Ask A Geek

Q: Whenever I run the registry cleaner PC Mighty Max 2009 on my computer it continually show “4 Invalid File Extension Program ID” for Winamp.File .m2v, .mp1, .mps, and .mpv. I found Winamp in My Documents and deleted it but the registry cleaner continues to show these errors. Any suggestions on how to remove them?

A: Sometimes registry cleaners go a little overboard and make you remove every little bit of information that you might not need. In this particular case having invalid file extensions are not hurting you at all. The makers of Winamp just went a little overboard and added in some extra file extensions just in case they ended up being used down the road. This way you would have them already in your computer if you failed to update Winamp. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: Whenever I run the registry cleaner [PC Mighty Max 2009], the results continually show “4 Invalid File Extension Program ID” for Winamp.File .m2v, .mp1, .mps, and .mpv. I found Winamp in My Documents and deleted it, but the registry cleaner continues to show these errors. Any suggestions on how to remove them?

Q: How can I remove CyberDefender registry cleaner?

Q: I recently downloaded some freeware programs (RegCure, RegistryFix7, CCleaner) to help bring my Presario V5105US current. Is it safe to simply follow the on-screen dialog boxes? There are some menu choices that look sort of ominous, like everything that’s listed will disappear. Some of those listed items look significant.

Do I just trust the programs to not damage my system, files etc.? Do I have to pay for them or is the “freeware” free for updates as well as the free system scan? I am assuming some of these freeware programs are more reliable and trustworthy than others.

A: CCleaner has a registry cleaner feature that I’ve used for years without any issues but I’ve never used the other two programs. CCleaner will also prompt you to make a backup of your registry so if it breaks something by accident you can easily restore the changes. CCleaner is 100% free and its features for deleting junk files is very useful and highly recommended.

That being said, registry cleaning isn’t something you really need to worry about. You’re not going to get any real performance benefit from doing registry cleaning. So I’d suggest just not bothering with using any registry cleaning. If you would like to do more reading about registry cleaners I suggest visit wikipedia – registry cleaner.