USER.DAT -- How do you clean up / edit this file

I recently purchased a used HP Pavilion/WIN ME system and I planned to
give it to my nephew. I scaned the disk for foul language and came up
with many hits all located in c:\windows\user.dat.

There are foul references to .com' s .mpeg's .jpg's etc etc.

Have tired using MS Wordpad to edit this file but no success.
Also tried regedit, but can't seem to get to user.dat with it.

Does anyone have any ideas??
Can I create a new User.dat from scratch??
How??

Thank you for your time.

Ron

Ron,

You don't as such. User.dat is one of three files that make up the
registry, the others being classes.dat and system.dat. user.dat contains
the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive.

The tool to use is regedit however only do so if you are experienced in
working with the registry. I suspect though that many of the file names
you want to remove are stored in the various MRU keys (Most Recently Used)
and these are readily cleared using an anti-spyware application such as
AdAware and letting AdAware remove all MRU entries.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



wrote:

I recently purchased a used HP Pavilion/WIN ME system and I planned to
give it to my nephew. I scaned the disk for foul language and came up
with many hits all located in c:\windows\user.dat.

There are foul references to .com' s .mpeg's .jpg's etc etc.

Have tired using MS Wordpad to edit this file but no success.
Also tried regedit, but can't seem to get to user.dat with it.

Does anyone have any ideas??
Can I create a new User.dat from scratch??
How??

Thank you for your time.

Ron

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.


Rick



wrote:
I recently purchased a used HP Pavilion/WIN ME system and I planned to
give it to my nephew. I scaned the disk for foul language and came up
with many hits all located in c:\windows\user.dat.

There are foul references to .com' s .mpeg's .jpg's etc etc.

Have tired using MS Wordpad to edit this file but no success.
Also tried regedit, but can't seem to get to user.dat with it.

Does anyone have any ideas??
Can I create a new User.dat from scratch??
How??

Thank you for your time.

Ron

Rick T wrote:

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.

I agree as one has no idea as to what else might be hiding on the system.
In this case it means formatting the hard disk and starting over as
reinstalling Win Me over itself does not clear the HKCU hive in the
registry.
--
Mike

I've never tried a Refresh Install, finding it just as easy (for geeky
purposes) to do a Clean Install

Rick

Mike M wrote:
Rick T wrote:

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.


I agree as one has no idea as to what else might be hiding on the
system. In this case it means formatting the hard disk and starting over
as reinstalling Win Me over itself does not clear the HKCU hive in the
registry.

This might be a good instance for using the Toni Arts Easy Cleaner registry
cleaner. It is still freeware, although a subscription is requested.
Easy Cleaner is less formidable for the casual user than the jv16 Power
Tools cleaner, another very useful tool .
I have successfully used both for many years, under WinME.
http://www.toniarts.com/index.php?PH...fb0b572171d218

Careful perusal of the recommended objects for removal will quickly reveal
the undesirable "foul language" items, assuming they do not run to the the
many thousands.
And a scanreg backup and System Restore checkpoint make reverting, if
necessary, very simple, in the event of an inadvertent mistake.
--
Jack E. Martinelli 2002-05 MS MVP for Shell/User / DTS
Help us help you: http://www.dts-L.org/goodpost.htm
In Memorium: Alex Nichol
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/nichol.mspx
Your cooperation is very appreciated.
------
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Rick T wrote:

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.

I agree as one has no idea as to what else might be hiding on the system.
In this case it means formatting the hard disk and starting over as
reinstalling Win Me over itself does not clear the HKCU hive in the
registry.
--
Mike

Jack:

I just came from Toni's website and in order to download anything you have
to be a paid member.
I didn't hang around to find out what the membership fee is,
but the Easy Cleaner definitely is not free, unless there is a way around
it.
Sorry about that.

Harry.


"Jack E Martinelli" wrote in message
...
This might be a good instance for using the Toni Arts Easy Cleaner
registry
cleaner. It is still freeware, although a subscription is requested.
Easy Cleaner is less formidable for the casual user than the jv16 Power
Tools cleaner, another very useful tool .
I have successfully used both for many years, under WinME.

http://www.toniarts.com/index.php?PH...fb0b572171d218

Careful perusal of the recommended objects for removal will quickly reveal
the undesirable "foul language" items, assuming they do not run to the the
many thousands.
And a scanreg backup and System Restore checkpoint make reverting, if
necessary, very simple, in the event of an inadvertent mistake.
--
Jack E. Martinelli 2002-05 MS MVP for Shell/User / DTS
Help us help you: http://www.dts-L.org/goodpost.htm
In Memorium: Alex Nichol
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/nichol.mspx
Your cooperation is very appreciated.
------
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Rick T wrote:

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.

I agree as one has no idea as to what else might be hiding on the
system.
In this case it means formatting the hard disk and starting over as
reinstalling Win Me over itself does not clear the HKCU hive in the
registry.
--
Mike

Toni has moved - he's now at
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

He had legal complications on his previous host - I believe that the version
they offer is not current.
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"webster72n" wrote in message
...

Jack:

I just came from Toni's website and in order to download anything you have
to be a paid member.
I didn't hang around to find out what the membership fee is,
but the Easy Cleaner definitely is not free, unless there is a way around
it.
Sorry about that.

Harry.


"Jack E Martinelli" wrote in message
...
This might be a good instance for using the Toni Arts Easy Cleaner
registry
cleaner. It is still freeware, although a subscription is requested.
Easy Cleaner is less formidable for the casual user than the jv16 Power
Tools cleaner, another very useful tool .
I have successfully used both for many years, under WinME.

http://www.toniarts.com/index.php?PH...fb0b572171d218

Careful perusal of the recommended objects for removal will quickly
reveal
the undesirable "foul language" items, assuming they do not run to the
the
many thousands.
And a scanreg backup and System Restore checkpoint make reverting, if
necessary, very simple, in the event of an inadvertent mistake.
--
Jack E. Martinelli 2002-05 MS MVP for Shell/User / DTS
Help us help you: http://www.dts-L.org/goodpost.htm
In Memorium: Alex Nichol
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/nichol.mspx
Your cooperation is very appreciated.
------
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Rick T wrote:

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.

I agree as one has no idea as to what else might be hiding on the
system.
In this case it means formatting the hard disk and starting over as
reinstalling Win Me over itself does not clear the HKCU hive in the
registry.
--
Mike

This makes good sense, but how can you re-install if you don't have
the original CD from MS? Previous owner says he bought the HP from
Staples with WinME pre-installed and no MS CD's came with the
purchase.

Ron

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 22:57:07 +0100, "Mike M"
wrote:

Rick T wrote:

Reinstalling Windows is the surest way to keep unexpected things from
cropping up.

I agree as one has no idea as to what else might be hiding on the system.
In this case it means formatting the hard disk and starting over as
reinstalling Win Me over itself does not clear the HKCU hive in the
registry.
--
Mike

Look for a folder containing the file BASE2.CAB. If located and it
contains not only BASE2.CAB but also other cab files including
PRECOPY.CAB, CABINET.CAB, and several others such as NET3.CAB, DRIVER5.CAB
and WIN_8.CAB as well as the all important setup.exe then this is the
folder you need to copy to a CD. Total size at least 153MB and at least
52 files plus possibly a folder.

Once you have a CD containing the Win Me cab files and setup.exe and know
the product key and have a bootable floppy to hand you are all set to wipe
you hard disk and clean install Win Me by running setup.exe on the CD you
made.

If you don't have the product key to hand you can recover the product key
from the registry using a program such as Belarc Adviser or AIDA32
(http://www.aumha.org/downloads/aida32.zip) or by using Regedit and noting
the data for the value ProductKey found at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



wrote:

This makes good sense, but how can you re-install if you don't have
the original CD from MS? Previous owner says he bought the HP from
Staples with WinME pre-installed and no MS CD's came with the
purchase.