In regards to the original blog piece:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/helpdesk/?p=511
Share your experiences - and even your recommendations - about the many registry cleaners that are available. Share the good, the bad, and the ugly, and perhaps by the end of the discussion a bright light will shine on the best registry cleaner out there.
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Is a great little tool for this also gives you the option to back up the reg before you clean it I always use this little tool.
I use CCleaner regularly to clear out temp files and buildup. I wouldn't trust any registry cleaner after having seen them rot out Windows installs before there time but when there is reason to run one, CCleaner is the tool for the job.
- registry backups are part of the process
- three registry cleanings will usually result in no further issues found
- registry backups are part of the process
- three registry cleanings will usually result in no further issues found
CCleaner is on every one of my machines, and it's one of the few utilities that I recommend without hesitation to the many friends/relatives who solicit my computer advice.
I have a small business doing in-home computer repairs for clients, with very little take-home/repair business. One of the reasons is that I load up CCleaner on my customers' computers, show them how to use it, and then explain that the registry repair should only be used under my advice. That said, it can be configured to automatically back up the registry first, so "oops" can be avoided. So far, between keeping the disk clean and registry clean, I have few repeat customers for other than new software/hardware installation or the occasional persistant virus. Sounds counter-productive, but, I actually get more customers from word-of-mouth from this practice. Also, when my customers buy a new computer, they call me to come and install it.
One more vote for CCleaner here.
However, it still has the capacity to kill as I recently found out.
My 11 year old cousin's Vista computer recently died after filling her c:\ (I hate Windows Update, though in fairness, the partition was infeasibly small)
Used CCleaner to removed a bunch of temp/redundant files. All was well.
Then used it to "Tidy" her registry. Good job I backed it up first.
I use it on a regular basis on my work PCs (Vista and XP) and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, with caution. Always backup the registry first, and if your registry is already suspect, all registry cleaners have the ability to finally finish it off!
However, it still has the capacity to kill as I recently found out.
My 11 year old cousin's Vista computer recently died after filling her c:\ (I hate Windows Update, though in fairness, the partition was infeasibly small)
Used CCleaner to removed a bunch of temp/redundant files. All was well.
Then used it to "Tidy" her registry. Good job I backed it up first.
I use it on a regular basis on my work PCs (Vista and XP) and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, with caution. Always backup the registry first, and if your registry is already suspect, all registry cleaners have the ability to finally finish it off!
I have used ccleaner many times and never had any problem. I agree it is a great tool. I highly recommend it.
Sorry, but I don't view C Cleaner as a registry cleaner in the true sense of that phrase. You may disagree.
Certainly, C Cleaner does do a little bit of work on the registry, but it is minor in comparison to most of the other heavy duty registry cleaners that are devoted strictly to the registry and not to extraneous files.
If you were to read the fine print about C Cleaner, I think you might agree with me that is is hardly a registry cleaner in the true sense of that phrase.
Yes, it will do a limited (extremely limited) amount of registry cleaning, but that isn't the primary focus of that particular program.
Please correct me if I am wrong!
Contact: g3po2@yahoo.com
Aloha from Hawaii,
Glenn
Certainly, C Cleaner does do a little bit of work on the registry, but it is minor in comparison to most of the other heavy duty registry cleaners that are devoted strictly to the registry and not to extraneous files.
If you were to read the fine print about C Cleaner, I think you might agree with me that is is hardly a registry cleaner in the true sense of that phrase.
Yes, it will do a limited (extremely limited) amount of registry cleaning, but that isn't the primary focus of that particular program.
Please correct me if I am wrong!
Contact: g3po2@yahoo.com
Aloha from Hawaii,
Glenn
What were you thinking? For me it kind of calls into question the worthiness of your opinions on CCleaner if you don't even know enough to keep your email address out of public forums.
I've personally used Windoctor, Registry Mechanic and EasyCleaner for years with excellent results. Last week I was turned on to CCleaner really like it as well. The one complaint I have is I have yet to find one good catchall registry cleaner. I can run the first three, in that order, and with each successive software it will find things missed by the previous one(s). I find it to be a good final step after cleaning out all the crapware my friends and family insist on installing on their machines. Why don't people make the association between their machine being slow and the half dozen toolbars and/or twelvty tray icons running. Off topic, but I usually hit the selective startup on msconfig and kill everything except AV. People think you're a miracle worker when in fact you're just the garbage man.
An excellent free tool that does just about everything is Glary Utilities.
As with all tools of this type, check what you're going to remove BEFORE you remove it !
As with all tools of this type, check what you're going to remove BEFORE you remove it !
Registry Cleaners
I've personally used Windoctor, Registry Mechanic and EasyCleaner for years with excellent results. Last week I was turned on to CCleaner really like it as well. The one complaint I have is I have yet to find one good catchall registry cleaner. I can run the first three, in that order, and with each successive software it will find things missed by the previous one(s). I find it to be a good final step after cleaning out all the crapware my friends and family insist on installing on their machines. Why don't people make the association between their machine being slow and the half dozen toolbars and/or twelvty tray icons running. Off topic, but I usually hit the selective startup on msconfig and kill everything except AV. People think you're a miracle worker when in fact you're just the garbage man.
by elya@... | 03/25/09
I couldnt agree more, I have more than 1 cleaner myself.. (my wife is from Greensburg by the way)
I've personally used Windoctor, Registry Mechanic and EasyCleaner for years with excellent results. Last week I was turned on to CCleaner really like it as well. The one complaint I have is I have yet to find one good catchall registry cleaner. I can run the first three, in that order, and with each successive software it will find things missed by the previous one(s). I find it to be a good final step after cleaning out all the crapware my friends and family insist on installing on their machines. Why don't people make the association between their machine being slow and the half dozen toolbars and/or twelvty tray icons running. Off topic, but I usually hit the selective startup on msconfig and kill everything except AV. People think you're a miracle worker when in fact you're just the garbage man.
by elya@... | 03/25/09
I couldnt agree more, I have more than 1 cleaner myself.. (my wife is from Greensburg by the way)
I do not advocate regular registry cleaning just for practice. Registry cleaners are useful after a brute force uninstall or after removing adware/spyware.
Since I clean quite a few malware infections, I've had the opportunity to run CCleaner a number of times and have not had any problems with its registry cleaning tool. Prior to CCleaner, I used GlarySoft's cleaner and had no problems with it as well.
The last time I ran a registry cleaner on my personal PCs was ..... I can't recall doing so. I do run CCleaner periodically to clean out temp files.
Since I clean quite a few malware infections, I've had the opportunity to run CCleaner a number of times and have not had any problems with its registry cleaning tool. Prior to CCleaner, I used GlarySoft's cleaner and had no problems with it as well.
The last time I ran a registry cleaner on my personal PCs was ..... I can't recall doing so. I do run CCleaner periodically to clean out temp files.
Yet another vote! I've run it as necessary on machines at work and have been impressed with the results!
Another vote for this product.
Use it on over 200 PC's at work and it has not given any grief. When first run, CCleaner found over 1000 registry problems on some of our computers. Once cleaned up everything ran a lot smoother. Would suggest using the backup option before cleaning the registry, just in case.
Use it on over 200 PC's at work and it has not given any grief. When first run, CCleaner found over 1000 registry problems on some of our computers. Once cleaned up everything ran a lot smoother. Would suggest using the backup option before cleaning the registry, just in case.
Yup, same here. I've used it for over 3 years now on all biz machines.
I used to set it to run at boot-up but not now. Since most machines have a gig or more ram, I set aside 100meg ram-disk (z:) with a trusty freeware driver called "AR RAM Disk". Now the machines likely have 80% less fragmentation. To bad it doesn't work with Vista...
I used to set it to run at boot-up but not now. Since most machines have a gig or more ram, I set aside 100meg ram-disk (z:) with a trusty freeware driver called "AR RAM Disk". Now the machines likely have 80% less fragmentation. To bad it doesn't work with Vista...
Available at http://www.yourwaresolutions.com/software.html .
I DO find a lot of merit in using a (paid for brand name) cleaner.
I notice the comment about Nortons 2005 whatever and smiled ...
Yep. Typical Nortons ... in my case it was Ghost - there were registry keys which kept popping up messages imploring me to buy some other Norton's product, long after (forcibly) removing Ghost and all registry keys with 'Ghost' in them. I got tired of that exercise and used PCTools Registry Mechanic. Magic - found thousands of keys of programs I had long since un-installed (or so I thought). Not all Nortons, to be fair, but about 60% were.
RE-install Windows? Does this mean a clean hard drive or just a Windows re-instal?Either way - You gotta be kidding - It would take me weeks to get all my programs up and running again, wouldn't it?
Anyway ... after a good registry shake-up I find there is certainly a much faster start-up and shut down. So far, no problems whatsoever caused by using registry cleaners/optimisers.
Seems a lot of people like ccleaner - must evaluate it.
BTW Most good registry cleaners automatically create a system restore point - so if some important registry data goes missing simply do a system restore. Works for me.
I notice the comment about Nortons 2005 whatever and smiled ...
Yep. Typical Nortons ... in my case it was Ghost - there were registry keys which kept popping up messages imploring me to buy some other Norton's product, long after (forcibly) removing Ghost and all registry keys with 'Ghost' in them. I got tired of that exercise and used PCTools Registry Mechanic. Magic - found thousands of keys of programs I had long since un-installed (or so I thought). Not all Nortons, to be fair, but about 60% were.
RE-install Windows? Does this mean a clean hard drive or just a Windows re-instal?Either way - You gotta be kidding - It would take me weeks to get all my programs up and running again, wouldn't it?
Anyway ... after a good registry shake-up I find there is certainly a much faster start-up and shut down. So far, no problems whatsoever caused by using registry cleaners/optimisers.
Seems a lot of people like ccleaner - must evaluate it.
BTW Most good registry cleaners automatically create a system restore point - so if some important registry data goes missing simply do a system restore. Works for me.
I agree. It makes no sense to have to reinstall Windows every few months.
I have used Uniblue Registry Cleaner and Comodo Registry Cleaner with very good results. They both back up your registry before making any modifications, so you can always undo the changes if anything goes wrong, altough my computer's performance always improved when using these utilities.
In fact I find it impossible to use Windows for more than a few months without using a registry cleaner and a 3rd party disk defrag tool.
I have used Uniblue Registry Cleaner and Comodo Registry Cleaner with very good results. They both back up your registry before making any modifications, so you can always undo the changes if anything goes wrong, altough my computer's performance always improved when using these utilities.
In fact I find it impossible to use Windows for more than a few months without using a registry cleaner and a 3rd party disk defrag tool.
I have used both CCleaner and Comodo Registry Cleaner without any negative side effects on both XP and Vista machines.
Great statements here so a Thumbs up for CCleaner which I to have used several times
PC-ROCK 30yrs Computer Experince Wipe and reinstall is the best still but even then you need to take it all the way to the partion.
We can only hope that these views from so many will influnce these companys to keep up the good work to improve protection programing like CCleaner
I still won't recommend such tools to the average user they can be destuctive but for the tech savy it is great and so many more tools out there still to test and my days are slowing down so keep up the work Techs
PC-ROCK 30yrs Computer Experince Wipe and reinstall is the best still but even then you need to take it all the way to the partion.
We can only hope that these views from so many will influnce these companys to keep up the good work to improve protection programing like CCleaner
I still won't recommend such tools to the average user they can be destuctive but for the tech savy it is great and so many more tools out there still to test and my days are slowing down so keep up the work Techs
Perhaps it's because there is not a complete understanding of what the Windows Registry is, and how it works?
I use only regedit and regsvr32 if I come across a system with registry related issues. There seems to be a common misconception that the Windows registry is a text file that is read sequentially when information is required. This is not true. Think of it as a tree, or a database. When initiated, a program or OS component will access the appropriate record and that is all. A bunch of dead branches have no effect on system stability or performance, they simply will never be accessed.
In my opinion, registry "cleaners" are at best a waste of time, and at worst are harmful to the system.
Sure, we've all come across applications that leave behind junk in the registry when uninstalled, and this can cause issues when you install or execute a different version of the application. A registry "cleaner" may help, but I believe we're all better off if we do the registry work ourselves rather than rely on an unknown piece of software that calls itself a "cleaner".
I use only regedit and regsvr32 if I come across a system with registry related issues. There seems to be a common misconception that the Windows registry is a text file that is read sequentially when information is required. This is not true. Think of it as a tree, or a database. When initiated, a program or OS component will access the appropriate record and that is all. A bunch of dead branches have no effect on system stability or performance, they simply will never be accessed.
In my opinion, registry "cleaners" are at best a waste of time, and at worst are harmful to the system.
Sure, we've all come across applications that leave behind junk in the registry when uninstalled, and this can cause issues when you install or execute a different version of the application. A registry "cleaner" may help, but I believe we're all better off if we do the registry work ourselves rather than rely on an unknown piece of software that calls itself a "cleaner".
Wow! You must either be really good or think the rest of us very ignorant. We all use cleaners because even the programmers at Microsoft don't claim to know what the entire registry does. We're using the registry cleaners to clean programs that ARE using the registry to run themselves. Think viruses and such that are not simply in the run sections of the HKLM or HKCU sections.
When computers get infected you sometimes need a tool that will help clear the registry of its malody otherwise you will spend more time trying to clean it than to renuild it. Or are you one of those techs that says reformat every time there is a problem you don't understand.
When computers get infected you sometimes need a tool that will help clear the registry of its malody otherwise you will spend more time trying to clean it than to renuild it. Or are you one of those techs that says reformat every time there is a problem you don't understand.
"A bunch of dead branches have no effect on system stability or performance, they simply will never be accessed."
But what about the live branches that point to missing leaves? Those can be the ones that really kill system performance.
Windows will figure out something is missing and (usually) recover ... eventually. But timeouts waiting for response from a non-existent routine are frequently in seconds, not milli-, micro- or nano-seconds. Add a few hundred calls to the missing routine and the system slows to a crawl.
That's where cleaners really help. I don't bother with "optimize" - clean out the deadwood - but I always "check for errors" - internal consistency and broken link check - which is a LOT less tedious than hand-checking a registry of many megabytes.
But what about the live branches that point to missing leaves? Those can be the ones that really kill system performance.
Windows will figure out something is missing and (usually) recover ... eventually. But timeouts waiting for response from a non-existent routine are frequently in seconds, not milli-, micro- or nano-seconds. Add a few hundred calls to the missing routine and the system slows to a crawl.
That's where cleaners really help. I don't bother with "optimize" - clean out the deadwood - but I always "check for errors" - internal consistency and broken link check - which is a LOT less tedious than hand-checking a registry of many megabytes.
Ccleaner. I and friends find this program very simple and easy to use, it appears to be safe and does not dig too deeply.
Registry First Aid. I have used this product for many years with great success. It is best used by those with some technical understanding in that following a scan all entries that about to be changed are displayed in detail categories, with three ratings; safe(green), some care(yellow) considered care (red). If a file reference has moved then the new reference is displayed for the user to verify if it is correct or should be ignored. One great feature is that a full registry backup is made before a scan and additionally a registry correction file is saved before a particular set of fixes is made.
Other helpful tools are part of the package. Such as Registry Defrag and Startup Management and Installed Programme Management.
RegCure. This has a lot of rave revues and appears ideal for the non technical. However this means that you have to trust the software because there is no detail information of each proposed registry entry fix. I have only tested the evaluation version and noted no registry backup before a scan and no backup before executing a fix. This concerns me. Maybe the full version does this better.
Registry First Aid. I have used this product for many years with great success. It is best used by those with some technical understanding in that following a scan all entries that about to be changed are displayed in detail categories, with three ratings; safe(green), some care(yellow) considered care (red). If a file reference has moved then the new reference is displayed for the user to verify if it is correct or should be ignored. One great feature is that a full registry backup is made before a scan and additionally a registry correction file is saved before a particular set of fixes is made.
Other helpful tools are part of the package. Such as Registry Defrag and Startup Management and Installed Programme Management.
RegCure. This has a lot of rave revues and appears ideal for the non technical. However this means that you have to trust the software because there is no detail information of each proposed registry entry fix. I have only tested the evaluation version and noted no registry backup before a scan and no backup before executing a fix. This concerns me. Maybe the full version does this better.
I am very new to the computer world so take what I say with that in mind. I bought this one, my first, last Jan.1 `08 and about 2 or 3 months into owning it i was starting to have slight problems. So i bought RegCure for a decent price(Ithought) of $25 or so and it seemed like it was doign what it was supposed to. Thena short time after that with my problems becoming more frequent I experienced the BSOD which I had read about prior so I knew what it was but still a little skeered. Anyway it worked for the most part for another few months and in the meantime i had read where it was a good idea to have more than 1 registry cleaner because they would find different problems...so I did, I got UniBlue which was for the most part similar to RegCure but it always found a few more problems, I ran it second every time. Eventually, after another BSOD things got to the point where I had to go ahead and do a clean install back in Dec. but since I only had a years worth it was only about a full days worth of re-installing, especially all of the security updates from MS, about 86 or something, several hours worth, seemed like anyway 
Now I have been running with no problems, no registry cleaners, and a little less downloading a lot of stuff and then uninstalling it like I did in the beginning. I'm not sure if the registry cleaners helped or hurt because I had an existing problem before the first one but I thought that's what they were for. I think I'm more for having everything backed up and doing a clean install because I love how mine ran and still runs 5 months into it. Thanks to all who reply, folks like me get a lot out of it.
Now I have been running with no problems, no registry cleaners, and a little less downloading a lot of stuff and then uninstalling it like I did in the beginning. I'm not sure if the registry cleaners helped or hurt because I had an existing problem before the first one but I thought that's what they were for. I think I'm more for having everything backed up and doing a clean install because I love how mine ran and still runs 5 months into it. Thanks to all who reply, folks like me get a lot out of it. 
I have used ccleaner but found it sometimes deletes keys that I need. I have used the old jv16 power tools which seems to give a good result. It gives a choice of which to delete, you can choose 'safe' or be more adventurous (or foolhardy!)I have also used Easycleaner with good results
I beg to differ... The check marks on the left side...(un-check them).
That said, and I hope CCleaner folk see this, I'd like that a second column of check marks would exist. They could call it "persist" or "ignor"
Somehow, two or three scans are usually required, and at the end, a satisfying "ah, there's no problems left" is mant users' desired result. This, is a gotcha. Some items (eg: unused file types) should not be deleted...
That said, and I hope CCleaner folk see this, I'd like that a second column of check marks would exist. They could call it "persist" or "ignor"
Somehow, two or three scans are usually required, and at the end, a satisfying "ah, there's no problems left" is mant users' desired result. This, is a gotcha. Some items (eg: unused file types) should not be deleted...
My experience has shown CCleaner works great for the standard user image and cleaning out junk entries but has an adverse effect on developer machines, possibly in the way the cleaner sees some entries created by special apps needed. So for standard users I give it a thumbs up but for developer machines beware it might cause more harm than good.
I have been using Registry First Aid for a few years. Evidently, it had run its course and was not able to keep up with the Joneses with regard to helping to speed up operations. (Of course, I resisted buying the various upgrades that they want to sell you each year for almost thirty bucks [after the 40% discount for having an older version]). My son demonstrated CCleaner a few months ago and I am really impressed. The speed that it scans the registry and the reporting of the errors along with their fixes is impressive. The price is definitely right.
I've yet to see another like tool that gives one as much control as does RFA.
I don't trust registry cleaners, having had the sort of unreliability mentioned. I don't mind editing the registry - either from UBCD Win, or from within XP - and I don't even mind restoring an image, but allowing software that has to use heuristics to determine whether a registry entry is duff? I don't think so.
In a sense it is a pity that we have to have such an overwhelmingly heavy and complex entity, and I remember Win 4 WG with the sort of fondness that probably marks me out as an old git. Ini files are so easy to edit. A 500 Mb tape drive was all I needed to back up and restore. I felt in charge. This is far from the case, especially WRT Vista; I finally caved in and bought a Vista notebook. What a mess. Microsoft have travelled a long way since LIMS, and not all of their progress has been of the forward kind. (Nor the net either, because the Lotus Intel Microsoft agreement [LIMS] didn't turn up in my (admittedly google free, post behavioural profiling) searches, which is pretty sad.
In a sense it is a pity that we have to have such an overwhelmingly heavy and complex entity, and I remember Win 4 WG with the sort of fondness that probably marks me out as an old git. Ini files are so easy to edit. A 500 Mb tape drive was all I needed to back up and restore. I felt in charge. This is far from the case, especially WRT Vista; I finally caved in and bought a Vista notebook. What a mess. Microsoft have travelled a long way since LIMS, and not all of their progress has been of the forward kind. (Nor the net either, because the Lotus Intel Microsoft agreement [LIMS] didn't turn up in my (admittedly google free, post behavioural profiling) searches, which is pretty sad.
I am a member of several computer help forums, and a moderator on one. I have never read a post from anyone who said that running a Registry cleaner corrected any problem (at all). I have read many(many) posts that began "This all started after I used XYZ Cleaner (insert your choice- all are mentioned one time or another).
There is simply no empirical evidence that using a Registy cleaner in XP or Vista provides any benefit to the user
XP does not 'stumble' over "invalid" Registry entries, it skips right past them. While some Windows versions of the past did benefit from cleaning the Registry, XP (and Vista) do not.
Mark Russinovich, founder of Winternals (now Sysinternals), author of many terrific Windows informational programs like the famous Process Explorer, and now a senior member of the Microsoft staff shares this view. Read his response to Bill Castner's question about Registry Cleaners:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-xp/61015-xp-fixes-myth-1-registry-cleaners.html
Mark Russinovich knows Windows (and especially XP) better than almost anyone else. I take him at his word.
Ed Bott has been a tech writer, blogger and Windows enthusiast for over 20 years. He has interviewed and investigated all things Microsoft and reported them accurately and clearly to the public. His is a voice that the industry respects and listens to. I hope you will listen as well: http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=643
And finally, why should Tech Republic even raise the question now, when they have already conclusively weighed in against Registry Cleaners in this article by Mike Mullins in 2007: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=370&tag=nl.e138
It doesn't get any clearer- Registry cleaners are "snake oil." Don't use them. They provide no discernable benefit to the user and offer potential to do great damage to your Windows installation.
Just say "NO!" to Registry cleaners.
1101doc
http://www.5starsupport.com/ipboard
There is simply no empirical evidence that using a Registy cleaner in XP or Vista provides any benefit to the user
XP does not 'stumble' over "invalid" Registry entries, it skips right past them. While some Windows versions of the past did benefit from cleaning the Registry, XP (and Vista) do not.
Mark Russinovich, founder of Winternals (now Sysinternals), author of many terrific Windows informational programs like the famous Process Explorer, and now a senior member of the Microsoft staff shares this view. Read his response to Bill Castner's question about Registry Cleaners:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-xp/61015-xp-fixes-myth-1-registry-cleaners.html
Mark Russinovich knows Windows (and especially XP) better than almost anyone else. I take him at his word.
Ed Bott has been a tech writer, blogger and Windows enthusiast for over 20 years. He has interviewed and investigated all things Microsoft and reported them accurately and clearly to the public. His is a voice that the industry respects and listens to. I hope you will listen as well: http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=643
And finally, why should Tech Republic even raise the question now, when they have already conclusively weighed in against Registry Cleaners in this article by Mike Mullins in 2007: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=370&tag=nl.e138
It doesn't get any clearer- Registry cleaners are "snake oil." Don't use them. They provide no discernable benefit to the user and offer potential to do great damage to your Windows installation.
Just say "NO!" to Registry cleaners.
1101doc
http://www.5starsupport.com/ipboard
"I have never read a post from anyone who said that running a Registry cleaner corrected any problem (at all)."
When the problem is fixed, people don't call or post on support. And it's obvious you haven't even read all of the posts on THIS thread.
"XP does not 'stumble' over "invalid" Registry entries, it skips right past them."
That's why the system took 25 minutes to boot before [registry cleaner] and 5 minutes to boot after.
Registry Cleaners are not the "magic pill" or "silver bullet", but sometimes they do help. There are good ones and bad ones, helpful ones and destructive ones, free ones and expensive ones, and price paid does not correlate to quality received.
And when the "magic pill" (registry cleaner) makes you "feel better" (system runs better), it's a good idea to check with a professional to be sure that it's not just masking the symptoms of a serious internal problem.
Just like the real world.
Doctors pooh-poohed aspirin for many years as "snake oil." They're not doing that any more. Like most things, aspirin has its place - just like registry cleaners. Neither is the cure-all, despite advertising hype, but that doesn't mean either one "provide no discernable (sic) benefit to the user."
When the problem is fixed, people don't call or post on support. And it's obvious you haven't even read all of the posts on THIS thread.
"XP does not 'stumble' over "invalid" Registry entries, it skips right past them."
That's why the system took 25 minutes to boot before [registry cleaner] and 5 minutes to boot after.
Registry Cleaners are not the "magic pill" or "silver bullet", but sometimes they do help. There are good ones and bad ones, helpful ones and destructive ones, free ones and expensive ones, and price paid does not correlate to quality received.
And when the "magic pill" (registry cleaner) makes you "feel better" (system runs better), it's a good idea to check with a professional to be sure that it's not just masking the symptoms of a serious internal problem.
Just like the real world.
Doctors pooh-poohed aspirin for many years as "snake oil." They're not doing that any more. Like most things, aspirin has its place - just like registry cleaners. Neither is the cure-all, despite advertising hype, but that doesn't mean either one "provide
Your mention of various "names" is indeed no more than argumentum ad verecundiam (argument from authority, argument by authority, or appeal to authority.)
And, to say that there is "simply no empirical evidence that using a Registy cleaner in XP or Vista provides any benefit to the user" is not merely specious, but another fallacy, that of argumentum ad ignorantiam (argument from ignorance;) i.e., it is the fallacy of holding the absence of proof to be proof of absence.
The experiences of myself and others stand as the presence of the proof that you deny.
And, to say that there is "simply no empirical evidence that using a Registy cleaner in XP or Vista provides any benefit to the user" is not merely specious, but another fallacy, that of argumentum ad ignorantiam (argument from ignorance;) i.e., it is the fallacy of holding the absence of proof to be proof of absence.
The experiences of myself and others stand as the presence of the proof that you deny.
Reg Cleaners are good, but as most are saying, you've got to be careful. I used them mostly as a TEMPORARY fix to get the op sys sane enough to save a user's files and such before I do a rebuild. Nothing will ever be as good as reloading the op sys and all software to make a pc run great. I've spent hours and hours tweeking and fixing when I could have just reloaded everything.
Not only does it allow you to review each and every proposed change, it also provides a selection of all suitable alternates choices, and allows you to specify the type of change, if you so allow, to be made.
Additionally, it provides for your marking which individual Hive entries are to be excluded from its checks, which directories/sub-directories are to be included in searches for errors as well as for possible corrections, batch searches and/or changes for specific character strings, searches of NTFS Alternate Data Streams, Hive defragmentation, and more.
I've yet to find such a tool that provides the use with as great a level of control as does this one.
A free trial version, limited in the number of changes that can be effected at a time, can be had at http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid ; the download itself is at http://www.rosecitydownloads.com/rfasetup.exe .
Other Rose City downloads can be had at http://www.rosecitydownloads.com .
Additionally, it provides for your marking which individual Hive entries are to be excluded from its checks, which directories/sub-directories are to be included in searches for errors as well as for possible corrections, batch searches and/or changes for specific character strings, searches of NTFS Alternate Data Streams, Hive defragmentation, and more.
I've yet to find such a tool that provides the use with as great a level of control as does this one.
A free trial version, limited in the number of changes that can be effected at a time, can be had at http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid ; the download itself is at http://www.rosecitydownloads.com/rfasetup.exe .
Other Rose City downloads can be had at http://www.rosecitydownloads.com .
I have run Registry Mechanic routinely every couple of weeks for years on both my and my parents' computer without problems. Hard to know whether it actually helps without a control to compare it--but our computer has run beautifully for 5 years and I have just convinced my folks to get a new machine after 10. At any rate, in my experience it hasn't hurt.
I personally use CCleaner to clean the various "crapware", but I use Glarysoft Registry Repair to perform work on registry entries. It performs backups, restores previous repairs and allows the user to select which particular areas of the registry to check.
I will admit it is far from perfect, and I have had a couple of times (just a couple) where the fix caused more issues. But I was able to restore those, and I have used the product successfully hundreds of times. In instances where a client would rather just see if I can get a machine working again quickly rather than paying for a clean installation and restoration of data and applications (home users particularly), this product has worked miracles.
I will admit it is far from perfect, and I have had a couple of times (just a couple) where the fix caused more issues. But I was able to restore those, and I have used the product successfully hundreds of times. In instances where a client would rather just see if I can get a machine working again quickly rather than paying for a clean installation and restoration of data and applications (home users particularly), this product has worked miracles.
After my experience with the open source Little Registry Cleaner, I wouldn't touch it ever again - at least not on Vista x64. Since I ran the piece of crap, I had to repair Office 2003 and I seem to have to repair WinDVD prior to using it every time. The registry restore didn't help either.
XP and prior may be known enough for other cleaner's to do ok but Vista is too knew and reports of registry cleaners breaking it are not rare. Even with CCleaner, I'd only run the registry component when needed and keep the .reg restore files. Temp files and such you can clean at each boot but reg cleaning isn't something to do weekly.
I used some Registry cleaners such as Registry First Aid, but evey time I used it the PC becomes worse and slower than before so I unistalled it and stopped using it!
I guess it's now better!
I guess it's now better!
I use registry cleaners after uninstalling or updating programs to remove all the junk left behind. Never had any problems from the use of them. The first time I used one my PC was speeded up.
I use Glary freeware now.
I use Glary freeware now.
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