Registry Cleaner

[Greg]

Is there a need for a registry cleaner in Vista? If I have over a period of
time, added and removed programs? Does the registry become cluttered with
leftover entries? Does this slow down performance over a period of time?

 

[Guest]

windows advanced care professional 2 is a great piece of freeware get it at

http://www.iobit.com/

Advanced WindowsCare Personal 100% Freebie
It does a clean registry sweep as well as spy and adware and temp files. It
made my system run loads faster the disable startup programs options is great
as well. hope it helps .

 

[Hertz_Donut]

windows advanced care professional 2 is a great piece of freeware get it
at

No, it is a worthless piece of garbage. It does absolutely nothing that the
average user can't do for themselves.

Don't waste any time or money on it...

Honu

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Greg,

There's been no use for generic registry cleaners since XP was released. The
registry bloat and issues associated with "dead" entries simply do not occur
with this kernel as they did with earlier ones (although advertisers would
have you believe otherwise). There is a use for program-specific ones, like
those that remove interfering bits of incompatible software, spyware,
viruses, etc. Generic ones often misidentify bits and delete them which can
lead to unwanted issues.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Rock]

Is there a need for a registry cleaner in Vista? If I have over a period
of time, added and removed programs? Does the registry become cluttered
with leftover entries? Does this slow down performance over a period of
time?

No, automated registry cleaners are not needed in either XP or Vista. They
are mostly snake oil products. Unused/orphaned entries in the registry do
not, as a rule, create problems. If there is an issue related to the
registry the best way to resolve it is to manually edit/remove the problem
entry.

The only way to use a registry cleaner is to let it scan but not fix the
"problems" it finds. Then research a particular "problem" to see if a
change is needed, then make those individual changes.

Bottom line, don't bother with them. they cause more problems then they
resolve.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

A safe registry cleaner does not clean thoroughly, and a stringent registry
cleaner can stop programs and the OS in their own tracks.. your call..

Is there a need for a registry cleaner in Vista? If I have over a period
of time, added and removed programs? Does the registry become cluttered
with leftover entries? Does this slow down performance over a period of
time?

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[John Barnett MVP]

If you are not able to edit the registry manually, then don't bother with
third party registry cleaners. By manually editing the registry you know
'exactly' what you are removing. in most cases third party registry cleaners
create so many false positives and don't always delete the entries you want
anyway.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Richard]

Microsoft does have a registry cleaner. You can run it on line by going to
live.onecare and then go to the on live scan utility. It is still in beta
for Vista, but it works.

Richard

 

[Greg]

Thanks Rick.

Hi Greg,

There's been no use for generic registry cleaners since XP was released.
The registry bloat and issues associated with "dead" entries simply do not
occur with this kernel as they did with earlier ones (although advertisers
would have you believe otherwise). There is a use for program-specific
ones, like those that remove interfering bits of incompatible software,
spyware, viruses, etc. Generic ones often misidentify bits and delete them
which can lead to unwanted issues.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Greg]

Thanks everyone for the information. I tried to do a search for a if
registry cleaners were necessary. But all I got were ads for the registry
cleaners themselves. That should have told me right off.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is there a need for a registry cleaner in Vista?

No!


If I have over a period of
time, added and removed programs? Does the registry become cluttered with
leftover entries?

Yes, but...

Does this slow down performance over a period of time?

....no it doesn't.

I strongly recommend *against* the routine use of registry cleaners.
Routine cleaning of the registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave
the registry alone and don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what
many people think, and what vendors of registry cleaning software try
to convince you of, having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt
you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Yes, but...




...no it doesn't.

I strongly recommend *against* the routine use of registry cleaners.
Routine cleaning of the registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave
the registry alone and don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what
many people think, and what vendors of registry cleaning software try
to convince you of, having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt
you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.

Can I just pop in here and confirm something please from those who know
much more than me? I have Vista Home Premium clean installed on my
desktop. Used to run XP Pro on the same machine. I would regularly use a
freeby called Regscrubber on XP, and it almost always threw up a list of
errors, dead entries etc, which it would deal with smartly. In all the
years I used it I never had a single reg problem. (well, not that I knew
of anyway <smile>) I never saw any improvement in performance after
using it either, but it "felt good" if you know what I mean.

Then I upgraded to Vista Home prem and was unsure about Regscrubber. I
gor a utility called Registry Mechanic (on a freeby offer) and have been
using it about once a week. I've had lots of programs on and off the
machine, finding out which are usable with Vista and which are not. Reg
Mech always comes up with a list of things to clean up, and I let it do
that. So far I have had no issues, but I am concerned at reading the
previous posts in this thread. Maybe Vista's own built in
"idiot-proofing" is protecting it from this "idiot". Appreciate any
comments.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

[snip]


Can I just pop in here and confirm something please from those who know
much more than me? I have Vista Home Premium clean installed on my
desktop. Used to run XP Pro on the same machine. I would regularly use a
freeby called Regscrubber on XP, and it almost always threw up a list of
errors, dead entries etc, which it would deal with smartly. In all the
years I used it I never had a single reg problem. (well, not that I knew
of anyway <smile>) I never saw any improvement in performance after
using it either, but it "felt good" if you know what I mean.

Then I upgraded to Vista Home prem and was unsure about Regscrubber. I
gor a utility called Registry Mechanic (on a freeby offer) and have been
using it about once a week. I've had lots of programs on and off the
machine, finding out which are usable with Vista and which are not. Reg
Mech always comes up with a list of things to clean up, and I let it do
that. So far I have had no issues, but I am concerned at reading the
previous posts in this thread. Maybe Vista's own built in
"idiot-proofing" is protecting it from this "idiot". Appreciate any
comments.

It has nothing to do with Vista in particular. Registry cleaners are
just as dangerous in XP.

The issue isn't that every time you use a registry cleaner you will
have a problem. In fact in many cases, you can run one and nothing bad
will happen. Your experience attests to that.

Nevertheless,

1. *No* registry cleaner is completely safe.

2. There is *no* need to run a registry cleaner. Having unused
registry entries doesn't really hurt you. Again your experience
attests to that when you say "I never saw any improvement in
performance after using it either."

Taking those points together, to me it's simply foolhardy to use any
registry cleaner. You run a risk (large or small, assess it however
you want, but it's not zero) in return for *no* benefit. "Feeling
good" about the registry is not worth the risk.

 

[Cal Bear '66]

I totally agree -- registry cleaners are dangerous indeed. I will never use one
again.

In XP, I used one of the more popular and highly rated reg cleaners and let it
do a "basic" scan including a backup. After it completed, XP was totally and
absolutely unusable. The restore from backup did not work, and I had to
reformat and reinstall XP and all my applications.

NEVER AGAIN will I use a registry cleaner.

--
I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!

Is there a need for a registry cleaner in Vista?


No!

[snip]


Can I just pop in here and confirm something please from those who know
much more than me? I have Vista Home Premium clean installed on my
desktop. Used to run XP Pro on the same machine. I would regularly use a
freeby called Regscrubber on XP, and it almost always threw up a list of
errors, dead entries etc, which it would deal with smartly. In all the
years I used it I never had a single reg problem. (well, not that I knew
of anyway <smile>) I never saw any improvement in performance after
using it either, but it "felt good" if you know what I mean.

Then I upgraded to Vista Home prem and was unsure about Regscrubber. I
gor a utility called Registry Mechanic (on a freeby offer) and have been
using it about once a week. I've had lots of programs on and off the
machine, finding out which are usable with Vista and which are not. Reg
Mech always comes up with a list of things to clean up, and I let it do
that. So far I have had no issues, but I am concerned at reading the
previous posts in this thread. Maybe Vista's own built in
"idiot-proofing" is protecting it from this "idiot". Appreciate any
comments.

It has nothing to do with Vista in particular. Registry cleaners are
just as dangerous in XP.

The issue isn't that every time you use a registry cleaner you will
have a problem. In fact in many cases, you can run one and nothing bad
will happen. Your experience attests to that.

Nevertheless,

1. *No* registry cleaner is completely safe.

2. There is *no* need to run a registry cleaner. Having unused
registry entries doesn't really hurt you. Again your experience
attests to that when you say "I never saw any improvement in
performance after using it either."

Taking those points together, to me it's simply foolhardy to use any
registry cleaner. You run a risk (large or small, assess it however
you want, but it's not zero) in return for *no* benefit. "Feeling
good" about the registry is not worth the risk.

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

I totally agree -- registry cleaners are dangerous indeed. I will never use one
again.

In XP, I used one of the more popular and highly rated reg cleaners and let it
do a "basic" scan including a backup. After it completed, XP was totally and
absolutely unusable. The restore from backup did not work, and I had to
reformat and reinstall XP and all my applications.

NEVER AGAIN will I use a registry cleaner.

Thank you both for helping me to clarify my thinking on this matter. I
remember the days of W95 and Microsoft's Regclean that we nervously
poked this mysterious new "thing" called the registry with. But you are
right. RM is herewith uninstalled (at least it was a freebie - grin).

BTW, a little off topic, but Cal, your sig mentions blue & gold. Just
curious 'cause away down here in Otago in the deep south of New Zealand,
our Otago rugby team's colours are blue and gold. (and they ain't doin'
so well at the mo' either). Where are your colours from - if you don't
mind me asking?

 

[Cal Bear '66]

New Zealand -- wow, what a spectacularly beautiful country -- some of the best
scenery in the whole world.

Blue and Gold are the colours of the California Golden Bears of the University
of California, Berkeley. Yes, THAT Berkeley.

I'm not much into sports -- would rather count the number of Nobel laureates on
the faculty -- but Cal has NCAA champion water polo teams and last year we went
to one of the bowl games (can't recall which however).

 

[Rock]

Microsoft does have a registry cleaner. You can run it on line by going to
live.onecare and then go to the on live scan utility. It is still in beta
for Vista, but it works.

It was added as a marketing ploy, in my opinion, and they took alot of flak
in Beta on their decision to include a registry cleaner. Why did they take
flak? Because as many have posted in these threads it is not a wise thing
to do.

 

[Rock]

Thanks everyone for the information. I tried to do a search for a if
registry cleaners were necessary. But all I got were ads for the registry
cleaners themselves. That should have told me right off.

Exactly.

<snip>

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Is there a need for a registry cleaner in Vista?

Absolutely not! (Just as there was no "need" for such snake oil
products with earlier versions of Windows.)

If I have over a period
of time, added and removed programs? Does the registry become cluttered
with leftover entries?

If the uninstallers for the removed programs didn't clean up properly,
there will be some orphaned registry entries. Just what constitutes
"clutter" is entirely subjective, though.

Does this slow down performance over a period of
time?

Not that anyone has ever been able to prove, no.

Why do you think you'd ever need to clean your registry? What specific
*problems* are you actually experiencing (not some program's bogus
listing of imaginary problems) that you think can be fixed by using a
registry cleaner?

If you do have a problem that is rooted in the registry, it would
be far better to simply edit (after backing up, of course) only the
specific key(s) and/or value(s) that are causing the problem. After
all, why use a chainsaw when a scalpel will do the job? Additionally,
the manually changing of one or two registry entries is far less likely
to have the dire consequences of allowing an automated product to make
multiple changes simultaneously. The only thing needed to safely clean
your registry is knowledge and Regedit.exe.

The registry contains all of the operating system's "knowledge" of
the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the location of the
device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A misstep in the
registry can have severe consequences. One should not even turning
loose a poorly understood automated "cleaner," unless he is fully
confident that he knows *exactly* what is going to happen as a result of
each and every change.

Having repeatedly seen the results of inexperienced people using
automated registry "cleaners," I can only advise all but the most
experienced computer technicians (and/or hobbyists) to avoid them all.
Experience has shown me that such tools simply are not safe in the hands
of the inexperienced user. If you lack the knowledge and experience to
maintain your registry by yourself, then you also lack the knowledge and
experience to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner,
no matter how safe they claim to be.

More importantly, no one has ever demonstrated, to my satisfaction,
that the use of an automated registry cleaner, particularly by an
untrained, inexperienced computer user, does any real good. There's
certainly been no empirical evidence offered to demonstrate that the use
of such products to "clean" WinXP's registry improves a computer's
performance or stability. Given the potential for harm, it's just not
worth the risk.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Absolutely not! (Just as there was no "need" for such snake oil
products with earlier versions of Windows.)



If the uninstallers for the removed programs didn't clean up
properly, there will be some orphaned registry entries. Just what
constitutes "clutter" is entirely subjective, though.




Not that anyone has ever been able to prove, no.

Why do you think you'd ever need to clean your registry? What
specific *problems* are you actually experiencing (not some program's
bogus listing of imaginary problems) that you think can be fixed by
using a registry cleaner?

If you do have a problem that is rooted in the registry, it would be
far better to simply edit (after backing up, of course) only the
specific key(s) and/or value(s) that are causing the problem. After
all, why use a chainsaw when a scalpel will do the job? Additionally,
the manually changing of one or two registry entries is far less likely
to have the dire consequences of allowing an automated product to make
multiple changes simultaneously. The only thing needed to safely clean
your registry is knowledge and Regedit.exe.

The registry contains all of the operating system's "knowledge" of
the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the location of the
device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A misstep in the
registry can have severe consequences. One should not even turning
loose a poorly understood automated "cleaner," unless he is fully
confident that he knows *exactly* what is going to happen as a result of
each and every change.

Having repeatedly seen the results of inexperienced people using
automated registry "cleaners," I can only advise all but the most
experienced computer technicians (and/or hobbyists) to avoid them all.
Experience has shown me that such tools simply are not safe in the hands
of the inexperienced user. If you lack the knowledge and experience to
maintain your registry by yourself, then you also lack the knowledge and
experience to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner,
no matter how safe they claim to be.

More importantly, no one has ever demonstrated, to my satisfaction,
that the use of an automated registry cleaner, particularly by an
untrained, inexperienced computer user, does any real good. There's
certainly been no empirical evidence offered to demonstrate that the use
of such products to "clean" WinXP's registry improves a computer's
performance or stability. Given the potential for harm, it's just not
worth the risk.

Yay! Well that definitive statement ties it all up pretty well. And they
were so much fun to use. Sigh! Seriously though Bruce and others, thanks
for this discussion. This thread has clarified the issue for me well.