We show that
R
R
is regular if
T
o
r
i
R
(
R
+
,
k
)
=
0
Tor_{i}^{R}(R^{+},k) = 0
for some
i
≥
1
i\geq 1
assuming further that
R
R
is a
N
\mathbb {N}
-graded ring of dimension
2
2
finitely generated over an algebraically closed equicharacteristic zero field
k
k
. This answers a question of Bhatt, Iyengar, and Ma [Comm. Algebra 47 (2019), pp. 2367–2383]. We use almost mathematics over
R
+
R^{+}
to deduce properties of the noetherian ring
R
R
and rational surface singularities. Moreover we observe that
R
+
R^{+}
in equicharacteristic zero has a rich module-theoretic structure; it is
m
m
-adically ideal(wise) separated, (weakly) intersection flat, and Ohm-Rush. As an application we show that the hypothesis can be astonishingly vacuous for
i
≪
d
i
m
(
R
)
i \ll dim(R)
. We show that a positive answer to an old question of Aberbach and Hochster [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 122 (1997), pp. 171–184] also answers this question and we use our techniques to study a question of André and Fiorot [Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa Cl. Sci. (5) 23 (2022), pp. 81–114] regarding ‘fpqc analogues’ of splinters.