Registry Mechanic PCTLicHelper.dll Missing

I’m an avid fan of Registry Mechanic and can’t say enough nice things about the product.

I recently downloaded Registry Mechanic 6 (version 6.0.0.750 w/ engine 2.0.0.560), installed, and ran it. It worked great – I even like the slightly sleeker interface. However, after doing the Smart Update, Registry mechanic displayed a message that C:\Program Files\Registry Mechanic\PCTLicHelper.dll is missing or invalid, and it suggested I uninstall and reinstall.

The uninstall worked fine. The reinstall worked fine. The re-running worked fine. But upon another update, I got the same error message.

My next thought was that the file might be getting deleted accidently during the upgrade, and to simply install the software, copy the file to a safe haven, do the upgrade, and put it back. No such luck, the file doesn’t exist in the pre-upgraded application. This is a new file needed by the latest upgrade, and judging by the file name, I believe it’s highly related to PC Tools’s license scheme that is subscription based.

A little experimentation with uninstalling and reinstalling shows that the fault lies in the Smart Update’s getting of the updated Registry Mechanic. I suppose they wrote the code but forgot to bundle the DLL.

Simply uncheck the entry that says Registry Mechanic 1.43Mb, but leave all the other items checked. You’ll be able to scan just fine.

I tried reporting this problem to PC Tools at their website support page, but that reported an error: Fatal error: Undefined class name ‘datetime’ in /home/shared/include/tickets/rawmessage.php on line 222. I guess they have bigger problems than they thought.

After calling their USA support line, 1-800-764-5783, I got a recording that said they could also be reached at support@pctools.com. That would have been nice to have on the website somewhere obvious.

This trivial issue aside, Walt gives Registry Mechanic a big thumbs up!

UPDATE 22-Feb-2007: As Mike suggested, I got the latest update this morning and this time there was an updated program, a PC Tools License Helper, and a revision to the white list. I installed the update, and Registry Mechanic worked just fine. I never did hear back from PC Tools about the issue, or its website being broken.

UPDATE 24-Feb-2007: This morning got an email from PC Tools informing me that the problem had been fixed and to simply reinstall, commenting there was no need to re-enter license information. They made no comment on the fact that their website was broken, other than to generically tell me it was a “great source of knowledge for future questions.”