Current Status of RegClean Version 4.1a Build 7364.1 
==================================================== 

Image Size (Unzipped and ready to run) 837,632 bytes (818KB) 
============================================================= 
(Subjective comment removed.) 

Import Tables 
============= 
The import section in the PE header. This gives an indication of just 
how (in)effective the use of Bjarne's C++ has been. In this case, the 
verdict is "pretty horrible". A walloping 7,680 bytes are used for the 
names of the relocatable Win32 imports. These are the actual names of 
the functions (supposedly) called. MS RegClean does not call most of 
these functions - they remain because an MFC template was originally 
used, most likely borrowed from another application, and it was never 
"cleaned". This is corroborated by what is found among the "Windows 
resources" over half a dozen standard menus, assorted graphic images, 
print preview resources, etc. that have nothing to do with the 
application at hand. 

Resources 
========= 
Please understand that resources not only bloat an executable with their 
own size, but with additional reference data, in other words the bloat 
factor of an unused or bad resource is always somewhat larger than the 
size of the bloating resource itself. 

Accelerators 
============ 
Sixteen (16) unused accelerators from an MFC template were found Copy, 
New, Open, Print, Save, Paste, "Old Undo", "Old Cut", Help, Context 
Help, "Old Copy", "Old Insert", Cut, Undo, Page Up, Page Down. MS 
RegClean uses only one accelerator itself, not listed here. 

Bitmaps 
======= 
This was a particularly sorry lot. The main bloat here was a splash 
screen bitmap weighing in (no RLE compression of course) at over 150KB. 
Further, Ctl32 static library bitmaps were found, meaning MS RegClean is 
still linking with the old Ctl32v2 static library which was obsolete 
five years ago and which automatically adds another 41KB to the image 
size. 

Cursors 
======= 
Six (6) cursors were found, none of which have anything to do with this 
application. 

Dialogs 
======= 
A very messy chapter indeed. MS RegClean walks around with eighteen (18) 
hidden dialogs, of which only one or at the most two are ever used. The 
others are just - you took the words out of my mouth - junk. The 
findings (read it and weep) 

*) Eleven (11) empty dialogs with the caption "My Page" and the static 
text "Todo", all identical, all empty, and of course all unused. This is 
a wonder in and of itself. 
*) The main "wizard" dialog actually used by the application is left 
with comment fields to help the programmers reference the right controls 
in their code (subjective comment removed). 
*) A "RegClean Options" dialog which AFAIK is never used. 
*) A "New (Resource)" dialog, probably a part of the development 
process, just stuffed in the stomach at sew-up time and left there for 
posterity. 
*) A "Printing in Progress" dialog. 
*) A "Print Preview" control bar dialog. 

Icons 
===== 
MS RegClean has three icons, all with images of 48x48 in 256 colors (of 
course). The funniest thing here is that the authors of MS RegClean have 
extracted the default desktop icon from shell32.dll, which is available 
at runtime as a resident resource anyway and at no image bloat overhead 
at all, and included it in toto in their executable. 

Menus 
===== 
MS RegClean has eight (8) menus, at least half of these are simply junk 
left around by the MFC template. Another menu indicates that the authors 
of RegClean have in fact worked from an internal Microsoft Registry tool 
- rather bloated in itself it seems. 

String Table(s) 
=============== 
Actually it need only be one string table, but Microsoft itself has 
never learned this. The findings here were atrocious. And you must 
remember that strings stored in a string table are stored in Unicode, 
which means that their bloat automatically doubles. Further, MS's way of 
indexing strings in a string table means a 512 byte header block must be 
created for every string grouping, and strings are grouped according to 
the high 12 bits of their numerical identifiers (yes they are 16-bit 
WORD identifiers). Meaning indiscriminate or random numbering of string 
table entries will make an otherwise innocent application literally 
explode. 

347 (three hundred forty seven, yep, your video driver is not playing 
tricks on you) string table entries were found in MS RegClean, including 
16 identical string entries with the MS classic "Open this document" as 
well as archaic MFC template toggle keys texts which are not used here 
(or almost anywhere else today). Most of these strings have - of course 
- nothing to do with the application at hand. 

Toolbars 
======== 
Toolbars are a funny MS way of looking at glyph bitmaps for use in 
toolbar controls. MS RegClean has two - one which may be used by the 
application, and one which was part of the original MFC template and 
never removed. 

Total Accountable Resource Bloat 
================================ 
The total accountable (i.e. what can be directly calculated at this 
stage) resource bloat of MS RegClean 4.1a Build 7364.1 is over 360,000 
bytes (350KB). 

Total Accountable Code Bloat 
============================ 
Harder to estimate, but considering that most of the code is never used, 
only part of an MFC template that the authors of MS RegClean lack the 
wherewithal to remove, the original estimate of a total necessary image 
size of 45KB for the entire application must still stand. 

In Conclusion 
============= 
Bloat is not a technical issue, but verily a way of thinking, a "state 
of mind". Its cure is a simple refusal to accept, and a well directed, 
resounding "clean up your act and clean up your code!" 

PS. Send feedback on RegClean to regclean@microsoft.com 

RA Downes, Radsoft Laboratories http//www.radsoft.net