regedit

[Guest]

what regcleaner to you all recommend?
thanks
larry
--

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Crucial 2x 512MB DDR400
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Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP , home

 

[Jerry]

You won't find a lot of agreement around here for use of a regsitry cleaner
at all.

 

[Vagabond Software]

what regcleaner to you all recommend?
thanks
larry
--

Aspire X-Superalien 500W
Asus P4c800E Deluxe
Intel P-4 800 3.0G 1mb cache
Crucial 2x 512MB DDR400
2x WD 80GB Sata 150 7200rpm 8M
Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP , home

You've named the most reliable one in your subject line, regedit.

I would never use a registry "cleaner" or "fixer" application. If you know
you have dead registry entries, fire up regedit and delete them. At least
then you can export the branches you alter and "back out" any changes that
resulted in unintentional behavior.

carl

 

[Guest]

thanks for your help , but i am old and pc stupid it takes me all day to find
one reg key to delete and i got 861 errors in my reg.
thanks again
larry
--

Aspire X-Superalien 500W
Asus P4c800E Deluxe
Intel P-4 800 3.0G 1mb cache
Crucial 2x 512MB DDR400
2x WD 80GB Sata 150 7200rpm 8M
Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP , home

 

[PaulFXH]

thanks for your help , but i am old and pc stupid it takes me all day to find
one reg key to delete and i got 861 errors in my reg.
thanks again
larry

Be very careful in your interpretation of "registry errors". In my
experience, a lot of diagnostic packages will come up with so-called
errors (qualified with a suitably frightening adjective) just to get
you to buy their software.
Are you really seeing any strange behaviour on your machine as a result
of these "errors"?
If you really do have a registry-related problem, I would suggest you
consider a clean-install of your OS. This will absolutely get rid of
all registry errors and restore your computer to an absolutely pristine
condition.
It requires, however, quite a bit of planning and care so don't do it
without being suitably prepared.
Paul

 

[Guest]

If your computer is working, don't touch anything in your registry: you'll be
sorry if you do.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

what regcleaner to you all recommend?

None. Routine cleaning of the registry is not needed and is dangerous.
Leave the registry alone and don't use a 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 the registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far geater than any potential benefit it may
have.

 

[Guest]

i want to thank everybody for your replys , i sure do appreciate it.
thanks again
larry
--

Aspire X-Superalien 500W
Asus P4c800E Deluxe
Intel P-4 800 3.0G 1mb cache
Crucial 2x 512MB DDR400
2x WD 80GB Sata 150 7200rpm 8M
Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP , home

 

[Bruce Chambers]

what regcleaner to you all recommend?
thanks
larry

Why would you think you need to clean your registry?

What specific problem are you experiencing that you *know* beyond
all reasonable doubt will 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. Why use a shotgun 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 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 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.

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.

Further, 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.

I always use Regedit.exe. I trust my own experience and judgment
far more than I would any automated registry cleaner. I strongly
encourage others to acquire the knowledge, as well.


--

Bruce Chambers

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

 

[Bruce Chambers]

thanks for your help , but i am old and pc stupid it takes me all day to find
one reg key to delete and i got 861 errors in my reg.
thanks again
larry

Who told you that you have "861 errors" in your registry, some "snake
oil" saleman trying to sell you a registry cleaner? Guess what? Even
if you purchase and use the product being sold, it'll still tell you
that there are {random number} errors. It's called a scam.


--

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

 

[paulchen]

what regcleaner to you all recommend?
thanks
larry
--

Aspire X-Superalien 500W
Asus P4c800E Deluxe
Intel P-4 800 3.0G 1mb cache
Crucial 2x 512MB DDR400
2x WD 80GB Sata 150 7200rpm 8M
Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP , home

Use it with care because you need to have some knowledge of in-and-outs of your system registry database. Always make a full backup before attempting to try out. Enjoy!

 

[Sharon Franks]

Use the one built in to this http://www.ccleaner.com/. The first time you
run it save a backup, it will prompt you. Run it 2-3 more times until it
comes up clean. You don't need to make a backup each time because the first
time will cover the keys that become invalid after the first run. Despite
what others may think, a clean registry is better than a dirty one.

--

Sharon Franks
MCC group
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)
Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT).

 

[Bruce Chambers]

.... Despite
what others may think, a clean registry is better than a dirty one.

Is that "common sense" (as in "clean" is preferable to "dirty")or do
you have a link to an independent testing laboratory (preferably more
than one, actually) whose results confirm your statement?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
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[Sharon Franks]

Yes it is common sense and experience. I've done my share of comparisons and
registry repairs and I would never recommend something that I have not used
myself. No one not even MS can say that they can manually find everything
that cleaners find. Regedit will not do it. As you well know the more you
use Windows, the more entries are added to your registry. As your Windows
registry grows it can become both cluttered and outdated. Entries can be
moved and found missing. Entries can become invalid over time. Entries can
attract obsolete and unnecessary information that only serve as cumbersome
clutter. Entries relating to installed software can linger long after said
software's been uninstalled. The registry is also where spyware programs
hide out while they collect and report to their masters your private data.
And even if you already use an anti-spyware program, the registry may still
be sullied by leftover debris from the malware's presence. How is a novice
going to know what to do with regedit? Here are some links both good and
bad.
http://www.compareregistrycleaners.com/
http://registry-cleaners.6starreviews.com/
http://www.better-reviews.org/
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

--

Sharon Franks
MCC group
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)
Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT).

 

[Plato]

what regcleaner to you all recommend?

If you want one, use EasyCleaner

 

[PaulFXH]

Yes it is common sense and experience. I've done my share of comparisons and
registry repairs and I would never recommend something that I have not used
myself. No one not even MS can say that they can manually find everything
that cleaners find. Regedit will not do it. As you well know the more you
use Windows, the more entries are added to your registry. As your Windows
registry grows it can become both cluttered and outdated. Entries can be
moved and found missing. Entries can become invalid over time. Entries can
attract obsolete and unnecessary information that only serve as cumbersome
clutter. Entries relating to installed software can linger long after said
software's been uninstalled. The registry is also where spyware programs
hide out while they collect and report to their masters your private data.
And even if you already use an anti-spyware program, the registry may still
be sullied by leftover debris from the malware's presence. How is a novice
going to know what to do with regedit? Here are some links both good and
bad.
http://www.compareregistrycleaners.com/
http://registry-cleaners.6starreviews.com/
http://www.better-reviews.org/
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

Hi Sharon
I appreciated reading your balanced view on registry cleaners which
makes a sharp contrast with the unsubstantiated hysteria which often
accompanies comments on this topic (and many others, most notably MS)
in this group.
[Please note that I am not making ANY adverse comments on the others
posts in this thread, but rather on posts on this topic IN GENERAL].
However, in my own experience, I have never seen a registry cleaner
cause anything even approaching the substantial improvement in
performance and responsiveness after a clean-install of the OS.
OK, a clean-install is a lot more involved than a 2-3 minute scan with
CCleaner or EasyCleaner. However, I would much prefer to bite the
bullet and gain the significant benefits of the clean-install rather
than expect a registry cleaner to solve the problems in a poorly
performing machine.
Paul

 

[Vagabond Software]

Yes it is common sense and experience. I've done my share of comparisons
and registry repairs and I would never recommend something that I have not
used myself. No one not even MS can say that they can manually find
everything that cleaners find. Regedit will not do it. As you well know
the more you use Windows, the more entries are added to your registry. As
your Windows registry grows it can become both cluttered and outdated.
Entries can be moved and found missing. Entries can become invalid over
time. Entries can attract obsolete and unnecessary information that only
serve as cumbersome clutter. Entries relating to installed software can
linger long after said software's been uninstalled. The registry is also
where spyware programs hide out while they collect and report to their
masters your private data. And even if you already use an anti-spyware
program, the registry may still be sullied by leftover debris from the
malware's presence....

None of which has any impact on system performance whatsoever. On the other
hand, a single mistake by an automated registry cleaner could seriously
impact a feature, an application, a device, or perhaps even Windows itself.

I know people who swear by their reg cleaners and God bless 'em, but I've
seen the damage they can do and never recommend them.

carl

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Yes it is common sense and experience. I've done my share of comparisons and
registry repairs and I would never recommend something that I have not used
myself. No one not even MS can say that they can manually find everything
that cleaners find. Regedit will not do it. As you well know the more you
use Windows, the more entries are added to your registry. As your Windows
registry grows it can become both cluttered and outdated. Entries can be
moved and found missing. Entries can become invalid over time. Entries can
attract obsolete and unnecessary information that only serve as cumbersome
clutter. Entries relating to installed software can linger long after said
software's been uninstalled.

None of which usually causes any sort of problem. So why take a chance
of damaging the registry with an automated cleaner, for no real purpose
beyond "neatness?"

The registry is also where spyware programs
hide out while they collect and report to their masters your private data.

No, the registry is a database. No programs, good or bad "hide out" there.

And even if you already use an anti-spyware program, the registry may still
be sullied by leftover debris from the malware's presence. How is a novice
going to know what to do with regedit?

That's exactly my point! If a novice doesn't know enough to safely
edit the registry manually, he certainly doesn't know enough to safely
use any sort of automated registry cleaning tool.


--

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

 

[Sharon Franks]

I agree, there is nothing better than a clean install but sometime such
drastic measures are not necessary. Performance increase can be measured in
different ways, most would look at as a speed boost. Take malware for
example spyware quake and all its variants. This spyware adds more then 20
entries into the registry when a system is fully infected. It degrades the
performance of the infected system usually making it unusable. Anti-malware
apps will remove the infected files but not the reg entries (most don't some
will) cleaning out all that malware and you will see an immediate increase
in performance. Windows processes the registry when booting, a clean,
uncluttered and optimized registry will decrease the boot up time and
antivirus/malware scans thus again increasing the performance of your
system.

--

Sharon Franks
MCC group
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)
Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT).

Yes it is common sense and experience. I've done my share of comparisons
and
registry repairs and I would never recommend something that I have not
used
myself. No one not even MS can say that they can manually find everything
that cleaners find. Regedit will not do it. As you well know the more you
use Windows, the more entries are added to your registry. As your Windows
registry grows it can become both cluttered and outdated. Entries can be
moved and found missing. Entries can become invalid over time. Entries
can
attract obsolete and unnecessary information that only serve as
cumbersome
clutter. Entries relating to installed software can linger long after
said
software's been uninstalled. The registry is also where spyware programs
hide out while they collect and report to their masters your private
data.
And even if you already use an anti-spyware program, the registry may
still
be sullied by leftover debris from the malware's presence. How is a
novice
going to know what to do with regedit? Here are some links both good and
bad.
http://www.compareregistrycleaners.com/
http://registry-cleaners.6starreviews.com/
http://www.better-reviews.org/
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

Hi Sharon
I appreciated reading your balanced view on registry cleaners which
makes a sharp contrast with the unsubstantiated hysteria which often
accompanies comments on this topic (and many others, most notably MS)
in this group.
[Please note that I am not making ANY adverse comments on the others
posts in this thread, but rather on posts on this topic IN GENERAL].
However, in my own experience, I have never seen a registry cleaner
cause anything even approaching the substantial improvement in
performance and responsiveness after a clean-install of the OS.
OK, a clean-install is a lot more involved than a 2-3 minute scan with
CCleaner or EasyCleaner. However, I would much prefer to bite the
bullet and gain the significant benefits of the clean-install rather
than expect a registry cleaner to solve the problems in a poorly
performing machine.
Paul

--

Sharon Franks
MCC group
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD)
Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT).

 

[Bruce Chambers]

None of which has any impact on system performance whatsoever. On the other
hand, a single mistake by an automated registry cleaner could seriously
impact a feature, an application, a device, or perhaps even Windows itself.

I know people who swear by their reg cleaners and God bless 'em, but I've
seen the damage they can do and never recommend them.

carl

Agreed. I suppose, if I were less honest, I might recommend registry
cleaners, though, as up 20% of my income derives from cleaning up behind
them.


--

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