What changed?

Some programs make many changes to the Windows registry; some programs even make thousands of changes to the Windows registry: IncrediMail (not recommended) for example.

Every time you install a software program a number of changes are made to the Windows registry. Now we’re going to tell you that newer versions of Windows are much more tolerant of junk in the registry than let’s say Windows 95, 98, ME — but hopefully none of you still use those operating systems.

We’re not quite sure how useful this program is, but we’re sure it’s a good learning tool if you want to easily see how installing software changes the Windows registry. (Note: We are talking about programs that install to your computer; portable programs make no registry changes  because you just run them, you don’t install them. That’s why they’re called “Portable”, capiche? )

The program is called, mysteriously, (kidding!): WhatChanged. And if you worried about complex programs that you have to spend a week learning, this is not one of them. Do don’t fret, EB, I will teach you all two steps involved in using this program. I’m sure you’re going to want to install “Lily Bulb Planting Factory” soon, and you’ll want to see how many changes it makes to your Windows registry.

Here’s how it works: You take a snap shot of your registry, then you install a program, any program, and then you take another snapshot of your registry. Then, duh, you compare the two — and What Changed will show you what changed. How about that! You can see, with your very own eyeballs how installing software changes the registry – some software programs make hundreds, even thousands of changes to your Windows registry, others make only a few.

See? Lookie. No, look up! Two little steps!

Step #1. Take a snapshot of your current Windows registry.

Install some bloated software program 🙂

Step #2. Scan your registry again. Compare what you had with what you have…all changes are noted and you can save the changes anywhere you want. Just in case you can’t sleep and want to ponder the changes while you ponder the meaning of life. Hey, it’s better than counting sheep; counting sheep makes me itch.

Now, we wouldn’t be polite if we didn’t invite the developer of What Changed in to give us all a little sales pitch for his program. Since the program is free, he won’t get any sales, but he still gets to make the pitch; it’s only fair, I tells ya.

WhatChanged is a system utility that scans for modified files and registry entries. It is useful for checking program installations. There are two steps for using WhatChanged:

1) First, take a snapshot to get the current state of the computer; 2) Second, run it again to check the differences since the previous snapshot.

WhatChanged uses the “brute force method” to check files and the registry.

* v1.07 update includes speed enhancements for better performance.

How nice. A laconic developer who actually has a grasp of English grammar, unlike yours truly, who doesn’t have a clue. The grammarians always write and belittle me. It’s okay, I’m used to it. I’m scarred for life, but I continue to try.

ENOUGH of my nonsense. On with the shoe show!

You can download WhatChanged from this page. It’s a tiny little file (less than 100 kilobytes). It’s the last program listed on that page.

We don’t know anything about the other programs on that page. You download them at your own peril, I tells ya! We only tested WhatChanged, nothing else, OK?

(Already I have been admonished for using the phrase “tiny little file”…they says I’m being redundant. Nothing wrong with a little redundancy is there, EB?

Big, giant fish sandwiches is better than saying  large, jumbo shrimp, which is not only redundant but an oxymoron too!)

The game of life is hard to play.
We’re going to lose it anyway…