Vista Tutorial - Registry Cleaner program slow

**Brink**

How to Fix a Slow Scan in a Registry Cleaner Program in 64 bit Vista

Information

If you have the 64 bit Vista and the Software scan option for your registry cleaning program is extremely slow and generating large incomprehensible results, then this will show you how to fix this problem.

Tip

When the registry has a second Wow6432Node key entry that is a blank duplicate, it can cause this problem for the software option in the regitry cleaning program. The second Wow6432Node key entry should not be in the registry.

NOTE

You should check for a update for your registry cleaning program to see if they found a solution to make their program work with this problem. The free program Wise Registry Cleaner has this problem resolved.

WARNING

To be safe, you should never just let a registry cleaner delete the scan results without always double checking to make sure it is a valid registry entry to remove.

CREDIT TO: BOWEN and bugfree at this link:
(BOWEN is a member of our Vistax64.com Forum as well)
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1747521&SiteID=17

RELATED LINKS:

Here's How:

WARNING

As a precaution you should create a system restore point and note the time and date for a backup of the registry. To restore the registry, just do a System Restore using the restore point with the date of the one you created.

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.

3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.

4. In regedit, go to this key: (See screenshot below)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node

5. In the left pane, right click on Wow6432Node and Delete.
WARNING: Make sure you only delete this second Wow6432Node, or you will trash your system. If you deleted the first one, then do a System Restore using a restore point dated before doing this.

6. Click on Yes to the confirmation pop-up. (See screenshot below)

7. Close regedit.
NOTE: Your registry cleaning program should now scan properly again for the Software option.

That's it's
Shawn

rilopes · 10-22-2007

Not working here ! There are some keys that you can't remove, even in Safe Mode.
What's funny is that this key (WOW6432NODE) didn't exist before. After making some update ( Vista 64-bit here ), it suddenly shows up !
Searching registry before ( with Registry Workshop ) took few minutes ( approx. 160.000 keys ), now there are 22 ( !?? ) instances of WOW6432NODE key and more than 1.000.000 keys in search. Crazy, isn't it ?

**coolchris** · 10-22-2007

YES. That did the trick. Many Thanks. Been wondering about all these WoW entries..

**Brink** · 10-22-2007

Hi CoolChris,

Glad to hear that it helped you. Thank you for the feedback.

Shawn

**Brink** · 10-22-2007

Quote: Originally Posted by rilopes

Not working here ! There are some keys that you can't remove, even in Safe Mode.
What's funny is that this key (WOW6432NODE) didn't exist before. After making some update ( Vista 64-bit here ), it suddenly shows up !
Searching registry before ( with Registry Workshop ) took few minutes ( approx. 160.000 keys ), now there are 22 ( !?? ) instances of WOW6432NODE key and more than 1.000.000 keys in search. Crazy, isn't it ?

Hi Rilopes,

Welcome to the forum.

I had that problem with the multiple WOW6432NODE key entries. Deleting only the second entry fixed the problem for me, and got rid of the other keys since they were subkeys of the second entry. I do not know why it would not let you delete the second one. All the keys for it have blank values. You can try to take ownership of that key first, then delete it. This tutorial will show you how. See method two step 3.

How to Take Ownership of a Item in Vista

If you still cannot get it to work, the free program Wise Registry Cleaner has updated their program to work fine with this problem.

http://www.wisecleaner.com/download.html

Or, you can just uncheck the Software scan option.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

rilopes · 10-23-2007

Hi Brink, your links helped a lot ! I'm just wondering , as our fellows above, what the hell are those WOW6432NODE's for...I'm pretty sure that those keys showed up after some update - probably WINDOWS6.0-KB939653-X64.MSU.
Microsoft could just assume Vista is crap...

Thank you !

**Brink** · 10-23-2007

Your welcome Rilopes,

LOL, I'm not sure which Update caused the problem. I haven't had the problem again though. So it must have been a one time screw-up.

You can look around in the first WOW6432NODE key and all it's subkeys to see what all is in it. It is a lot. Mostly settings and stuff for the installed programs that are needed by Vista.

Shawn

cniggeler · 06-10-2008

Hi,

Thanks for the tip. My second "Wow6432Node" was not empty of keys - there were eight or so - but the keys themselves were empty (i.e., no data or values fields). These sub-subkeys did not match the subkeys for the parent Wow6432Node, and it puzzles me as to why two different registry cleaners (Eusing and PC-Tools) seemed to loop endlessly over the parent Wow6432Node - the names of the subkeys were clearly that of the parent.

At any rate, deleting the 2nd key also worked for me.

**Brink** · 06-10-2008

Your welcome Cniggeler, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Something about having the second WOW6432NODE key just causes this looping problem.

Glad to hear it it working for you now.

Shawn

voltsb333 · 06-24-2008

Thanks Brink, works perfectly with Registry Mechanic 7.0

10-22-2007
rilopes Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Vista 64bit 3 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow Not working here ! There are some keys that you can't remove, even in Safe Mode. What's funny is that this key (WOW6432NODE) didn't exist before. After making some update ( Vista 64-bit here ), it suddenly shows up ! Searching registry before ( with Registry Workshop ) took few minutes ( approx. 160.000 keys ), now there are 22 ( !?? ) instances of WOW6432NODE key and more than 1.000.000 keys in search. Crazy, isn't it ?
My System Specs

10-22-2007
coolchris NoNonsense Join Date: Sep 2007 Vista Ultimate 32/Windows 7 Dual Boot 278 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow YES. That did the trick. Many Thanks. Been wondering about all these WoW entries..
My System Specs

10-22-2007
Brink Administrator Join Date: Apr 2007 Vista x64 Ultimate SP2, Windows 7 (7600) x64 25,812 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow Hi CoolChris, Glad to hear that it helped you. Thank you for the feedback. Shawn
My System Specs

10-22-2007
Brink Administrator Join Date: Apr 2007 Vista x64 Ultimate SP2, Windows 7 (7600) x64 25,812 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow Quote: Originally Posted by rilopes Not working here ! There are some keys that you can't remove, even in Safe Mode. What's funny is that this key (WOW6432NODE) didn't exist before. After making some update ( Vista 64-bit here ), it suddenly shows up ! Searching registry before ( with Registry Workshop ) took few minutes ( approx. 160.000 keys ), now there are 22 ( !?? ) instances of WOW6432NODE key and more than 1.000.000 keys in search. Crazy, isn't it ? Hi Rilopes, Welcome to the forum. I had that problem with the multiple WOW6432NODE key entries. Deleting only the second entry fixed the problem for me, and got rid of the other keys since they were subkeys of the second entry. I do not know why it would not let you delete the second one. All the keys for it have blank values. You can try to take ownership of that key first, then delete it. This tutorial will show you how. See method two step 3. How to Take Ownership of a Item in Vista If you still cannot get it to work, the free program Wise Registry Cleaner has updated their program to work fine with this problem. http://www.wisecleaner.com/download.html Or, you can just uncheck the Software scan option. Hope this helps, Shawn
My System Specs

10-23-2007
rilopes Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Vista 64bit 3 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow Hi Brink, your links helped a lot ! I'm just wondering , as our fellows above, what the hell are those WOW6432NODE's for...I'm pretty sure that those keys showed up after some update - probably WINDOWS6.0-KB939653-X64.MSU. Microsoft could just assume Vista is crap... Thank you !
My System Specs

06-10-2008
cniggeler Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Vista Home Premium 64bit 4 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow Hi, Thanks for the tip. My second "Wow6432Node" was not empty of keys - there were eight or so - but the keys themselves were empty (i.e., no data or values fields). These sub-subkeys did not match the subkeys for the parent Wow6432Node, and it puzzles me as to why two different registry cleaners (Eusing and PC-Tools) seemed to loop endlessly over the parent Wow6432Node - the names of the subkeys were clearly that of the parent. At any rate, deleting the 2nd key also worked for me.
My System Specs

06-24-2008
voltsb333 Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Vista Ultimate x64 4 posts	Re: Registry Cleaner program slow Thanks Brink, works perfectly with Registry Mechanic 7.0
My System Specs

Similar Threads
Tutorial	Category
registry cleaner	Vista General
Wise Registry Cleaner vs AusLogics Registry Defrag vs CCLeaner?	Vista performance & maintenance
Recommended Registry Cleaner Program?	Software
How to Uninstall Registry Cleaner Trial Program	Vista performance & maintenance
Vista x64 Defrag program and registry cleaner	Vista performance & maintenance