registry cleaner unsafe entries

[Guest]

[bax]

what do unsafe entries signify,is it not safe to clean these entries?

[kail]

Hi bax, welcome to the forums.

I believe it means that it is unsafe to remove them without knowing what they do (they're in an area that could break things basically).

[John Buchanan]

Kail is correct.  An unsafe entry if removed may very well crash your OS. (It is unsafe/unwise to remove from the registry).

[bax]

thanks for the quick response to unsafe files

[archer53]

It would seem these should be labled "Unsafe to remove" instead of "Unsafe".

But these are still noted as "errors". As such it would seem that SOME  action is in order. What makes them errors? How can they be corrected?

[Whoop-dee-doo]

The "unsafe" description of these entries really needs to be renamed. It is a major source of confusion .

This issue has been raised in many posts...here are a few:
Post #1,   Post #2,   Post #3,   Post #4

It should not be called "unsafe entries." For most people, this implies that these entries are unsafe to have on your computer...so delete them!  You should clarify the issue by using more descriptive terminology such as "entries than may be unsafe to remove" or "May cause damage if deleted"

Better yet, have an "expert mode." By default this would be un-selected, which would mean that "entries unsafe to delete" would not appear in the list of entries that can be fixed. When the expert mode is selected, then these entries would appear in the list. This may help prevent inexperienced users from damaging their system. Also, if you select one of these "unsafe entries", it would be nice to to see a pop up that says "Deleting this entry may cause irreversible damage to your operating system. Are you sure you want to delete this entry?"

Whoop

[halfcack]

Kail is correct.  An unsafe entry if removed may very well crash your OS. (It is unsafe/unwise to remove from the registry).

I also thought that  they were unsafe and deleted them all before coming to the board.  I was fortunate, I still had a machine.  Haven't touched them since.

Thanks Comodo

[kail]

I do not disagree that "Unsafe Entries" is an ambiguous term. Personally, I knew what Comodo meant, but I did feel that other users might not.

However, I would like to talk about the possible damage that may be caused by removing these entries & how you can quickly get a feel for what they are (ie. if you should delete them of not).

The risk of any catastrophic damage (ie. OS crashes, unable to boot, etc..) from occurring by deleting "Unsafe Entries" is, in my opinion, minimal. Comodo have done their best to avoid these device related entries. But, it cannot be ruled out. That's because how the registry is used is not defined by Comodo (or by MS for that matter) & some vendors use the registry in very devious & tricky ways (usually on purpose).. Protection software (DRM) for games tend to do this.

To address how to quickly investigate these entries & what sort of damage you are more likely to cause, let's look at an Unsafe Entry that CRC gave me..

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\InstallShield_{F29469CC-125C-7EB5-A292-1497C286D292}

On face value, I have no idea what that means, other than it is something to do with an Uninstall. I highlight the entry, right click & select Go to Registry.... This opens RegEdit & finds the corresponding entry that CRC has spotted in the Registry. No real technical knowledge is needed here, since I can see in clear language that this is the Uninstall entry for Activision's "Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare". So, if I allowed CRC to delete it.. I probably wouldn't be able to uninstall COD4 via the usual method. This is minor damage.

The majority of Unsafe Entries can be safely deleted because they are invalid. But, if you see anything to do with game protection software (DRM: SecuROM, Tages, etc..) leave it well alone, even if you've uninstalled the game or it looks completely invalid.

I hope that helps.


edit: DRM Games [Wikipedia]

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