Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The COM Registration Fixing Tool is a critical utility for maintaining the accessibility of Windows software.
It seems that more and more actions in Windows have the potential to cause COM deregistration, and the tool must be used more than in past years.
In supporting users across a few mailing lists, and in direct phone calls and email support sessions, I have repeatedly experienced the circumstance where a user needs to run the tool, either diagnostically or to fix a problem.
However, the responses I often hear/see are: "I looked at that, but I was afraid to run it", "I didn't understand it and it seemed dangerous to use without knowing more", "I thought we weren't really supposed to use that", and similar.
In many of those cases, running the tool actually did solve the problem.
I have become convinced that the reason for this hesitation, is fear generated by the heavy warning dialog and message that is shown when one starts to run the tool.
Describe the solution you'd like
Because I believe this utility is more important than it ever was, I would like to see:
- The dialog switched from having a warning icon, to an info icon or no icon;
- The text in the dialog made less off-putting, and more encouraging of using the tool to try to solve problems; and
- The text in the user manual made more friendly.
Describe alternatives you've considered
The only alternative I know of is leaving it as is, but I believe the existing warning is overkill.
Additional context
The prime concern here seems to be that the tool modifies the registry.
However there are many programs and situations that modify the registry, which do not hit the user in the face with such a warning window. Many (all?) software installations, for example.
Even Regedit, arguably the most risky piece of software shipped with any Windows installation, doesn't provide an overt warning such as the CRFT warning.
We specifically ask users to run this tool before submitting any apparent bug issue on Github--so I can't believe it's as dangerous as all that.
If I am not mistaken, even NVDA itself, installs certain registry keys without warning the user, upon its installation.
And lastly, I find it telling that in #2807, which appears to be the issue which spawned the CRFT, @jcsteh, @michaelDCurran, and others never gave any big warning about running the raw commands which later became the basis for the tool.
It seemed well enough understood that, if you had this problem, getting it fixed was the most important thing; and you needed to use administrative (I.E. abnormal) commands to do it.
Discouraging users from even trying it to fix their problems, did not seem like the intention.
Follow-up
I have already written code that can implement a better dialog. I can easily include it in #12349 if NV Access agrees to this proposal, or can do it separately if this seems too controversial.
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The COM Registration Fixing Tool is a critical utility for maintaining the accessibility of Windows software.
It seems that more and more actions in Windows have the potential to cause COM deregistration, and the tool must be used more than in past years.
In supporting users across a few mailing lists, and in direct phone calls and email support sessions, I have repeatedly experienced the circumstance where a user needs to run the tool, either diagnostically or to fix a problem.
However, the responses I often hear/see are: "I looked at that, but I was afraid to run it", "I didn't understand it and it seemed dangerous to use without knowing more", "I thought we weren't really supposed to use that", and similar.
In many of those cases, running the tool actually did solve the problem.
I have become convinced that the reason for this hesitation, is fear generated by the heavy warning dialog and message that is shown when one starts to run the tool.
Describe the solution you'd like
Because I believe this utility is more important than it ever was, I would like to see:
Describe alternatives you've considered
The only alternative I know of is leaving it as is, but I believe the existing warning is overkill.
Additional context
The prime concern here seems to be that the tool modifies the registry.
However there are many programs and situations that modify the registry, which do not hit the user in the face with such a warning window. Many (all?) software installations, for example.
Even Regedit, arguably the most risky piece of software shipped with any Windows installation, doesn't provide an overt warning such as the CRFT warning.
We specifically ask users to run this tool before submitting any apparent bug issue on Github--so I can't believe it's as dangerous as all that.
If I am not mistaken, even NVDA itself, installs certain registry keys without warning the user, upon its installation.
And lastly, I find it telling that in #2807, which appears to be the issue which spawned the CRFT, @jcsteh, @michaelDCurran, and others never gave any big warning about running the raw commands which later became the basis for the tool.
It seemed well enough understood that, if you had this problem, getting it fixed was the most important thing; and you needed to use administrative (I.E. abnormal) commands to do it.
Discouraging users from even trying it to fix their problems, did not seem like the intention.
Follow-up
I have already written code that can implement a better dialog. I can easily include it in #12349 if NV Access agrees to this proposal, or can do it separately if this seems too controversial.