Solved Will a clean install of 8.1 fix the mess of my 8 registry?

DanSitar

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Hi,
My registry is so messy from the leftovers of many uninstall, which also deleted stuff necessary elsewhere, that almost all the important updates of Windows 8.0 failed.

I have checked my registry with “Registry First Aid”. It found too many errors with yellow and red flags of advanced stuff. Therefore, cleaning those might do more harm.

It would be great if a clean install of Windows 8.1 could flush the entire registry and rebuild a new one! Because I want to avoid the last recourse which is to reset my laptop as factory on Windows 7. But that raises another question since I changed my hard drive. What will happen to my partitions because there was none on the original drive?

Thanks for your valuable imputs.

Daniel
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Aspire 5552-5686 notebook
    CPU
    ADM Phenom II X3 N830
    Motherboard
    Acer JE51_DN Base Board Version
    Memory
    16 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ADI Mobility Radeon HD 45250
It would be great if a clean install of Windows 8.1 could flush the entire registry and rebuild a new one!

Yes it would....do you have the 8.1 ISO and a 8.1 product key? If not you will need to factory reset laptop to 7 and then upgrade to 8.1
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X 4 965 BE
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4
    Memory
    G-Skill 8 GB PC 8500
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    AMD XFX HD Radeon 6790D
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    Realtek HD onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2l Samsung SyncMaster S20B300
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    1600 X 900
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    Seagate Barracuda 320 GB w/OS
    Seagate Barracuda 1 TB data storage
    PSU
    Ultra X4 750 watt fully modular
    Case
    Thermaltake OverSeer RX 1 fulltower
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper212 120mm
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder 3.5
Well, if you are, in any case, planning a fresh install as a last resort - very good idea - why not take the plunge and use Cleaner, in particular its reg clean facility, first, and see how you get on after that?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
Well, if you are, in any case, planning a fresh install as a last resort - very good idea - why not take the plunge and use Cleaner, in particular its reg clean facility, first, and see how you get on after that?


Link to download it:

Download CCleaner 4.09.4471 - FileHippo.com

A picture:

screenshot_34.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
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    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
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    Package Socket FT1 BGA
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    Family F
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    Avast Internet Security
Greetings forums' readers & helpers, ٩̢ ̗(Ӧ̮Ӧ)̢ ̗۶

Thanks guys for your responses. Before I reply to bassfisher6522 in my next comment, I want to talk about CCleaner because it is more important to people.

 ๆ̢ ̗(͡◉ֹ̮̃ ̮̃̃͡◉ֹ̃̃)̢̃ ̗۶̑I have “CCleaner 4.09.4471” . I use it mainly to clean the Internet Temporary files and unwanted cookies, control the ̔msconfig̓, the explorer context menu...

As for cleaning the registry, don't ever use it โ̢ ̗(͠❂ֹ̰̃ ̰͠❂ֹ̃)̢ ̗۶‼ All the registry cleaners are dangerous ̒¿̲̒͡ ʅʅ Those tools are more or less good only to find the errors and to propose a fix for each one. CCleaner is very weak at finding them and just delete. CCleaner is like brooming the floor where you walk, while “Registry First Aid” move the furnitures around (including you refrigerator) and analyze the junk behind with a loupe. Then, it tells you where each piece might go and let you decide. Each error has a link to its place in the registry to look at for details.

Example: Last light, CCleaner found about 20 errors, while RFA found over 800, conservatively. I have clean the easy one, but in the 430 remaining advanced ones, 68 are for expert to deal with.


BTW David Bailey, what font did you used for your signature in your image above? ̒¿̡̒͡ ʅʅ The closest font that I have is the “Edwardian Script ITC”.

Regards,

Daniel ≈̰ ̃(ړײ ) ̰͠〰

P.S.: I made a Tutorial in the Windows 7 Forums :
Its works on both, in Windows 7 and Windows 8. The editing in the registry was approved by Brink

View attachment 34961
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Aspire 5552-5686 notebook
    CPU
    ADM Phenom II X3 N830
    Motherboard
    Acer JE51_DN Base Board Version
    Memory
    16 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ADI Mobility Radeon HD 45250

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
I have used Ccleaner for many years, without problems. Maybe I got lucky. However, you are aware that you can customise it?
Possibly Ccleaner found less errors as, in its uncustomised state, it is more cautious?
It does offer you the option to backup the registry, before "fixing", si in the event of subsequent problems, you can replace it. I frequently experiment with third party programs. I clean monthly, manually and with the help of Ccleaner. After many years of programming, the parties who write them still do not get the uninstall part 100%. It is usually these bits and pieces that Ccleaner takes care of (for me)
But it is an individual choice. The odd items, if redundant, do not cause problems and the used space is very small. If a user is nervous of using cleaning programs, as in your case, it is no great loss to do without them.
Yes. It certainly is like cleaning the floor, but, as when cleaning the floor, you can pick out any items of value, which may have been accidentally left, before proceeding.
As you stated "It would be great if a clean install of Windows 8.1 could flush the entire registry and rebuild a new one", then, what's to lose!
My suggestion, having obviously had a better experience than yourself, was made in good faith. There are many posts and threads in this forum, for and against. I would say again, it is the user's choice.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
CCleaner is one of the more benign programs for registry cleaning and although it will not "repair" it, it might get rid of some leftover entries but that part is not as important as wrong entries and mistakes made by some programs or generally messing about with it.
Finally those leftover entries are not the only thing left after uninstalling some programs, there's also matter of shared DLLs and leftover files and entries in system folders so uing a good uninstaller like "Revo uninstaller" is a must if you go thru a lot of programs, as it will also get rid of most leftovers. Uninstalling programs thru windows leaves you to the mercy of those programs uninstallers and if they are not properly written all kinds of stuff is still there after uninstallation. Might be a good idea to make Restore points regularly so you can get back in a hurry when needed.
If you do a clean install of windows (any) old registry does not matter any more, new one is made anyway.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
 ๆ̢ ̗(Ӧ̮Ӧ)̢ ̗۶Thank you davehc, David and CountMike to have shed some light on the pros and cons of the registry cleaning programs and to have re-assured me that a clean-install would reset my registry free of any BS.

bassfisher6522 said:
Yes it would....do you have the 8.1 ISO and a 8.1 product key? If not you will need to factory reset laptop to 7 and then upgrade to 8.1
Sorry bassfisher6522 for the delay to reply.I have red somewhere that you cannot upgrade directly from 7 to 8.1; that you must to 8 first and then, to 8.1. My problem with that process is that my Windows 8 came from a free ISO from Microsoft during their promotion of their Media Center. They emailed us our personal key. But we had to install it before the deadline of that promo to remain free. Now I doubt if my key will work to even download the 8.1, but I will give it a try.


BTW, I saw somewhere many types of Windows 8.1 ISO files that are differentiated by capital letters. I know that ‘RTM’ = "Release To Manufacturing". But what about these:
• ‘AIO’
• ‘ESD’
• ‘WIM’
• ‘VL’
• ‘NVL’​

Which one shall I use if plan ‘A’ doesn't work? I just have a laptop at home to spend my retirement with ̒¿̒ ̡͡ ʅ

Thanks for your valuable imputs,

Daniel ≈̰ ̃(ړײ ) ̰͠〰
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Aspire 5552-5686 notebook
    CPU
    ADM Phenom II X3 N830
    Motherboard
    Acer JE51_DN Base Board Version
    Memory
    16 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ADI Mobility Radeon HD 45250
That question has been SOLVED by SIW2 in my thread

What these acronyms stand for in the ISO file's names: RTM

• RTM = “Release To Manufacturing”.

AIO = “All In One”. Lots of windows editions in one ‘install.wim’ or ‘install.esd’ file. Often includes both bit versions.

WIM = “Windows Image”. It is in MS imaging format, contains pe and/or windows installation files. Useful and flexible, can be serviced.

ESD = 'I don't know'. It is a highly compressed version of ‘WIM’. Can install from it , useless for anything else, cannot be serviced.

VL = “Volume License”.

NVL = “Volume License N Version”.​
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Aspire 5552-5686 notebook
    CPU
    ADM Phenom II X3 N830
    Motherboard
    Acer JE51_DN Base Board Version
    Memory
    16 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ADI Mobility Radeon HD 45250
I am always amused that a couple of issues crop up from years past that USED to be a problem but no longer. One is a "fragmented hard drive". The other is a "dirty registery file". You still get to see these "TERRIBLE THINGS ARE GOING ON IN YOUR COMPUTER" by programs that are, you guessed it, trying to sell you utilities to "fix" these god-awful issues. Both of these issues have been scrutinized over the past 15 years and have shown to no longer have any real effect on the computer's boot time or in running programs. Clean and defrag if you want using commonly available utilities but you will not notice any improvement and the for pay utilities will STILL find hidden, important "issues". I occasionally clean out my registry (with no ill effects EVER) but mostly as a sense of duty or because a program I want a clean install of a program I just upgraded. Since MS never bothered to install a registry cleaning program, that is how little cleaning the registry means.
When Dan sees or thinks he has a "very messy" registry, I am sure he used some sort of program that told him this.

NOTE: This is STILL a highly controversial subject among long time users and I fully expect to be BLASTED AND DAMNED for posting this. I will not respond so as to hopefully let the flames die out but be aware.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS
I am always amused that a couple of issues crop up from years past that USED to be a problem but no longer. One is a "fragmented hard drive". The other is a "dirty registery file". You still get to see these "TERRIBLE THINGS ARE GOING ON IN YOUR COMPUTER" by programs that are, you guessed it, trying to sell you utilities to "fix" these god-awful issues. Both of these issues have been scrutinized over the past 15 years and have shown to no longer have any real effect on the computer's boot time or in running programs. Clean and defrag if you want using commonly available utilities but you will not notice any improvement and the for pay utilities will STILL find hidden, important "issues". I occasionally clean out my registry (with no ill effects EVER) but mostly as a sense of duty or because a program I want a clean install of a program I just upgraded. Since MS never bothered to install a registry cleaning program, that is how little cleaning the registry means.
When Dan sees or thinks he has a "very messy" registry, I am sure he used some sort of program that told him this.

NOTE: This is STILL a highly controversial subject among long time users and I fully expect to be BLASTED AND DAMNED for posting this. I will not respond so as to hopefully let the flames die out but be aware.
Wholeheartedly agree with you, snake oil is all that they try to sell you with all those "super- duper, miracle programs" that in the first place make a problem so they can "solve" it for you. In the era before (and somewhat during) XP, I used to reinstall windows every six months on heavily used computer because cleaning registry was just too much work. That's when some programs could help somewhat but never run into any that could do perfect job and did not need additional work to make everything perfect.
Still, prevention by properly and cleanly uninstalling programs goes furthest at keeping registry and file system clean and healthy. For cleaning junk, windows has "disk cleaner" that has just enough "power" to rid system of unnecessary clutter acquired by normal use, so no need for any (especially payed) programs for that either.
Win 8 /8.1 is very good at keeping disk and registry fragmentation to a minimum and with the advent of SSDs, even that is getting to be utterly unnecessary and with no speed penalty.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
When Dan sees or thinks he has a "very messy" registry, I am sure he used some sort of program that told him this.
 ٩̢ ̗(Ӧ̮Ӧ)̢ ̗۶Thanks johnpombrio to reassure me that my problems are not in the registry!

  ̯ʼﮈ Then why Windows updates keep failing, especially the important security ones?
And why my computer keeps slowing down from programs looking for their missing DLL and ActiveX that were uninstalled by other programs? ̒ ̯̒ ˀʅ

 ใ̮(ಠ̮̃ಠ̃)̢̃ ̗۶̑I agree with you that I would be an idiot to try different registry cleaners just to see for fun what they would come up with, and then, panic at their reports, instead of being conscious of the real problems and use those cleaners to pinpoint what could be the causes. I am so glad that a master in Windows 8 confidently made the affirmation that my problems are definitively not in the registry ใ̢ ̗(̾̈́͡◉̐̈́͜ ̐̈́͡◉̍̈́)̢ ̗۶

Please, tell me what are/could be the causes.

Regards and thanks, ¿̒ ̡͡ ʅ

P.S.: I am backing up all my files and setup programs before my clean install of 8.1...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Aspire 5552-5686 notebook
    CPU
    ADM Phenom II X3 N830
    Motherboard
    Acer JE51_DN Base Board Version
    Memory
    16 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ADI Mobility Radeon HD 45250
Dan, When you have that many issues, you are not going to find that cleaning the registry will fix them! My first guess would be a corrupt (broken) hard drive. That will cause pieces to be missing. You could try checking your drive for errors:

2014-02-04_234815.jpg

If that does not help, and the problem is localized to a particular program, uninstall it and reinstall it. Next run a virus checker. You can try a recovery of your operating system (look under tutorials here).
Finally, as a last resort, a clean install might be required.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS
Cleaning registry is not the same thing as fixing it. No cleaner can "fix" wrong entries or make necessary ones, at most can get rid of some entries that are left over and do not have a clear connection to a program or setting.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
@johnpombrio: ٩̢ ̗(̾̈́͡◑̾̈́̈́͜ ̾̈́̈́͡◑̾̈́)̢ ̗۶̑i'm glad to report that with the tool in your image, my hard drive has no error and is 0% fragmented. In fact, my laptop came with a Windows 7 OS and the original hard drive became physically defective after about two years. So, I made a clean install of Windows 8 on a new drive.

As for virus and stuff, everything is monitored closely on my machine, including whatever goes in and out, each web page is checked before the browser opens it and there is nobody around to touch my laptop..

The only programs that are still installed are the old ones that used to work fine. I concluded that it is not worth anymore to spend more time to investigate further. So, a clean install of 8.1 is the think to do.

I am sure the readers and I appreciate your checklist̮(ֹ̑̈́͌̈́͜ ͌̈́̐̈́)̢ ̗۶


@CountMike: ๆ̮(ಠ̮̃ಠ̃)̮̃۶̑I agree with you. That is why I prefer cleaners like Registry-First-Aid, which suggests you the solutions who might fix each problem that is flagged from ‘safe’ to ‘critical’ for advanced users.

Thanks for the input.

Regards, ¿̒ ̡͡ ʅ
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Aspire 5552-5686 notebook
    CPU
    ADM Phenom II X3 N830
    Motherboard
    Acer JE51_DN Base Board Version
    Memory
    16 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ADI Mobility Radeon HD 45250
Two things have messed with my registry enough for new installations.
1- Clicking "Yes" or "Yes to All" when asked about deleting Shared dll files when deleting programs. I always say "NO" now
2- Browning. When a refrigerator or air conditioner kicking on initially draws extra power which causes light bulbs to dim and files in computers to be dropped if they are being used. My house is so bad I use to reinstall 98 at least once a week.
Until I was told to buy a Battery Backup UPS.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-3770K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" 24"
    Hard Drives
    1 TB WD
    PSU
    550w
Two things have messed with my registry enough for new installations.
1- Clicking "Yes" or "Yes to All" when asked about deleting Shared dll files when deleting programs. I always say "NO" now
2- Browning. When a refrigerator or air conditioner kicking on initially draws extra power which causes light bulbs to dim and files in computers to be dropped if they are being used. My house is so bad I use to reinstall 98 at least once a week.
Until I was told to buy a Battery Backup UPS.
1. Never had a problem when uninstalling with "Revo", even on most aggressive settings.
2. A good power supply can also handle problems like that. My Chieftec 450W keeps computer running without problems even with power out for a second or two. Multi voltage (input) PSUs are rated for 100 to 250v, so problems with "dirty" power are more or less alleviated. PSU is very important for stable work. Importance of good ground on all the appliances can not be overstated either.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
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