reg cleaner

[Grampy Pete]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner and some
programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.
Thank you

 

[philo]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner and some
programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.
Thank you

Reg cleaners rarely do any good...
and can sometimes do damage.

Just don't bother with them.

 

[Bill in Co.]

You can try to use reg cleaners ... at your own peril.
"A word to the wise is sufficient"

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner
and some programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.

You ran "the reg cleaner"...

I have no idea what that is - but unless you would go poking around the
registry manually and with full confidence - the tool is not going to make
things any better. ;-)

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
Windows XP doesn't come with a registry cleaner and System Restore doesn't
clean the registry.

What registry cleaner did you run? From where did you download it?

As philo advised, registry cleaners are rarely needed and can cause harm.

Don
[MS MVP- IE]

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner
and some
programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_...up=microsoft.public.*&as_uauthors=grampy+pete
Yep, you are persistent in using a system-level tool that you do not
understand.

Do you have a backup & restore plan in place? When (and not if) the
registry cleaner corrupts your registry and when you can no longer
boot into Windows, just how are you going to restore that OS partition
so it is usable again? Even if you use a registry cleaner that
provides for backups of its changes so you can revert back to the
prior state, how are you going to perform that restore if you cannot
boot the OS after hosing over its registry? What about entries in the
registry that look to be orphaned under the current OS load instance
but are used under a different OS environment? You delete what looks
orphaned only to find out that they are required under a different
environment.

Say there was an unusually high amount of orphaned entries in your
registry, like 4MB. By deleting it, you would speed up how long it
takes Windows to load the registry's files when it starts up - by all
of maybe 1 second. Oooh, aaah. All that risk of modifying the
registry to save maybe a second, or less, during the Windows startup.
Most folks that clean the registry end up deleting only 10KB, or less.
They are doing nothing to improve their Windows load time. Since the
registry is only read from the memory copy of it, and since memory is
random access, there is no difference to read one byte of the registry
(in memory) from the another byte in the registry (in memory). The
extra data in memory for orphaned entries has no effect on the time to
retrieve items from the memory copy of the registry.

Cleaning the registry will NOT improve performance in reading from the
memory copy of the registry. The reduced size of the registry's .dat
files might reduce the load time of Windows by all of a second and
probably much less. And you want to risk the stability of your OS for
inconsequential changes to its registry. The same boobs that get
suckered into these registry cleanup "tools" are the same ones that
get suckered into the memory defragment "tools".

A registry cleaner should only be used if you yourself can correctly
cleanup the registry. The cleaner is just a tool to automate the same
process but you should know every change that it intends to make and
understand each of those changes. After all, and regardless of the
stagnant expertise coded into the utility, *YOU* are the final
authority in what registry changes are performed whether you do it
manually or with a utility.

 

[Kayman]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner and some
programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.

AUMHA Discussion: Should I Use a Registry Cleaner?
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099

Note the comments from Mark Russinovich and the reference concerning ERUNT.

 

[MAP]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner and
some programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.
Thank you

If you are refering to the microsoft reg cleaner MS dropped that product
along time ago (as you can see from some of the asnswers), I don't even
think it is supported by XP, their is really no need for a reg cleaner.

 

[VanguardLH]

If you are refering to the microsoft reg cleaner MS dropped that
product along time ago (as you can see from some of the asnswers), I
don't even think it is supported by XP, their is really no need for
a reg cleaner.

I believe that Microsoft's OneCare suite includes a registry cleaner.
The OP never bothered to tell us WHERE or WHAT he is running for a
registry cleaner utility. But you are right about Microsoft dumping
their old registry cleaner many years ago. Besides, all that one did
was to do some cleanup for the Office applications and just a little
cleanup on system settings in the registry. It was not a full-fledged
registry cleanup tool.

 

[Grampy Pete]

By op do you mean other person? Just trying to learn even at the expense of
hard moments.
You are correct thast it is part of the Microsoft live One car e center.
I do appreciate the overwhelming evidence against using theany regitry
cleaner especially if you don't know how to navigate the registry and I thank
you all for your patience.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner
and some programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.

If you are refering to the microsoft reg cleaner MS dropped that
product along time ago (as you can see from some of the asnswers),
I don't even think it is supported by XP, their is really no need
for a reg cleaner.

I believe that Microsoft's OneCare suite includes a registry
cleaner. The OP never bothered to tell us WHERE or WHAT he is
running for a registry cleaner utility. But you are right about
Microsoft dumping their old registry cleaner many years ago.
Besides, all that one did was to do some cleanup for the Office
applications and just a little cleanup on system settings in the
registry. It was not a full-fledged registry cleanup tool.

By op do you mean other person? Just trying to learn even at the
expense of hard moments.

You are correct thast it is part of the Microsoft live One car e
center.

I do appreciate the overwhelming evidence against using theany
regitry cleaner especially if you don't know how to navigate the
registry and I thank you all for your patience.

In the newsgroups, "OP" is usually an abbreviation/acronym for "Original
Poster"... In this case, Grampy Pete, that would be you. ;-)

Search using Google!
http://www.google.com/
(How-to: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html )

Example:
abbreviation OP in newsgroups
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=abbreviation+OP+in+newsgroups

One hit:
http://www.answers.com/topic/op

Unfortunately - as another hit shows - it has MANY other meaning... *grin*
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/OP

But one could probably assume that for the purpose here - no one is
referring to "Orbiter Payload". ;-)

 

[Daave]

By op do you mean other person? Just trying to learn even at the
expense of hard moments.

OP is shorthand for Original Poster. See "Acronyms used on the 'Net'":

http://www.ulujain.org/misc/acronym.shtml

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I thought Windows would know its product so I ran the reg cleaner and some
programs had glitches that sytem restore fixed.
Has anyone any comment about using it re: the reliability factor.
Thank you

Why do you even 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
wide-spread 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 that the use of an
automated registry "cleaner," particularly by an untrained,
inexperienced computer user, does any real good, whatsoever. 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.

Granted, most registry "cleaners" won't cause problems each and
every time they're used, but the potential for harm is always there.
And, since no registry "cleaner" has ever been demonstrated to do any
good (think of them like treating the flu with chicken soup - there's no
real medicinal value, but it sometimes provides a warming placebo
effect), I always tell people that the risks far out-weigh the
non-existent benefits.

I will concede that a good registry *scanning* tool, in the hands
of an experienced and knowledgeable technician or hobbyist can be a
useful time-saving diagnostic tool, as long as it's not allowed to make
any changes automatically. But I really don't think that there are any
registry "cleaners" that are truly safe for the general public to use.
Experience has proven just the opposite: such tools simply are not safe
in the hands of the inexperienced user.




--

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

 

[Bill in Co.]

Hear! Hear! And right on target, too.

Why do you even 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
wide-spread 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.
Exactly.

More importantly, no one has ever demonstrated that the use of an
automated registry "cleaner," particularly by an untrained,
inexperienced computer user, does any real good, whatsoever. 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.

Seconded.
As I've stated before, "a word to the wise is sufficient" in regards to
this.

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

By op do you mean other person? Just trying to learn even at the
expense of
hard moments.

<snip>

http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=op

A handy site to lookup acronyms.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

Why do you even 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?"

Bruce,

Is there any harm in having registry entries that do nothing? I recently, with
quite a bit of difficulty, uninstalled a particular program.

There are still some registry entries that have to do with this program, that,
for example, reference non-existent files or directories.

Is there some point where these kinds of references have a deleterious affect
on the system?

Thanks.
--ron

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Bruce,

Is there any harm in having registry entries that do nothing? I recently, with
quite a bit of difficulty, uninstalled a particular program.

None at all.

There are still some registry entries that have to do with this program, that,
for example, reference non-existent files or directories.

Is there some point where these kinds of references have a deleterious affect
on the system?

No.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

None at all.




No.

Thanks you.
--ron

 

[Grampy Pete]

This O.P. appreciates the correction

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Bruce,

Is there any harm in having registry entries that do nothing? I recently, with
quite a bit of difficulty, uninstalled a particular program.

There are still some registry entries that have to do with this program, that,
for example, reference non-existent files or directories.

Is there some point where these kinds of references have a deleterious affect
on the system?

Thanks.
--ron

The only way those orphaned entries could cause a problem would be if
you were to reinstall that same application, and its installation
routine could not over-write the older entries. The odds of this
happening are quite low, but it does happen on rare occasions; this
would be when I'd use Regedit to delete the troublesome entry.


--

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