registry

[tad214]

hello guys and gals,
can anyone tell me if there is a program that can trace or tell me where a specific registry key is pointing to? i think i am explaining myself to. for instance, i am in regedit, there is a name that i don't recognize. so, i open the folder and there is the key. now, i am still not sure what this is associated with. so, i need something that will track the key back to the program or folder that it is associated to. i hope i am making some sense here. that is about the best i can explain it. hope someone can help with this. i have several entries in my registry that i'm not sure what they go to. and yes, i do know what i am doing in the registry. just doing a little clean up work. because registry cleaner and all them other programs do a good job, but they do not do the best job. thanks in advance for any and all assistance with this matter. have a good day. DALE

 

[Sianath]

Nothing I'm aware of. You can use Regmon from Sysinternals to watch what keys are being hit. You can just run it for a day during normal use, filter for the key you are interested in, and see what checked it.

- http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/regmon.shtml

 

[Smilin]

I smell trouble dude. Your statement "...just doing a little clean up work. because registry cleaner and all them other programs do a good job, but they do not do the best job." conflicts with "i do know what i am doing in the registry."

That said...

What actual key are you looking at? It might explain better what you are saying.
If it's in hklm\system you probably don't want to fool with it. There are utilities that you can use (regmon) that allow you to monitor the registry as something is installed. As for finding out what's there after the fact you need to either know the registry and/or the application. You can also do a text search of your drive looking for a fragment of the key. The program that installed it may have left a tell-tale sign behind in an .inf, .reg or other file that was used to put the key in place during install.

Tell me the key and I'll help the best I can.

 

[tad214]

hey, thanks for the replies and the links. i am just mostly concerned about uninstalled programs that have one name, and are installed under another name, such as the manufacturer name. also, It really bugs me to know that when I?m surfing, many sites are writing stuff to my hard drive. I make it easy for them to do this via Active X and Java Scripting. I?m paranoid about it, even though I know it makes the Internet ?experience? possible through the income derived.
Out there, somewhere, exist files that know me not as a person but as an address. These files exist to serve ads to me based on my surfing habits. I got them fooled, every time I visit a Tool site, I also visit a Breast Feeding site. Every time I visit a SUV site, I visit an Environmental site. The last spam I got had a picture of a young mother driving a pick-up truck with a shotgun in the back and a ?Save Our Forests? bumper sticker. I?m at a loss to explain the ?Enlarge Your @#$%? mail
dale