CSC (Registry Cleaner) causing system being unable to boot

Help - CSU
1

Have used CIS (only F/W and D+) for a few weeks and been very happy with the awesome product.

Encouraged by the good experience with a COMODO product then found out about the existence of COMODO System Cleaner.

Downloaded and installed CSC (1.1.64945.37).

Then used the Registry Cleaner facility.

Deleted 1110 entries from system registry.

When the system was restarted (by CSC), WXPPro did not boot.

Had to manually power the system off (with the On/Off switch).

Powered on the system.

WXPPro asked how it should be started.

Attempted at first the Normal Start, with same result as previously. The system did not boot.

Had to manually power the system off again.

Powered on the system.

WXPPro asked how it should be started.

Selected this time the Latest working setup.

CSC prompt screen showed up asking whether I wanted to Finnish the cleaning or Cancel the cleaning.

Thought at first of selecting nothing, just pressing the red x in the upper right corner, but however selected Cancel the cleaning.

This resulted in the system being unable to boot.

Had to manually power the system off again.

Powered on the system.

WXPPro asked how it should be started.

Selected the second time the Latest working setup.

This time the system booted normally.

Just to ensure all would be OK, did a system restore to the restore point that I made just prior to the Registry cleaning adventure.

Everything is back to normal again.

Would think I will not attempt to clean the Registry using CSC, but rather use the tools I have used before and that have not caused any issues, namely EasyCleaner and Advanced SystemCare.

Is there a way of exporting the entries (for your examination) that CSC would remove from the Registry? (Screen shots would not be so handy with so many entries to be removed.)

The security applications (D+, KAV and WinPatrol PLUS) mentioned below were inactivated before the attempt to clean the Registry with CSC.

CIS 3.8.65951.477 (only Firewall, Defense+)
Firewall Safe Mode
Defense+ Clean PC Mode

WXP SP2 32 bit (FI) + all Hotfixes

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 (8.0.0.506)
WinPatrol PLUS 16.0.2009.0 (FI)

Have a standard, optional configuration of WXP SP2, where

  • System and [application] programs reside on drive D
  • Only the Documents and Settings directory reside on drive G
  • Only Windows Page (Swap) file resides on drive C

Peter

2

Semper Fi!

Do you still have the logs?
Open up CSC > Clean Up > Registry Cleaner > Settings > Show Logs

  • Jacob
3
Do you still have the logs?

Jacob,

Thanks for prompt reply.

Yes. Please find a copy of the log attached.

Peter

[attachment deleted by admin]

4
Yes. Please find a copy of the log attached.

All usernames obfuscated.

5

Hi,

We analyzed your CRC log file and we found more than one antivirus program and registry scanner/cleaner, which is highly unrecommended. Besides Kaspersky and CSC we found Norton Antivirus 2004 and Registrar Registry Manager. Running multiple registry scanner software products isn’t a problem in general, but having more than one antivirus program could be harmful for your operating system, especially after registry cleaning.
There are some actions in what you said in your original post, that can’t be performed by CSC or any of it’s module :
"CSC prompt screen showed up asking whether I wanted to Finnish the cleaning or Cancel the cleaning.

Thought at first of selecting nothing, just pressing the red x in the upper right corner, but however selected Cancel the cleaning."

After scanning/cleaning with CRC using Registry Cleaner, it prompts you after restart with a message containing the options Finalize or Restore Registry, not Finalize or Cancel the cleaning, and pressing the x in the upper right corner doesn’t close the message window because the registry must first close the cleaning operation by finalizing or restoring, so it won’t let you close the window.
Please be more specific in telling us what you did and the steps executed along the CSC cleaning session.

Thank you for your support.

6

bosoiua,

Thanks for prompt reply.

Am well aware of not running (or having installed) more than one Anti-Virus programs on the same system. For more than three years, only have Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 (KAV 8 and prior to it KAV 7 and KAV 6) installed and running on the system. What you found in the registry is merely some remnants of Norton Antivirus 2004 (NAV 2004). When uninstalled NAV 2004 more than 3 years ago, uninstall was apparently not 100 % complete as is often the case with Norton products. Nevertheless, only have one AV product installed, i.e. KAV 8.

So in that respect, my system follows recommendations.

Please accept apology for the inaccurate quoting of CSC prompts. Did not take notes when ran the scan, since could not foresee any issues (to report).

The message contained of course the options Finalize or Restore Registry. I selected Restore Registry.

HTH,
Peter

7

bosoiua,

Agree. Would rather call Registrar Registry Manager “registry editor” though.

It is the best PAID FOR registry editor I could find on the market.

To my understanding even the FREE version is more reliable and in all respects superior to regedit and regedt32.

A review of the FREE version can be found here:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-registry-editor.htm

Have used Registrar Registry Manager to, e.g. move the Documents and Settings directory to a separate partition (drive) on my WXP Pro platform.

Registrar Registry Manager was of great help in the massive operation.

Now have a standard, optional configuration of WXP SP2, where

  • System and [application] programs reside on drive D
  • Only the Documents and Settings directory reside on drive G
  • Only Windows Page (Swap) file resides on drive C

Want to have my system set up this way in order to make the back up process of the system easier to handle (using imaging SW).

The awesome registry editor can be downloaded from here:

Please note the “Download free lite version” on the right hand side of the D/L web page.

Registrar Lite - alternate download link (for older version, also high light of the product):

Have not experienced any issues using this awesome flagship product.

Peter

(Have no association with Resplendence Software Projects Sp. Am just a satisfied user of the product and wanted to share my experience with fellow Forum members.)

Same

8

There is a sticky topic about comparing cleaners that may be of your interest: https://forums.comodo.com/comodo_system_cleaner_fileregistryprivacy_cleaner/check_out_the_comparison_for_our_registry_cleaning_vs_others-t27288.0.html .

9

EricJH,

Thanks for the pointer.

Took a look at the comparison.

Would say that more does not always necessarily mean better. At least on my computer CSC (Registry Cleaner) apparently “fixed” too many registry entries with the consequences documented in the original post.

Also miss two top candidates in the comparison:

  1. PowerTools Lite - The Freeware Registry Cleaner
  2. jv16 PowerTools 2009 - the PAID FOR version also from Macecraft, Inc. (http://www.macecraft.com/)

PowerTools Lite - The Freeware Registry Cleaner is based to the same award-winning engine as jv16 PowerTools.

jv16 PowerTools 2009 has many more built in functions than the freeware version.

Downloaded (from jv16 PowerTools – Fix and Make Windows Faster), installed and ran the first scan using PowerTools Lite - The Freeware Registry Cleaner.

It found seven or eight hundred obsolete entries in the registry, and it would appear that all found items could safely be deleted.

Successfully restarted Windows just to see that all works normal after fixing the registry errors.

Have no association with Macecraft. Just wanted to share my good experience with fellow Forum subscribers.

Was going to purchase the flagship product jv16 PowerTools 2009, until found out about Macecraft’s free product alternative.

Since have most of the extra features contained in jv16 PowerTools 2009 in a few other utilities (from other vendors) will probably stick with the freeware version of the awesome product.

Peter

10

EricJH,

Found these two Registry Cleaner Review and Performance Comparison Studies (via a link provided on Comodo Forum):

Registry Cleaner Review and Performance Comparison Study
http://www.macecraft.com/registry_cleaner_comparison/

In-Depth Review of 31 The Most Popular Registry Cleaner Products
http://www.macecraft.com/registry_cleaner_comparison2/

Found these Registry Cleaner Review and Performance Comparison Studies very valuable in determining which product to trust in registry cleaning. :slight_smile:

It would appear that there are quite a few bad apples on this market too. :frowning:

Peter