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It is strange the program says I have used it for 468 days but that is impossible because this XP installation is less than 30 days old but I got some kind of screen with an x and buttons yes and no and it wouldnt let me login so I did a quick replacement of the whole registry from c:\windows\repair\ does this have anything to do with it? or maybe when I installed mirc the date was wrong and now it is right and it thinks I used it during that period?? I dont know how mIRC deals with the registration time period but it is a good program but I could just as easily boot linux and use Xchat or BitchX...

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Hoopy frood
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If you replaced the entire registry, then you would have gotten the date from there. Just as a note, replacing the entire registry pretty much defeats the purpose of reinstalling Windows.


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Just reiterating Riamus' post here... replacing the system registry in its entirety will do a lot of damage to not only mIRC but any other application that depends on it. That's generally a really bad way to fix any serious windows problem.. it will likely confuse windows even more... and you're already seeing that in mIRC.


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Ahhh it doesn't really matter.... I know that when you replace the registry it means that your programs don't register because they registry is fresh and basically like a new XP install... Anyways if you copy over userdata also you dont get as many problems... Actually I have done this a lot and it seems to work fine if you are fixing a computer for some one for free and dont want to wastes hours of your time scanning... Anyways I thought it was interesting and it doesn't really matter because this windows XP install is very temporary... I was just using it to do some 360 stuff and play some games unavailable in Linux... But now I think it is time to go back to Debian...

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Hoopy frood
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Replacing the registry does *not* make it like a new install. Most Windows errors, slow downs, problems, etc. that require you to reinstall Windows are within the registry itself. Replacing the registry means that you don't get rid of those problems. All you really end up doing is replacing Windows files. If you're going to just do that, you might as well just do a Windows repair from the installation disk because that's all you are doing in the first place. In fact, the Windows repair will actually help MORE because it will also repair some registry data, even though it still isn't as good as a full reinstall.

If you are fixing computers for people, even if it is for free, you really should do a good job at it and not leave them more or less where they were in the first place by relacing the registry. As I said, if you're going to go that route, you're better off just doing the Windows repair function instead. You don't have to reinstall any programs if you do the repair function.


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I have the same btw :-P

and I only reinstall mIRC with a new version, I keep it between windows installs. for me it also gives a very long duration (3426 days) of use ;-]


If it ain't broken, don't fix it!
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Anyways I'm not going to waste an hour of my precious time trying to fix Windows XP when I can do a registry fix in less than 5 minutes... It is pointless unless you are getting paid to do a full job... If people weren't so cheap maybe I would do it right although it is just going to happen again in a months time... The point is a Registry wipe does load FRESH Registry Hives along with a new User Data Directory... It is sufficient for free work, and if they wanted it done the right way they should pay for it to be done... My time isn't free, maybe you make enough money to go around and fix things for free? I usually end up doing this anyways because people are stupid and don't know how much it actually cost to get something like a virus infestation fixed... I have to eat too...

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Are you informing them that you're only going to do a hack job on their machine because they're not paying you? They may decide to pay you or take it elsewhere.

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Hoopy frood
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If you have such a bad attitude about it, why are you doing it for free? Personally, I repair computers for free only for family members and as far as I'm concerned, it's worth doing right for them. Anyone else will pay for it. If you're going to do it free, then you should still be willing to do what *should* be done or else charge.

Most issues involving the registry are related to the values within the registry. That means that if you replace the entire registry, you're just putting those same values right back in there. It's just a hack job that really accomplishes almost nothing.


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