at least My computer still goes blazing fast instead of super blazing fast. Applications still take 5 or 6 seconds to load. Web Pages still take a whole second to load.

I change the oil in my car and it still only goes 160 mph I don't feel that it is useless because there is no improvement in my cars performance. I do it because I know that eventually my cars performance will suffer. I am running a computer with a registry which had accumulated (without any cleaning as far as I know) more than 8 years of clutter. It does not show any degredation in performance.

I am not saying that registry cleaners are useless. I am saying that I have never seen any evidence that they do anything for a computer. I would be willing to accept their usefulness if someone could tell me just what it is that they do, and if someone could tell me how a great one only cleans 20% to 50% of the errors that the others find.

You don't provide enough information to provide a useful reply. Your original message detailed your OS history amd your hardware history, but these don't significantly impact your registry. Each time you install a new version of Windows, your registry is reset to pristine Microsoft condition. When you add or change hardware, you will install new drivers, but those don't have a huge impact on registry performance. What really affects registry performance is how much software you have installed and how often you change it - and that is information you didn't provide.

Without knowing your details, I can only reply to your anecdotal evidence with anecdotal evidence of my own. As I mentioned previously, I have 149 subdirectories in my Program Files folder, and some of those are vendor directories with multiple installed applications. I do contract embedded systems development for a living, so I regularly have to install and uninstall large complex development tool suites. Before I began using Registry Booster, my system would slow down significantly after only a few months of use and would get flaky and crash within a year or so, requiring reinstallation of the OS. Since I've been using Registry Booster, my system performance remains consistently high and Windows will remain running for several years before before ultimately succumbing to to other known ills (poor recovery from power interruptions, etc.)

Regular registry maintenance can't take all the credit for this. I regularly run Registry Booster whenever I install or uninstall software or once a month, whichever comes first. But I also run Diskeeper which keeps my hard drives defragmented and runs continuously in the background. I also use Zone Alarm's suite for firewall, antivirus, and anti-spyware chores.

If you can't tell any performance improvement from cleaning your registry, then maybe the way you use your computer and the applications you have installed make it unnecessary. I'd therefore reply to your oil changing metaphor with another metaphor - if you don't have a headache, then you shouldn't feel compelled to take aspirin (or acetaminophen or whatever).

I do a lot of beta testing. I install and uninstall between 3 and 12 programs a week so that totals 1,000 to 4,000 over the last 7 years. probably on the order of 1,500 to 2,000 would be my guess.

While running Hijack this I saw references to programs that I know were deleted at least 6 years ago. I do recall thinking "wow that must have been kept when I ran the upgrad from ME to XP". My timeline may have been in error and the upgrade program could erase all references to unaffiliated programs in the existing O/S as it prepares to upgrade.

I do run Norton OBC once a week along with SpyBot AdAware and whichever AV program Is installed at the time. I defrag about 4 times a year with Norton Speed disk.

In the world of PC utility software, there are a handful of good applications and a lots of dreck published simply as a way for someone to make a few bucks off of the huge PC user audience.

I'd never heard of Regcure before your message and their web site wasn't particularly helpful once you read past the hype. I do know I've never seen it recommended any any independent publication or reliable third party. I would therefore classify it in the same category as the PC utilities you see advertised on TV between ads for salad shooters and Ginsu knives.

There are a number of good PC utility publishers. Some even publish free utilities. I can't understand why anyone would spend good money on such an unknown quantity. I do know your experience is not typical of a good registry cleaner! I've tested several of the major ones and they all seem work comparably well without any major drama once you've gotten past your first scan. As I previously noted, the first time you use any of them on a machine with a heavily corrupted registry, you may encounter problems with your first reboot, but once you settle in to a regular maintenance schedule, you should have no more problems.

RegCure was one of the five that I downloaded and ran a free scan with because those 5 were listed on a CNET article as the 5 top rated. It may be new but it is not unknown (just useless) it found 1181 errors and after Registry mMchanic 7 thouroughly cleaned out 1653 errors I scanned with RegCure again and it only found 870 errors.

I have and have used RegCure now for quite a while but I can't understand why......... when I do a scan it says I have ...say ...24 problems eg file/path error=21 and empty registry keys= 3..I run the scan it tells me these are the errors ...I hit fix and I am told these are all fixed. If I run another scan I have the same amount of file/path errors and 2 empty registry key errors. If the scan is successful shouldn't these show a 0 errors? If I run the scan yet again in succession I will get the original errors on the same things. Please help me understand what is going on as I am not the smartest person re computers...but I do try my best and figure if I am told the problems are fixed ..should they not be gone?
I would appreciate any help you can give me.
Rose