This was bound to pop up with all the hype. I need to get certified.

I’m always shocked at how many program leave remnants in the Windows registry after I’ve uninstalled them. Some Microsoft programs like Office are some of the worst offenders. Many uninstallers save your program directory, but that’s usually easy to delete by searching your folder structure under C:Program Files. I only do this if I’ve already run the program uninstaller found under Start/Settings/Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs.

But if you want to see all the crap these programs leave behind in the registry you’ll need a dedicated registry cleaning like CCleaner or Abexo’s Registry Cleaner. If you’ve been running the same version of Windows for a while, run one of these programs and you’re likely to find hundreds of left-over registry entries that’s just bloating your registry and slowing down your system. I run both of these programs weekly and have removed thousands of unwanted entries left over by programs that should have been uninstalled.

But what I’ve noticed lately is making me wonder if companies are getting lazy when writing a good uninstaller or if the Window registry is such a rat’s nest that it’s next to impossible to extract unused entries without manual effort. This require diving into the registry by running ‘regedit’ from the command line which I strongly advise against unless you understand what you’re doing.

Is it time for Microsoft to replace the registry with a more sensible, understandable approach that allows 3rd parties to fully remove every file and entry when the user no longer has need for that particular program? I haven’t come across anything pertaining to Windows Vista that leads me to believe we’ll be any better off once it arrives.

This site provides a fair amount of census data linked to Google Maps. Only wish it provided fresher data.

Source: Digg 

I scored a 58 on this Newsweek geek test.

Keotag is an simple tag search, tag generation site. So simple and elegant I’m surprised I haven’t seen something like this before.

Interesting ranking of the top skylines in the world. Surprised to see Chicago at #2. My hometown makes the list at #15.

See if you can solve this puzzle.

Only one time through the Pizza Hut salad bar is allowed? No problem for these resourceful students. But you’d better like cucumbers and carrots if you’re gonna pull off this stunt.

Source: Start.com.my Blog

Ramit Sethi has a great list titled, “Things I hate spending money on” that gave me a good laugh. I’m in agreement on organic groceries and dry cleaning. I don’t remember the last time I’ve had article of clothing dry cleaned, although that’s probably more a statement on my wardrobe than thriftiness.

A couple more items I’d add to the list are software updates, stamps, co-pays, insurance of any kind, membership fees (Costco, Sams Club), and automotive work that includes the word, “Flushing”. I don’t know why my car needs anything “flushed” but I’m told it does whenever I take it to one of those quick lube joints.

From what I can tell it appears that Jeff Sandquist’s manager went on vacation and so he decided to gathered a bunch of buddies around and ask, “What would be a cool website we can put together for tech enthusiasts?” and 10 was born.

That probably wasn’t how this site came about, but it’s the type of project that many people would *want* to start but maybe not until the boss took a long vacation. It doesn’t seem like the kind of site you’d see from Microsoft and that’s a compliment.

It sort of reminds me of a virtual water cooler where people chill out and talk about the new gadgets and technology.