Do people recommend Registry Cleansing?

[Graeme Nash]

I run Windows XP Home Edition. I have Norton AV 2004, Ad-
Aware and SpySweeper. On top of thses lines of defence is
it recommended to use available downloadable software
to "clean the registry"?

I dont fully understand what that means to be perfectly
honest, but if theres no harm in these doing it, then I
figured I might as well, can anyone advise? Any
recommendations on how to do it would be greatly
appreciated as well!

Many Thanks,

Graeme, London, UK.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Graeme;
Generally it is not a good idea unless you know exactly what of the
registry is being deleted and why.
You can damage applications and even Windows pretty quickly by bad
deletions.
Also, little or nothing is usually gained.

 

[Guest]

ok then I shall leave it unotouched! Thank you for your
help!

Graeme.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Yes, skip the registry cleaners.

Along with everything else you are doing, also install all Critical
Updates:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/security.htm

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Having seen the results of inexperienced people using automated
registry "cleaners," I can only advise to you to avoid them all.

The only thing needed to safely clean your registry is knowledge
and Regedit.exe. 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.

I always use Regedit.exe. I trust my own experience and judgment
far more than I would any automated registry cleaner.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH