Was it safe for me to delete UdfReadr_xp from XP Registry?

[lgmayka]

In order to get InCD to work properly, I deleted the UdfReadr_xp key from the WinXP Registry. Will this be safe for everything else? I've tried a few things, which appear to work, but I can't exhaustively re-test my system.

Let me explain. I used to have Easy CD Creator 5.3.x Basic, with integrated DirectCD, for my Pioneer DVR-103 DVD-R/RW drive. The other day I installed an LG GSA-4040B drive, which supports DVD+R/RW-R/RW-RAM. It came with a DVD-RAM driver (to support UDF2.0 and UDF1.5 on DVD-RAM, as opposed to XP's native DVD-RAM driver which supports only FAT32); B's Recorder Gold 5.32; and B's Clip (packet-writing), which I did not install because I knew it would conflict with DirectCD. I also installed Nero 6.0.0.11, but not InCD 4 just yet because of the conflict with DirectCD. I then decided simply to uninstall the DirectCD portion of Easy CD Creator.

Well, I found that UDF1.5 on DVD-RAM didn't work properly--Windows XP would always treat it as read-only. At first I thought this was a bug in the DVD-RAM driver. I then installed InCD 4; but now DVD+RW disks formatted for InCD also appeared to be read-only. I now realized the probable cause: DirectCD, despite its uninstallation, was still somewhat present and causing trouble.

So I uninstalled Easy CD Creator entirely (as per Add/Remove Programs), but that changed nothing. I then researched the issue of uninstalling DirectCD fully and completely. Wishing to avoid as much danger and fuss as possible, I looked for the minimum change to my system that would fix the problem. I found a Microsoft article that pointed to a particular key in the Registry that Adaptec/Roxio seems to use for (mis)handling UDF: UdfReadr_xp, or more specifically

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UdfReadr_xp

I exported this key to a file, then deleted it and rebooted.

So far, this deletion seems to have had the intended effect. Both the InCD filesystem (on DVD+RW disks) and the UDF1.5 filesystem (on DVD-RAM disks) are now writable. UDF2.0 on DVD-RAM is still writable as before, and even FAT32 on DVD-RAM works properly. Will everything else probably now work too, or have I broken something else unknowingly? Keep in mind that I would prefer to avoid more drastic measures like removing all cd*.dll files and reinstalling all my CD/DVD-writing applications, etc.

[BurninMan921]

If it works, what the hey. But may I recommend NOT using Microsoft's regedit and instead use RegCleaner? This program keeps an "undo" file of everything you delete, so you can put something back if you break it unitentionally. As far as a download, this site has it:

http://www.pcmedixwebs.com/regclean.htm

It now seems to be part of a commerical product, with the free version being discontinued.

EDIT: That site also has a utility for tweaking the cache settings in Windows 2K/XP, which should help boost system performance big-time when burning with Nero. Just found that today, so gonna try it out ASAP. Been looking for something like that (on my system, burning a CD w/Nero 5/6 results in MASSIVE slow down, which on a P4 1.7 w/512MG Ram, shouldn't happen).