CCleaner and the Registry

[W. eWatson]

I tried using CCleaner for the first time to see if I could shake the
difficulty or correcting the bad update of Adobe Acrobat 8 (see other recent
posts regarding this.)

It was recommended by a post made to the Adobe Forum back in July. I tried
it to clear all registry problems, and it produced a list of about 30-50
items. None seem related to Acrobat, but I plunged ahead. It singled out
one, despite my request to fix them all. That didn't fix the problem.

My question is what in the world are all those other registry problems? For
example, Unused File Extension (.cmp,.ka,.wfx, Office,actor),
Access.Extension.8, ActiveX/Com Issue, ... Perhaps I should clean them out too?
--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[R. McCarty]

The Registry is a highly complex/intertwined database or reference.
I doubt if there is anyone outside of Microsoft who can readily know
and understand all the subtle interactions of keys & values.

I've never found a single program that can analyze/recommend and
"Safely" remove these "Bad" keys/values. ( Beyond MRU & Temp
data ).

The problem with Registry cleaning is what you remove may not
immediately show up as problems but somewhere in the future as a
Key/Value is referenced you'll see the impact of cleaning.

As to Adobe issues, a Registry Cleaning is not going to fix a problem
with a install. People who globally recommend that do not understand
how to fix a computer correctly.

 

[Thip]

I tried using CCleaner for the first time to see if I could shake the
difficulty or correcting the bad update of Adobe Acrobat 8 (see other
recent posts regarding this.)

It was recommended by a post made to the Adobe Forum back in July. I tried
it to clear all registry problems, and it produced a list of about 30-50
items. None seem related to Acrobat, but I plunged ahead. It singled out
one, despite my request to fix them all. That didn't fix the problem.

My question is what in the world are all those other registry problems?
For example, Unused File Extension (.cmp,.ka,.wfx, Office,actor),
Access.Extension.8, ActiveX/Com Issue, ... Perhaps I should clean them out
too?

If you're going to insist on cleaning the registry, I highly recommend
RegSeeker (freeware). You can view all the items before deletion, and it
makes backups first. I've used it for several years with no problems at
all.

 

[FredW]

If you're going to insist on cleaning the registry, I highly recommend
RegSeeker (freeware). You can view all the items before deletion, and it
makes backups first. I've used it for several years with no problems at
all.

- AUMHA Discussion: Should I Use a Registry Cleaner?
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099
- Why I don’t use registry cleaners
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

 

[Thip]

- AUMHA Discussion: Should I Use a Registry Cleaner?
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099
- Why I don't use registry cleaners
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

Operative word was "insist," Fred. I'm the only user on this machine and I
prefer to clear out redundant entries.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Bad idea. DO NOT touch the registry with any Reg cleaning tools. It can create
problems to the extent of not booting or a need to reformat. Those left over entries
in your registry does no harm and does not take up space. Leave your registry alone.
This is from experience on fixing customers computers.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I tried using CCleaner for the first time to see if I could shake the
difficulty or correcting the bad update of Adobe Acrobat 8 (see other
recent posts regarding this.)

It was recommended by a post made to the Adobe Forum back in July. I
tried it to clear all registry problems, and it produced a list of about
30-50 items. None seem related to Acrobat, but I plunged ahead. It
singled out one, despite my request to fix them all. That didn't fix the
problem.

My question is what in the world are all those other registry problems?

They're nothing but "false alarms." I've tested a recent version (with
all updates) version on a brand-new OS installation with no additional
applications installed, and certainly none installed and then
uninstalled, and CCleaner still managed to "find" over a hundred
allegedly orphaned registry entries and dozens of purportedly
"suspicious" files, making it clearly a *worthless* product, in this
regard. (Not that any registry cleaner can ever be anything but
worthless, as they don't serve any *useful* purpose, to start with.)

As a registry "cleaner," it's not significantly better or worse
than any other snake oil product of the same type.

For example, Unused File Extension (.cmp,.ka,.wfx, Office,actor),
Access.Extension.8, ActiveX/Com Issue, ... Perhaps I should clean them
out too?

No, of course not.

CCleaner's only real strength, and the only reason I use it, lies in
its usefulness for cleaning up unused temporary files from the hard
drive. It differs from the native Windows tool in that it allows more
granular control and you can specify which folders you want scanned. For
instance, WinXP's disk cleaner will examine only the profile folders of
the user who is running the utility. On a single-user machine, this is
fine, but on a family or other mult-use machine, the ability to clean
temorary files from all of the user profiles at once is a great time saver.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Thip]

Bad idea. DO NOT touch the registry with any Reg cleaning tools. It can
create problems to the extent of not booting or a need to reformat. Those
left over entries in your registry does no harm and does not take up
space. Leave your registry alone. This is from experience on fixing
customers computers.

Peter, I used to be a PC and network tech. Granted, that was back in the
day (NT Server) but I do have *some* expertise. And there are occasions
when registry entries need to be removed, as you well know. Using RegSeeker
is a matter of my own personal preference, not something I'd recommend to
just anyone.

 

[philo]

I tried using CCleaner for the first time to see if I could shake the
difficulty or correcting the bad update of Adobe Acrobat 8 (see other recent
posts regarding this.)

It was recommended by a post made to the Adobe Forum back in July. I tried
it to clear all registry problems, and it produced a list of about 30-50
items. None seem related to Acrobat, but I plunged ahead. It singled out
one, despite my request to fix them all. That didn't fix the problem.

My question is what in the world are all those other registry problems? For
example, Unused File Extension (.cmp,.ka,.wfx, Office,actor),
Access.Extension.8, ActiveX/Com Issue, ... Perhaps I should clean them out

too?



As a general rule you should not run a registry cleaner at all.
You could potentially do a lot more harm than good.

If you know *exactly* what you are doing,
using a registry cleaner to delete entries made by an application that
failed to uninstall properly
could possibly be a useful function...

but in the case of your errant application
the first thing to do would be to uninstall it
reboot
then try to install it again

 

[FredW]

Operative word was "insist," Fred. I'm the only user on this machine and I
prefer to clear out redundant entries.

Everyone makes her/his own decisions.
Based on those (and other) articles,
I will never recommend any registry cleaner.
(I presume you select only the "Green" items in RegSeeker?)

 

[TKM]

They're nothing but "false alarms." I've tested a recent version (with
all updates) version on a brand-new OS installation with no additional
applications installed, and certainly none installed and then uninstalled,
and CCleaner still managed to "find" over a hundred allegedly orphaned
registry entries and dozens of purportedly "suspicious" files, making it
clearly a *worthless* product, in this regard. (Not that any registry
cleaner can ever be anything but worthless, as they don't serve any
*useful* purpose, to start with.)

As a registry "cleaner," it's not significantly better or worse than
any other snake oil product of the same type.




No, of course not.

CCleaner's only real strength, and the only reason I use it, lies in
its usefulness for cleaning up unused temporary files from the hard drive.
It differs from the native Windows tool in that it allows more granular
control and you can specify which folders you want scanned. For instance,
WinXP's disk cleaner will examine only the profile folders of the user who
is running the utility. On a single-user machine, this is fine, but on a
family or other mult-use machine, the ability to clean temorary files from
all of the user profiles at once is a great time saver.

FWIW, I've used CCleaner for more than a year now on two machines running XP
Professional. It's worked every time and there have been no problems after
it has been used. I agree that it seems to be more useful cleaning out
uneeded non-registry files; but I check the registry file size before/after
cleaning and it either stays the same size or is slightly smaller. But,
backing up the registry before cleaning ought to take care of any worries
about CCleaner removing something critical and CCleaner has an option for
that.

TKM

 

[FredW]

Peter, I used to be a PC and network tech. Granted, that was back in the
day (NT Server) but I do have *some* expertise. And there are occasions
when registry entries need to be removed, as you well know.

That was valid in the days of Win98, a registry cleaner was then
sometimes even recommended.
http://majorgeeks.com/download458.html
(no longer advised by Microsoft, see Editors Note.)

As far as I understand, the register works completely different in
WinXP, and registry cleaners have no longer any purpose.
(and no, I do not know that entries "need" to be removed!)

If you really want to remove entries, why not look them up in "regedit"
(or even RegSeeker) and remove manually?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

FWIW, I've used CCleaner for more than a year now on two machines running XP
Professional. It's worked every time and there have been no problems after
it has been used.

You've been fortunate, and no one has ever claimed that using a
registry cleaner will be harmful every time - only that there's an
unnecessary risk involved, but that says *nothing* about the purported
usefulness of CCleaner as a registry cleaner. Why run the risk when
there is zero benefit to be derived?

I agree that it seems to be more useful cleaning out
uneeded non-registry files; but I check the registry file size before/after
cleaning and it either stays the same size or is slightly smaller.

So what? How does a microscopic change in registry file size have any
affect upon computer performance?

But,
backing up the registry before cleaning ought to take care of any worries
about CCleaner removing something critical and CCleaner has an option for
that.

That's true of using any utility that can affect system files.
Unfortunately, however, most people of average (or below) computing
skills aren't going to understand the importance of that precaution or
take the time for that extra step. And, again, you miss the entire
point: Why run the risk of using a registry cleaner when there is
*zero* benefit to be gained? It's very much akin to playing Russian
roulette.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Peter, I used to be a PC and network tech. Granted, that was back in the
day (NT Server) but I do have *some* expertise. And there are occasions
when registry entries need to be removed, as you well know. Using
RegSeeker is a matter of my own personal preference, not something I'd
recommend to just anyone.

You may have noticed that many registry entries selected for cleaning are
the same ones removed last time, especially 'tracking' entries..

NT operating systems ignore orphaned entries, so why take the chance of
running a program which may take out entries that are important?


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[JS]

Only a little more that 3 hours and look at the dust storm ;-)

Unused File Extension (CCleaner specific)
http://forum.piriform.com/lofiversion/index.php/t5509.html

AxtiveX issues:
All the registry cleaners I evaluated report these issues.

You would need a lot of time and analysis to determine
on each reported registry issue that is listed to decide
if it really is a valid problem.

An easy way to test a registry cleaner is
"Not to run it", just use it in analysis mode.
Save the results.
Next uninstall a program you no longer use and
run the analysis mode again and compare the results.

 

[HeyBub]

Peter, I used to be a PC and network tech. Granted, that was back in
the day (NT Server) but I do have *some* expertise. And there are
occasions when registry entries need to be removed, as you well know.
Using RegSeeker is a matter of my own personal preference, not
something I'd recommend to just anyone.

Don't do it, Thip! You're still a young man; you have much to live for!

 

[Thip]

Don't do it, Thip! You're still a young man; you have much to live for!

I'm a woman and I have 6 grandkids......

 

[Thip]

That was valid in the days of Win98, a registry cleaner was then
sometimes even recommended.
http://majorgeeks.com/download458.html
(no longer advised by Microsoft, see Editors Note.)

As far as I understand, the register works completely different in
WinXP, and registry cleaners have no longer any purpose.
(and no, I do not know that entries "need" to be removed!)

If you really want to remove entries, why not look them up in "regedit"
(or even RegSeeker) and remove manually?

--

I DO look them up in RegSeeker and delete the *redundant* ones.

 

[Thip]

You may have noticed that many registry entries selected for cleaning are
the same ones removed last time, especially 'tracking' entries..

NT operating systems ignore orphaned entries, so why take the chance of
running a program which may take out entries that are important?

I understand all that, RegSeeker makes backups, and if I uninstall a program
called Wazoo and find 35 references to Wazoo in my registry, they're going
bye-bye.

Thip
Former MCSE (now behind in technology but not retarded)

 

[W. eWatson]

Well, it looks like people differ on the usefulness.


Unfortunately, all this sheds no direct light on my Adobe problem. Of
course, all of this is anecdotal evidence, and by itself needs examination.
At least the programs exist and may have varying degrees of success. Too bad
there isn't some Consumer Report like organization that doesn't review and
collect statistics on all this.

In any case, I'll note not even an Adobe tech support registry solution made
a difference, to remove an Update entry in the registry. A second approach
they suggested is to use msiexec fails, since WHOA!!! Hold the phone.

I decided to apply msiexec again to verify why it didn't work. Previously it
gave up with some message about a bad install. Now it just worked. I
proceeded to uninstall Acrobat and re-install it. It works.



--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>