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Registry Cleaner Software

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I know many of you out there feel that registry cleaners will help speed up your computer. The truth of the matter is that they will NOT. In fact… using one can end up rendering your system useless if you don’t use it properly. I don’t recommend using them… EVER.

Programs like CCleaner are very powerful. If you run one on a brand-new computer, with a completely clean Windows install… they will still show “bad” registry entries, and try to remove them. To a non power-user who doesn’t know everything that should be in the registry… that can spell disaster. Remove the wrong key(s), and you could quickly kill your entire computer.

IF you feel you have to clean your registry, make a backup. ALWAYS take the time to export the registry, and back that sucker up. Also… why not educate yourself on the registry? Learn what is there, and why. Then, remove any bad keys manually. You’ll be much safer in the long run.

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39 Comments

I completely agree. And I feel that the wiping the hard drive clean and re-installing windows is the only thing that works for me. I personally took the time to do a clean install and slipstream all my required applications, so I can just essentially go back to day one very quickly.

I myself use a combination of CCleaner, TuneUp Utilities, and Super Utilites. Not all free, but fantastic peices of software. Its a shame that it has to be done, to be honest. Long live OSX.

I’m using CCleaner and I have no problems, but I’m going to use it with caution now. Great video.

I would agree that using registry cleaners is generally not a good idea. However, I find that sometimes they have helped me, especially when apps are broken.

I used Advance System Optimizer I have never had a problem yet. I’ve used it for 2 years now its a real good program.

Well I am using a registry cleaner and I am loving it.For me It does a great job.

Bottom Line - My best Registry Cleaner is “Fdisk and Reinstall Windows”. I install all my programs in D: partition, and have a file folder with all my drivers, and utilities and the XP User files. Reinstalling Windows turns into a 2-4 hour process (still a pain, but not as bad). Most programs I use can be launched without any registry entries. These regcleaners are sketchy, at best. Unless you don’t mind reinstalling your OS, try not to use them, the benefit isn’t worth the expense.

I have been using CCcleaner for few years but never faced any issues. what you say is correct but all users can’t do manual cleanup.

One of your phone mates say to reinstall your o/s every six months or so, and I wonder if you’d elaborate on this point? Is your o/s by itself on a drive, or do you use the ‘repair’ function of your install disk, or what?

Thanks for giving me this info about registry cleaners because I’ve using CCleaner for about a year so i guess i will uninstall that & leave my registry alone

Thanks again

P.S congrats on the CNN.com Tech segment maybe if this goes well they will put you
on T.V

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I too have had nothing but good results with it and was alarmed to hear condemnation of it.

Next thing on my list is a good Registry Delete applet.

I think they mean full reinstall. I use a separate partition for the OS, and swap file. I make the OS partition small, about 8-10 GB, and use it only for the OS, no programs. As many of the dynamic directories (User files, destop, documents, temp, internet files, etc.) as I can move, get placed on a different partition, so the OS never outgrows it’s partition. The swap file partition I make about 2GB, and fix it’s size to 2GB.

“…windows will never be the same…You may have to reinstall windows to make it go faster anyway”

Heh…that was a good one ^^

aww **** !!! sjity crapy windows shiping on my registry :P

cant spell corretli bicause of it :(

I have to disagree with part of that. I use **** Cleaner and i go into services.msc and turn off some services. This is no lie as i notice a nice difference with performance on my PC and i have had the same hardware for over 2 years now. It helps, at least for me it does.

Your video made me rant about the time old issue with f*cking windows to mess itself up over time without any feasible way for the user to prevent it from happening. The best you can do is delaying the inevitable.

Re-Install of the whole system every 3-6 months is NOT an option. I don’t know how much stuff you have on the computer, but I have a LOT of programs, tools, enterprise applications etc. on my computer(s). A re-install takes me days, just the install (and the numerous re-boots and necessary upgrades and patch downloads).

Registry (System) Cleaners and checkers help to a limited extend, but they are not without risk as you guys pointed out correctly.

So what you gonna do, eh?

For more details and more questions see my blog post at
http://www.roysac.com/blog/2008/03/registry-cleaner-and-general-system.html

Answers are highly appreciated, because I have not found any practical ones yet.

I hear over and over again that geeks and experts strongly recommend NOT using any registry cleaner software to clean up and fix your Windows XP registry database. Chris Pirillo from Live.Pirillo.com posteda video and blog entry

Nice Movie Guys - hes a legend! hgrant.net

Hey Chris what’s up!!
Could you tell me if “regcure” is good ?
thank you buddy

Hey Chris, I wish you have this video out a bit sooner, I used one of those lousy reg cleaner and now every time I start Windows, an error message pop up saying that “java virtual machine launcher” in fucked up…. can you tell me how to fix it?

lol u can’t spell (because)
so don’t be talking

I use CCleaner. I have never had a problem with it.

i like to mess with my registry b/c i think its fun :|… and thats just me… i like messing with my system… and ccleaner dont do much… i found a program called regvac which has a novice mode for those that dont know what they r doing… and it has expert mode… which is sad to see that its not out there as much as i like it to see.. and it does make ur pc smoother… and guess what i have a video… on it to

i also use ccleaner.. it clean out temp folder etc.. also got registry cleaner. its safe to use n i never got problem.. been using it for almost a year now.

Free is good. I just wondering why is free.

I can’t agree with you on this one. i have been repairing computers for 20 years and every one of the computers i have built for customers have registry mechanic and magic dragon( a program i wrote.) these both repair common problems with the registry. i have NEVER had a computer damaged by either of these programs. and i have seen hundreds of systems that were brought to a hault do to registry problem that has been repaired by both of these programs

yeah same here. this clip got me scared tho

ok i might be wrong but registry leaves your ie or ff history??

Uniblue is the best:)

REGISTRY BOOSTER 2 IS TOTALLY PROPER,nothing negative in it.i use it every single day and nothing gets screwed up.Btw:its made by Uniblue and they have a lot of other great tools that keep your system healthy.

ye registry cleaner ended up being a viral one

Right, yeah I agree with this dude.Registry cleaners will NOT speed up for windows operatin system. But They do help to make your windows more stable. Microsoft Regclean is very good formanually cleaning out orphaned keys. ALso I use Xp Registry cleaner for tackling the HKEY orphaned keys and tuneup utilities 2006/2007 has a very safe registry cleaner. It’s safe if you choose safe products okay.

jonxp18

I have to politely disagree with you.
I used CCleaner, and it got the job done. My computer seems faster, though I never did a benchmark test.
A while later I used a professional registry cleaner and my computer speed just improved tremendously.

What is Parallels? If you’re using a Mac and need to run Windows, you’ll likely use Parallels. As a friend of Chris’, you can save yourself some money. What is registry? Here’s the best Registry Cleaner advice EVER:Don’t use a Registry Cleaner EVER. What is security? As a Microsoft MVP for Windows Security, Kat has many excellent recommendations to keep you safe. Related Articles:

[...] What is registry? Here’s the best Registry Cleaner advice EVER: Don’t use a Registry Cleaner EVER. [...]

In my opinion the positive effect of registry cleaning software is overestimated. Often PC users consider this or that problem caused by registry errors, why in reality the roots lie in malicious programs (spyware, etc) lingering in the system. In such cases cleaning up the Windows registry with enough probability will not help as much as expected. For novice users this may be a reason to complain about installed registry cleaner under a wrong presumption that it didn’t help. Registry errors sure may add up to system problems, but they rarely can be blamed alone.

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