see what a software title writes to registry

[dakota81]

I've got a piece of software that when installed writes some entry somewhere into the registry and does not remove that entry once the software is uninstalled.

Is there a way I can maybe go to a fresh windows machine, make a backup of the registry, and compare that to the new registry after install and see what's different?

 

[pmonett]

What I would do is run Regedit and look for a string containing the name of the software.
If it has been uninstalled and you find something, you should be able to delete the tree.
Mind you, editing the Registry is a hazardous business, and you are quite liable to crash it irrevocably if you do something wrong. So do not try this if you are not experienced with Regedit.
Maybe you should try and find a registry editor that can wash the registry for you.
On

http://www.tucows.com

you should be able to find such a tool.

Pascal.

 

[TekTippy4U]

Try to get a hold of "Windiff.exe",also "Comreg.exe" it comes on my Win98 Resource Kit Cd...
I just opened up windiff for first time and it seems to do exactly what you need (ie, compare any two directories, reg keys, files etc..
You would just export/save the whole registry as a copy, then install that "questionable software", export/save that and then compare....
Do a quick google for 'windiff.exe' and 'compare registry'....maybe try download.com or similar for freeware

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.

 

[Grenage]

I recommend "Active Registry Monitor", it will allow before/after comparisons and also show changes being made in real time (not for the faint of heart that one).

http://www.ntutility.com/arm/

 

[wolluf]

or regmon - freeware from

http://www.sysinternals.com

 

[ANFPS26]

dakota81, are you trying to change a "shareware" program into a "freeware" program? The security on time sensitive shareware software writes info to areas in the system files and the registry. They are compared and if you mess with either one, the software stops working. If that is not what you are trying to do, then , my apologies, but it sounded like that could be the case.

Jim

 

[diogenes10]

grenage
not for the faint of heart-- (running win98 )
Are there risks in running the program and watching, or are you doing some changing at that time or what?
Just trying to better understand what you're saying.
Thanks.

 

[Grenage]

Well it's not risky to your computer, you'd just be amazed how many registry reads/writes there are when you do the simplest things.

e.g: Since we implimented Windows 2k policies some of the older software won't work unless the user has sufficient rights on certain registry keys. In order to find out what I needed to change I ran the registry monitor, started it up and then stopped the monitor.

When I ran Autoroute 2000 I believe there was at least 100 or so registry accesses.

 

[mdengtek]

Try this site and download inctrl5 it tracks all changes installed software does to your system...registry entries, and system files .

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,9411,00.asp