CCleaner and the Registry

[W. eWatson]

(Just posted this in another part of this thread. It may be more useful here.)

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/>

 

[FredW]

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

;-)

 

[Unknown]

There is a Consumer Reports like organization that reviews. It is called PC
Magazine.
My rating of them is very very low.

 

[Gary Brandenburg]

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)

I agree-Regseeker is an excellent tool to find & remove *specific* entries by using
the "Find in registry" option. I don't use it for registry cleaning (or anything else
for that), but to remove any leftover entries for items such as: Acrobat or
Symantec,Norton,etc. after an uninstall, & it may reveal dozens of entries related to
them.

I've ran the Norton Removal Tool after uninstalling a Norton product, & then did a
search for "Norton" & then "Symantec" entries & it will find many more items that the
uninstall & removal tool left behind.

I keep a copy of Regseeker on my thumb drive & run it to search for & remove only
those *specific* entries,after an uninstall ,while out in the field, & always use the
"Backup before deletion" option that creates a .reg file of those removed items, but
have never had to merge any back to the registry, due to any problems created by
their removal.

Now for W. eWatson's issue, a broad search for "Adobe" would probably remove any
Flash Player items also, so it would take a search for "Adobe Reader" and/or
"Acrobat" & check the box to *match whole word* to remove only those specific items
related to the reader.


Regseeker: http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

~Gary

 

[N. Miller]

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.

Did it make the machine run faster? (Doubtful.) Did it save sufficient space
on the HDD to make a difference? ("Slightly" smaller suggests not.) If the
answer to each is, "No", what was gained in the exercise? Other than dubious
knowledge of "how registry cleaners work".

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

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.

Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. 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.

Read http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I agree-Regseeker is an excellent tool to find & remove *specific* entries
by using the "Find in registry" option. I don't use it for registry
cleaning (or anything else for that), but to remove any leftover entries
for items such as: Acrobat or Symantec,Norton,etc. after an uninstall, &
it may reveal dozens of entries related to them.

I've ran the Norton Removal Tool after uninstalling a Norton product, &
then did a search for "Norton" & then "Symantec" entries & it will find
many more items that the uninstall & removal tool left behind.

I keep a copy of Regseeker on my thumb drive & run it to search for &
remove only those *specific* entries,after an uninstall ,while out in the
field, & always use the "Backup before deletion" option that creates a
.reg file of those removed items, but have never had to merge any back to
the registry, due to any problems created by their removal.

Now for W. eWatson's issue, a broad search for "Adobe" would probably
remove any Flash Player items also, so it would take a search for "Adobe
Reader" and/or "Acrobat" & check the box to *match whole word* to remove
only those specific items related to the reader.


Regseeker: http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

~Gary

Regcleaner 4.3 does that and is a safer bet than Regseeker..


--
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

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

microsoft recommends cleaning
the registry and has provided
a cleaner for windows.

in fact microsoft created the
registry and the first registry
cleaner as well.

however, different cleaners
utilize different criteria's for
removing registry keys that
are no longer needed by the
system.

one of the benefits achieved
by removing data from the
registry is that you will reduced
the fragmentation of the registry
files.

though it seems that the registry
file is one file, it is actually many
fragments through out your hard
disk.

and if one fragment becomes
corrupted, then your system will
become corrupted as well.

and what you will find throughout
the newsgroups is that there are
a lot of whiners preaching against
registry cleaning and microsoft's
recommendation.

but little if any of those same
whiners will help you recover from
a corrupted registry issue.
------------------

in my opinion the issue you have
with acrobat may not be resolved
by cleaning the registry.

other factors can be involved like
anti virals that inhibit changes to
the registry, a file system that needs
to be defrag and reconciled with
check disk, etc...

incidentally, doesn't adobe have a
special uninstaller for their program?

--------------
lastly, I am not a fan of ccleaner.

however, I have tested Eusing and
Microsoft's One Care Registry Scanner
and they utilize different cleaning criteria's
and are safe to use.

but before doing so, be sure to run
a check disk on your disks first and
always make a restore point whenever
you install new programs.

 

[BillW50]

In Ken Blake, MVP typed on Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:45:25 -0700:

Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. 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...

Well I agree most of the time. Although I did have one entry when I right
clicked on a file in Windows Explorer to a program that was uninstalled. Yet
it still had an entry in the menu. And right clicking caused like a 10
second delay before the menu would show up. A registry cleaner actually
cleaned it right up and right clicking became instant.

--
Bill
2 Gateway MX6124 - Windows XP SP2
3 Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
2 Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 1GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2 ~ Xandros Linux

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

perhaps, fear mongering might
be considered as a most valuable
profession similar to professional
witch doctors, dispensing voodoo
and doo doo.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Gary Brandenburg]

Regcleaner 4.3 does that and is a safer bet than Regseeker..


--
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

Thanks Mike-I'll have to check that one out.
I probably avoided it because it had the word "cleaner" in it & I *know*
what can happen when using one of those.

Just curious though-How is it a safer bet than Regseeker, when you create a
backup of the entries before removal, with it?
Not questioning your expertise, but just wondering.

~Gary

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

Typical hoople head response.
" db ´¯`·.. ><)))º>` .. ." <databaseben at hotmail dot com> wrote in message
: perhaps, fear mongering might
: be considered as a most valuable
: profession similar to professional
: witch doctors, dispensing voodoo
: and doo doo.
:
: --
:
: db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
: DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
: - Systems Analyst
: - Database Developer
: - Accountancy
: - Veteran of the Armed Forces
:
:
:
: > On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:47:18 -0800, "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.
: >
: >
: >
: > Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. 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.
: >
: > Read http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html
: >
: >
: >
: >
: >> 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/>
: >
: > --
: > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
: > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
:

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

as yours is.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Bill in Co.]

microsoft recommends cleaning the registry...

No, it doesn't.

 

[Twayne]

- 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

The Adobe 8 problem isn't a registry problem. Users should go to
version 9 and be happy. While I'm here:

Everyone else in the world discussion: Should I use a Registry Cleaner?
Too many to list, but they all say 'yes 'to a reputably sourced
cleaner. Only this peripherally situated aumha creation contains such
lunacy about every one of them being no good. Anyone with reputable
claims would have supporting information and several sources of
supporting evidence. Beyond their own imaginations, I mean.

Use your favorite search engine and research a bit: Anywhere but links
with aumha in them. The infor from aumha is from the same closed minded
ignorants that push the same misinformation here. Not a single one of
them have ever posted anything available from anywhere but them to
support their claims. Aumha is like any other source; some folk are
good, some better, some closed minded and ignorant; the 'never use a
registry cleaner...' comments always come from the latter.

And I enjoy continuing to "Out" them.

So, ... thanks.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Not only that, but sometimes you don't discover the problems until later
(like when you run another program, and then it shows up (as having some
problems).

Bad idea is right. (based on actually seeing what can happen, even with the
supposedly innoculous ones, like the old Microsoft RegClean (which was since
removed from their site)

 

[Twayne]

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.

It is not actually "highly complex"; in fact, its actually pretty
simple. Any complexity is perceived due to the huge amount of
information available and the necessity to know beforehand where
something relevant may be located. In other words, not for the
inexperienced, and thus the appearance of registry "cleaners".

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

Then your world must be a tiny one. You need to expand it.

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.

Any problems will show up as immediately as the affected application
gets used. And if that should happen (it never has to me), then you just
roll back the changes to what they were. 99% of software that may be
detected as a problem by registry cleaners will TELL you so, and what to
do about it, at install time or by their readme. If they don't, then
it's crapware anyway and was poorly tested before hitting the ether.

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.

That's true. Actually, the best solution is to upgrade to version 9.
Unless there is a later version; I didn't check. Ver 8 did have
problems.
You don't need to as they likely cause no problems, but on the other
hand it would hurt nothing to remove them. Go ahead if you wish.

Twayne

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

re: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/article/registry_cleaner_why.htm

"We recommend a complete
Windows Live OneCare
safety scan once a month"

if you still don't comprehend
the legal verbiage,

the recommendation is also
made by the virtue of having an
official website referenced above.

obviously you graduated
from troll class 101 successfully.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Bill in Co.]

The Adobe 8 problem isn't a registry problem. Users should go to
version 9 and be happy. While I'm here:

Everyone else in the world discussion: Should I use a Registry Cleaner?
Too many to list, but they all say 'yes 'to a reputably sourced
cleaner. Only this peripherally situated aumha creation contains such
lunacy about every one of them being no good. Anyone with reputable
claims would have supporting information and several sources of
supporting evidence. Beyond their own imaginations, I mean.

Use your favorite search engine and research a bit: Anywhere but links
with aumha in them. The infor from aumha is from the same closed minded
ignorants that push the same misinformation here. Not a single one of
them have ever posted anything available from anywhere but them to
support their claims. Aumha is like any other source; some folk are
good, some better, some closed minded and ignorant; the 'never use a
registry cleaner...' comments always come from the latter.

And I enjoy continuing to "Out" them.

So, ... thanks.

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[W. eWatson]

See he agrees with me.
=============
If anyone has done any serious performance testing on this class of
software, I’d be interested in seeing it. In the absence of really rigorous
testing and fail-safe design, I say: Stay far away from this sort of utility.

If you have a counter-argument to make, leave a comment. But simply saying,
“I use Reg-o-matic Deluxe and my computer is way faster than ever!” isn’t
good enough. Show me the data!
=============
He comments earlier about using them regularly as a no-no. I agree. In fact,
I've done this exactly once, yesterday, of many years since the first
cleaner was introduced.

I cannot tell though, if it really got me unstuck, since a few other things
intervened.

Government regulation is needed! VBG.

Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. 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.

Read http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

--
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/>