Sysinternals & Registry Junk #

Sysinternals crafts some of the best freeware for Windows on the planet. Mark & Bryce seem to know Windows better than Microsoft itself.

So it has always puzzled me why their tiny applications (Process Explorer, TCPView, Diskmon, TDImon, etc), while not requiring installation, store settings in the Registry. These entries will remain even after deleting the applications, unless users manually search for and remove them.

It is all the more puzzling as they are clearly aware of this issue: Registry Junk: A Windows Fact of Life.

Sysinternals and all Windows developers: please, if you are listening, be so kind as to consider:

simply not storing any settings for simple apps
storing settings in INI files (which are stored together with the applications)
offering a "Remove from Registry" menu option.

/windows | Nov 04, 2005

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