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A number of various different issues with my registry have caused strange errors to occur on my computer. Here's two main ones that I've noticed:
If I right-click on a .exe file and select "run as administrator", An error will state something like "there is no action associated with running this file as an administrator". I have to right-click, click on properties, and mark the "run as administrator" checkbox in order to get the program to run as admin.
If a program wants to open the browser, it will often give the following error:
failed to open the webpage "http://whatever.com/" in your default web browser: (class not registered)
Even though I have set google chrome as my default browser multiple times.
I suspect this has to do with my registry. Is there any way to force each installed program to check it's registry values and set them to defaults? Or some way to "rebuild" the registry, and resolve any errors found? I've tried using CCleaner's registry cleaner, and it didn't help.
Another problem that's slightly related is that in the context (right-click) menu, there's an option to "runAsUser". This gives the same error as "run as administrator". I vaguely remember installing runAsuser a long time ago, but I have no clue why. Is there any way to remove this from my computer? I can't find it in shellexviewer.
edit: I'm running windows 8 Professional Edition, on a dell xps 15 (L502X).
Jacob Sharf
Posted 2013-03-17T20:13:07.720
Reputation: 11
1XP, win7 or win8? – G Koe – 2013-03-17T20:14:17.347
I'm running windows 8 – Jacob Sharf – 2013-03-17T20:38:54.983
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I've never been a fan of registry "Cleaners" and the only way to re-initialize the windows 8 registry is to do a "Refresh" from PC Settings--> general http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc but you will lose all of your installed programs.
– G Koe – 2013-03-17T22:11:17.990"Windows puts a list of the removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC." well... that isn't so bad. – Jacob Sharf – 2013-03-17T22:15:52.530
A clean install may be the best choice, if you have time to hunt down everything that you want back, get it installed and configured the way you like, and carry on from there. There are some debates about how often you should perform a clean installation, or the values or merit of doing so. the choice is, of course, yours. http://superuser.com/questions/279195/keeping-windows-installation-clean
– G Koe – 2013-03-17T22:21:23.483