Registry Question

[tg1911]

Running XP Home.

Getting a new printer (Epson Stylus Photo RX500), and I want to do a little cleaning up, before installing.

I just wanted to get rid of all of the Lexmark (old printer) garbage, before installing the new printer.

It's been uninstalled for, about 6 mos.

I haven't messed around in the registry before, and just wanted some advice, before attempting changes.

I wanted to know if it would be OK to delete the registry entries, pertaining to Lexmark.

In the registry, under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Lexmark

Can I delete the Lexmark folder?

In the registry, under

HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Printers / Settings

When I click Settings, there are 2 keys in the right pane.

One is "Default", the other is "Lexmark X83".

Can I delete the Lexmark X83 key?

Any place else I should look?

Any help would be appreciated.

[CurlingSteve]

Just to be on the safe size, use File, Export to make a backup of the keys before you delete them.

After a while, if the system behaves you can delete these backups.

Make a new folder to keep them in and deleting will be a snap.

Use the Edit, Find (or F3) command to look for others.

You'll probably find a bunch more.

I can't tell how many without uninstalling one of my printers to see.

[blim]

Hi Tg1911,

Just a sidenote to let you know we have a 5+ year old Epson440. It is overworked (2 kids in school and son prints out game instructions and cheats constantly) and it works just as well as it did brand new. Read somewhere (Consumer Reports, or PCmagazine I Think) that the Epson ink is a "bargain" also. An Epson is a great choice. Liz

[tg1911]

Thanks for the information, CurlingSteve.

I'll give it a shot, in the morning.

blim,

.... we have a 5+ year old Epson440 .... and it works just as well as it did brand new. ....

Sounds good to me.

I would be happy with 5 yrs. of service.

Everything made these days, is made to be disposable.

If it breaks, it's cheaper to buy another one, than it is to have it repaired.

.... Epson ink is a "bargain" ....

The individual ink cartridges is one of the reasons I decided on an Epson.

[mikex]

As Steve said Export the registry for safety. You could use a regisrty cleaner to search for other un-needed entries. Again make a backup before using the cleaners, just to cover anymishap.

M

[tg1911]

Thanks for the suggestion, mikex.

I took CurlingSteve's advice, and all turned out good (plus I learned a few things).

So far, no problems, with the removed entries (stopped counting at 20).

I've been through several reboots, and all looks good.

I figure to hold on to the backups, for about a month, before deleting.

Long enough?

I've never used a registry cleaner.

Not familiar enough with the registry, to trust what a cleaner may suggest to remove.

The main thing I know about the registry, is STAY OUT, if you don't know what you're doing.

Don't want to delete something, by mistake, that I might need. lol

But, with CurlingSteve's advice, I felt comfortable trying.

I think I'll download a cleaner, just to play with, and see what it finds.

Just curious.

Who knows, I might even learn something. lol

Any suggestions as to which one to use?

Once again, thanks everyone.

[mikex]

I use jv16. Does all my registry work and more. Try it out free for 2 weeks. Again be safe when in the registry.

Jv16 marks thing green good to clean and red not good to clean. You can clean you add/remove programs and dead shortcuts. It makes backups also as you clean the registry.

M

[jerrys]

i took a look at jv16 it looks ok but i dont see anything that showes as red and green have you had any greif fron the program? i down loaded the tryl verison but not sure if i should remove all that it said is no good ? thanks jerrys