registry cleaner and back up

[Guest]

Dell 4600-4 years old, xp home sp2, 2.66Ghz, 768 mb ram, user 5 scale 1-10.
need reliable cleaner and ez way to back up first. Thank you

 

[Tony Meloche]

Dell 4600-4 years old, xp home sp2, 2.66Ghz, 768 mb ram, user 5 scale 1-10.
need reliable cleaner and ez way to back up first. Thank you

Grampy:

To do it right will cost you some money, vis:

Buy a USB backup drive. They come in 80-250 gigabyte size. Figure
around $100-$150 dollars.

Invest $60-or-so in either Norton "Ghost" or Acronis "True Image"
software. *Thoroughly* understand what the software does before you start.

Ignore the "Registry Cleaner" aspect. Simply not necessary in 99 out of
100 cases.

That's probably not the answer you were hoping for, but it is the "best"
way to do it.

Tony

 

[Unknown]

No such thing as a reliable cleaner.

 

[Guest]

well, it depends.

when one says backup
nowadays, it is no longer
a simple dos backup of
a little 40 megabyte
harddisk.

now you can not only
backup up the disk, but
have the option to backup
up the system files only or
just the registry or just the
personal files you create
and store on your pc.

in my opinion disk
imaging is better than the
old backup method.

here is more information
but the question you asked
has many answers and no one
here knows which is best for
your particular situation:

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/data/what.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/maintain/default.mspx

you can also try googling for
microsoft one care &
system mechanic.

the two programs above are provided
as examples and they do have their
drawbacks, but so does every
software in the world.

in regards to registry cleaners -
the following link is just
one of many possibilities:

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

btw: since at this time you
are on a fact finding mission,
so you will need to begin narrowing
down your possibilities or preferences.

if and when you decide to take a certain
course of action, let us know
and we can provide you with
any drawbacks or tips.

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Guest]

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

Would you say this is the safest way to go IF a scan was to be done + money
was a concern?.

 

[Guest]

i'm glad you asked
and kept up in mind.

well, like many programs
it may be worth every penny
or it may not be what you
expected.

however, i can say this is
that they have 3 versions
of it, if you want to try
out Microsoft's versions.

one version is the full
software that can be
installed and purchased.

then also offer it
as a thirty or sixty day
free trial as well.

then they simply have
the online scanning
version which is free to
use. this version doesn't
install the full program onto
your system as it is designed
to run from the web:

here is the link:

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

the version at the link
does not offer the backup
service. also, thy out the
links on the left hand side
as well on the site as well.

something to keep in mind
about this subject - don't
rush to buy. many
companies offer a "free"
trial for at least thirty days.

so you may end up liking
system mechanic better
that one care or vice versa.

you may also simply go a different way
altogether and instead of buying
an all in one program, you may
like buying/getting separate
software's that specialize in
different aspects of your pc.

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Daave]

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

Would you say this is the safest way to go IF a scan was to be
done + money was a concern?

Relatively safe. That is, probably safer than other registry cleaners.

But as others have said, the safest way to go is not to clean your
registry at all. 99% of the time, it's simply not needed and doesn't
speed anything up at all. If you're interested in speeding up your PC,
see "Slow Computer" at:

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

Most common causes of a slow PC are malware, too many unneeded processes
running, not enough RAM, and failure to delete temp files (followed
occasionally by a defrag).

Once someone presents evidence (not anecdotal) that shows otherwise, it
should be assumed that deleting orphaned registry entries has virtually
no impact on a system. Yes, there are sometimes reasons to do this, but
that's for instances of traces of a program (like Norton or McAfee, for
instance) remaining after uninstalling that actually prevent other
functions to work. Otherwise, you are wise to avoid messing with the
registry as you most likely have nothing at all to gain.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Dell 4600-4 years old, xp home sp2, 2.66Ghz, 768 mb ram, user 5 scale 1-10.
need reliable cleaner and ez way to back up first. Thank you

Why do you 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
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:



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

 

[Guest]

Conclusion: I will leave reg cleaners to the pros. I need to beef up my anti
spyware
as I had trouble with the 07 versions of Adaware and Spbot so I'm currently
using Windows Defender. It could use some help- any ideas?.
All of you helped me arrive at the conclusion I reached and I thank you for
all those characters sent to me.

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Nonsense...

CCleaner is safe as a Registry Cleaner....

And improves performance.

DSH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Nonsense...

CCleaner is safe as a Registry Cleaner....

CCleaner's registry scanner seems relatively benign, as long as you
step through each detected "issue" one at a time, to determine if it
really is an "issue" or not, and then decide whether or not to let the
application "fix" it. In my testing, though, most of the reported
"issues" won't be issues, at all. I tried the latest 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.

CCleaner's sole strength, and the only reason I use it, lies in its
usefulness for cleaning up unused temporary files from the hard drive;
as a registry "cleaner," it's not significantly better or worse than any
other snake oil product of the same type.

And improves performance.

Utterly untrue. *NO* registry "cleaner" has ever been proven to
improve performance; the actions they perform are not the sort that
could have any affect on a computer's performance.


--

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

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

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Nope...

Bollixed Thinking...

I've run tests on several machines and CCleaner's Registry Cleaner has
improved performance on nine of them -- as compared to exactly identical
machines without CCleaner.

DSH

 

[John John]

That is an absurd claim, cleaning the registry does not improve performance.

John

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Twaddle...

My experience proves otherwise.

DSH

That is an absurd claim, cleaning the registry does not improve
performance.

John

 

[John John]

Bunk.

John

Twaddle...

My experience proves otherwise.

DSH

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Codswallop...

DSH

Bunk.

John

 

[Rudy]

Hi..........Quite interesting opinion/statement on Reg Clrs. How about
"Uninstaller Programs"?? Having a problem w/ trying to uninstall "Zone
Alarm"(Free Version).
Error messages .......missing...." vsutil.dll" & when
trying to use ZA uninstall feature...........error
message..........".Uninstall resources not available."
Thought you may shed some lite on this problem. Any
ideas/solutions are appreciated....................Thxxxx.............Rudy
[[email protected]]...delete no spam

Nonsense...

CCleaner is safe as a Registry Cleaner....

CCleaner's registry scanner seems relatively benign, as long as you
step through each detected "issue" one at a time, to determine if it
really is an "issue" or not, and then decide whether or not to let the
application "fix" it. In my testing, though, most of the reported
"issues" won't be issues, at all. I tried the latest 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.

CCleaner's sole strength, and the only reason I use it, lies in its
usefulness for cleaning up unused temporary files from the hard drive;
as a registry "cleaner," it's not significantly better or worse than any
other snake oil product of the same type.

And improves performance.

Utterly untrue. *NO* registry "cleaner" has ever been proven to
improve performance; the actions they perform are not the sort that
could have any affect on a computer's performance.


--

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

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

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?_db_=B4=AF`=B7.._=3E=3C=29=29=29=BA]

you are correct
about the performance
of the registry database
file and thousands would
agree as well as Microsoft.

in fact, microsoft invented
the first registry cleaner because
maintaining the database was
as critical then as it is now.

now microsoft certified technicians
not only redeveloped their registry
cleaner but wrote a whole page on
the subject:

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

isn't humorous how
some believe that they are
more knowledgeable
on windows than
microsoft is???

don't spend too much
time debating the issue.
some of these guys are
habitual antagonist and
disruptive and enjoy
manipulation and a reason
to use name calling.

the facts are clear and
microsoft facts relating
to its registry is the final
word regarding this issue.

(you know that they are
likely hypocrites because
they likely used registry
cleaners themselves)

incidentally, you might
enjoy the newsgroup if
you use a killfile to filter
out the irritations.
--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Unknown]

What makes you think this is a Microsoft program?

you are correct
about the performance
of the registry database
file and thousands would
agree as well as Microsoft.

in fact, microsoft invented
the first registry cleaner because
maintaining the database was
as critical then as it is now.

now microsoft certified technicians
not only redeveloped their registry
cleaner but wrote a whole page on
the subject:

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

isn't humorous how
some believe that they are
more knowledgeable
on windows than
microsoft is???

don't spend too much
time debating the issue.
some of these guys are
habitual antagonist and
disruptive and enjoy
manipulation and a reason
to use name calling.

the facts are clear and
microsoft facts relating
to its registry is the final
word regarding this issue.

(you know that they are
likely hypocrites because
they likely used registry
cleaners themselves)

incidentally, you might
enjoy the newsgroup if
you use a killfile to filter
out the irritations.
--




.

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

<G>

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

Yes, they are not-too-smart, narrow-minded technicians who have seen pogues
misuse Registry Cleaners and want to proscribe them for ALL of us.

Bruce Chambers seems to be one of the worst of them.

I would certainly concur that an unguided Registry Cleaner in the hands of a
Naive Newbie is a dangerous weapon indeed.

But I've found the Registry Cleaner in CCleaner to be BOTH safe and
effective.

'Nuff Said.

DSH