Registry consumption

[HughLerwill]

I am concerned that developing vb6 dlls could be filling up the host computer's registry with stranded information.

I may have several questions this is the first.

Is this true?
When compiling a dll the dll will always have a new class ID unless the Binary Compatibility option is ticked. This situation is not affected by the Auto Increment Version number option. When Binary Compatibility is ticked the Class ID is set to be equal to the referenced dll's Class ID.

 

[HughLerwill]

Ok so has anyone views on the truth of this;

When an ActiveX dll is registered keys are created in the registry for its class ID. When it is unregistered the values of these keys and their children are stripped of their values but are not removed from the registry.
If a dll with a new class ID is registered before a previous version with an old class iD is unregistered most of the information for the previous version remains stranded (is not stripped) in the registry.
In either case we have registry overhead; more in the second.

 

[vb5prgrmr]

If you are worried about the orphaned entries... there are several registry cleaners out there that will remove these entries automatically for you or your end users. Just find a good free one or perhaps create your own for your end users.

Good Luck