Registry cleaner recommendation?

[mm]

Can you recommend a good registry cleaner for XP.

I used to have one that took every registry entry in turn that
referred to a file and looked for that file. That's the kind of
process I would like to do.

Regcleaner is very famous, but I can't figure out how to do that with
it. If not, some other program would be fine.

Also an you tell me if Regcleaner by Jouni Vuorio lets you look at the
entries before it removes them, even if you have specified a program.
I'm sure it does, but the readme file doesn't say.

Thanks a lot, MM

Background:
Normally I don't run any registry cleaner, because of the
discouragement I get here and other newsgroups.

But this time, I have netbook that I just devirusied for a friend and
a) AVG Free 11 says it has almost 500 bad registry entries. It
doesn't provide for removing them (probalby want you to buy
something). It does display the location, although not the key or
value. That's not enough for me to know if it is bad or not.

b) this it the last maintenance it will get for a long time. The owner
doesn't do anything but use it.

c) I figure some of the entries may well be for viruses I deleted,
OTOH, what difference does it make if I deleted them. If she gets a
new virus, it will make its own entry in the registry.

 

[kerneldebugger]

Can you recommend a good registry cleaner for XP.

I used to have one that took every registry entry in turn that
referred to a file and looked for that file. That's the kind of
process I would like to do.

Regcleaner is very famous, but I can't figure out how to do that with
it. If not, some other program would be fine.

Also an you tell me if Regcleaner by Jouni Vuorio lets you look at the
entries before it removes them, even if you have specified a program.
I'm sure it does, but the readme file doesn't say.

Thanks a lot, MM

Background:
Normally I don't run any registry cleaner, because of the
discouragement I get here and other newsgroups.

But this time, I have netbook that I just devirusied for a friend and
a) AVG Free 11 says it has almost 500 bad registry entries. It
doesn't provide for removing them (probalby want you to buy
something). It does display the location, although not the key or
value. That's not enough for me to know if it is bad or not.

b) this it the last maintenance it will get for a long time. The owner
doesn't do anything but use it.

c) I figure some of the entries may well be for viruses I deleted,
OTOH, what difference does it make if I deleted them. If she gets a
new virus, it will make its own entry in the registry.

I recommend CCleaner based upon many years of satisfactory use,
and never a problem.

http://www.piriform.com/

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can you recommend a good registry cleaner for XP.

I *strongly* recommend against *all* registry cleaners.

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

and http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099

and also
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussin.../02/registry-junk-a-windows-fact-of-life.aspx

Let me point out that neither I nor anyone else who warns against the
use of registry cleaners has ever said that they always cause
problems. If they always caused problems, they would disappear from
the market almost immediately. Many people have used a registry
cleaner and never had a problem with it.

Rather, the problem with a registry cleaner is that it carries with it
the substantial *risk* of having a problem. And since there is no
benefit to using a registry cleaner, running that risk is a very bad
bargain.

 

[Tester]

I recommend CCleaner based upon many years of satisfactory use,
and never a problem.

http://www.piriform.com/

Always download the slim version so that you don't have all the useless
toolbar with the installation:

<http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/slim>

hth

 

[John Doe]

Let me point out that neither I nor anyone else who warns
against the use of registry cleaners has ever said that they
always cause problems.

If yours is a form reply, you should change that part to something
that sounds realistic. Maybe a little less wordy too.

 

[mm]

I recommend CCleaner based upon many years of satisfactory use,
and never a problem.

http://www.piriform.com/

Wow. Well don't I feel stupid. She already has CCleaner installed,
and I used it after I got windows to start, and again later, but I
didn't see any registry stuff. I looked and looked. Even after I
read your post I didn't see it, and I had to go to the website to see
what the currennt version is. There I noticed that the current
version isn't much higher than hers, and the logo for the registry,
and then I looked again and found the logo on the screen. Maybe I'm
not stupid but I am slow.

It only found about 112 issues. Even though everything in the left
column is checked, although maybe it counts differently, if there is
away to do that.

It will take me a while to compare this list with the AVG list.

She would never have installed anything, but when her father was sick,
her brother-in-law bought two identical computers and got the computer
department where he works to set them up. Because she has only 16
gigs of solid state memory, I guess someone thought there should be a
way to get rid of anything not needed.

She has 3.5 empty gig on the 16 gig C: drive, and basically 2 gig
empty on the 2 gig built in USB E: drive.

Thanks!

 

[John Doe]

Well, I can think of at least one "benefit" to using an
automatic, "one button does it all", non-interactive registry
cleaner: You just may get to test the reliability of your
backup (image or clone) program, in case you've haven't had that
"opportunity" yet.

I have taken advantage of many opportunities to use a known good
copy of Windows. And a backup copy is what makes my system
extremely flexible. I have used the mentioned registry cleaner and
do not recall experiencing a problem that I could attribute to it.
So the question remains.

 

[mm]

Always download the slim version so that you don't have all the useless
toolbar with the installation:

<http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/slim>

Thanks. I didn't know about that. I've avoided toolbars since one of
them messed me up, (although I got rid of it with the alt/View/Toolbar
option). I think if I took all the toolbars offered, there would be
all bars and no space left on my screen.

 

[mm]

I recommend CCleaner based upon many years of satisfactory use,
and never a problem.

http://www.piriform.com/

Wow. Well don't I feel stupid. She already has CCleaner installed,
and I used it after I got windows to start, and again later, but I
didn't see any registry stuff. I looked and looked. Even after I
read your post I didn't see it, and I had to go to the website to see
what the currennt version is. There I noticed that the current
version isn't much higher than hers, and the logo for the registry,
and then I looked again and found the logo on the screen. Maybe I'm
not stupid but I am slow.

It only found about 112 issues. Even though everything in the left
column is checked, although maybe it counts differently, if there is
away to do that.

It will take me a while to compare this list with the AVG list.

She would never have installed anything, but when her father was sick,
her brother-in-law bought two identical computers and got the computer
department where he works to set them up. Because she has only 16
gigs of solid state memory, I guess someone thought there should be a
way to get rid of anything not needed.

She has 3.5 empty gig on the 16 gig C: drive, and basically 2 gig
empty on the 2 gig built in USB E: drive.

Thanks!

 

[mm]

My first, bottom posted answer doesn't show up, though I've posted it
twice. This is topposted so I can tell the difference.


Wow. Well don't I feel stupid. She already has CCleaner installed,
and I used it after I got windows to start, and again later, but I
didn't see any registry stuff. I looked and looked. Even after I
read your post I didn't see it, and I had to go to the website to see
what the currennt version is. There I noticed that the current
version isn't much higher than hers, and the logo for the registry,
and then I looked again and found the logo on the screen. Maybe I'm
not stupid but I am slow.

It only found about 112 issues. Even though everything in the left
column is checked, although maybe it counts differently, if there is
away to do that.

It will take me a while to compare this list with the AVG list.

She would never have installed anything, but when her father was sick,
her brother-in-law bought two identical computers and got the computer
department where he works to set them up. Because she has only 16
gigs of solid state memory, I guess someone thought there should be a
way to get rid of anything not needed.

She has 3.5 empty gig on the 16 gig C: drive, and basically 2 gig
empty on the 2 gig built in USB E: drive.

Thanks!


Ken, I havent' done this yet. I'll think about what you said.

 

[mm]

Can you recommend a good registry cleaner for XP.

I used to have one that took every registry entry in turn that
referred to a file and looked for that file. That's the kind of
process I would like to do.

Regcleaner is very famous, but I can't figure out how to do that with
it. If not, some other program would be fine.

Also an you tell me if Regcleaner by Jouni Vuorio lets you look at the
entries before it removes them, even if you have specified a program.
I'm sure it does, but the readme file doesn't say.

Thanks a lot, MM
.....

Wow, what should I make of this?

I tried to compare the registry checking results of AVG Free and of
CCleaner.

It wan't easy because their categories have little similarity.

But in the process, in CCcleaner, at the end, I found three items
labeled Missing Startup Softeware.

Two of them were Verizon programs, and she and I both use Verizon DSL.
The other was sttray.exe.

Now I know the startup pretty well, because I've been devirusing her
computer and I also went through her startup files very carefully, and
unchecked several program in msconfig that didn't relate to her needs.

But these three were important, and so just now I followed their
directory struccture, and all three of them were there, where the
registry and msconfig said they were!!! And they weren't zero
length, either. One was two megs. They were all listed under
HKLM\software\Microsoft\Windows\currentversion\Run .

In what way were they Missing Startup Software??

Then I looked in the AVG list, and two of them were there, too!!! And
there was a third one there under startup, but it only gave the
Registry address, Run\SystrayApp. That might be the same as sttray,
but I'm not sure.

Unless you can explain this to me, it shakes my faith in both AVG and
CCleaner!!!

 

[Tester]

I tried to compare the registry checking results of AVG Free and of
CCleaner.

First you are not comparing like with like. AVG is an Anti-virus
software; Ccleaner is a tool to clear all the temp files and cache left
by Browsers. Cleaner can also safely remove orphaned registry entries
without affecting the performance of your system. Some people don't use
this particular aspect of Ccleaner because people like Ken Blake keeps
telling them to stay away from this. I have had no problems and I
always use it on my system once a month.

Ccleaner also has a "Tools" item that can allow you to uninstall
programs that cannot be uninstalled with Windows uninstall process.

If you don't have any trouble with your system then you don't need to
use anything. We always say if it ain't broken, don't fix it!

HTH

 

[milt]

Well, I can think of at least one "benefit" to using an automatic, "one
button does it all", non-interactive registry cleaner: You just may get to
test the reliability of your backup (image or clone) program, in case you've
haven't had that "opportunity" yet.

Bahahaha nice. Finally, someone has found a use for those useless
registry cleaners!

 

[milt]

Can you recommend a good registry cleaner for XP.

No such thing. There is no need or benefit to registry "cleaners". It
does not need to be "cleaned" or "optimized". Best case, you might gain
a few milliseconds here and there when the computer scans the registry
for whatever it may need. Worst case, your computer becomes a corrupted
mess.

 

[mm]

Bahahaha nice. Finally, someone has found a use for those useless
registry cleaners!

I don't get it. Can you use any registry cleaner/checker on a
registry that is not the registry in use? Don't you have to boot
with the clone partition to get a registry cleaner to tell you if the
clone registrry is good or not? And if you booted with it, it must be
pretty good, right?

It would be nice if you could specify which is the registry file.
Someone else posted a need for that somewhere -- I can't remember what
it was -- but does any program allow that?

 

[mm]

First you are not comparing like with like. AVG is an Anti-virus
software;

There not as unlike as you imply. AVG Free 11 has a new section
called PC Analyser, and it will list Registry Errors, Junk Files,
Fragmentation, and Broken Shortcuts. It shows 495 registry errors.

Ccleaner is a tool to clear all the temp files and cache left
by Browsers. Cleaner can also safely remove orphaned registry entries
without affecting the performance of your system. Some people don't use
this particular aspect of Ccleaner because people like Ken Blake keeps
telling them to stay away from this.

Well it's not just Ken in this case. Did you see that of the 112
issues that CCleaner found, 3 of them that I noticed looked like they
weren't issues at all. You snipped most of my previous post but I
explained it there.

I have had no problems and I
always use it on my system once a month.

That's really not proof it won't hurt me, right? I have one aunt who
lived to 102 and another who died of cancer when she was 50.

Ccleaner also has a "Tools" item that can allow you to uninstall
programs that cannot be uninstalled with Windows uninstall process.

If you don't have any trouble with your system then you don't need to
use anything. We always say if it ain't broken, don't fix it!

Then why do you run CCleaneer once a month?

 

[Tester]

There not as unlike as you imply. AVG Free 11 has a new section
called PC Analyser, and it will list Registry Errors, Junk Files,
Fragmentation, and Broken Shortcuts. It shows 495 registry errors.

Ignore that completely because their experience is limited in such things.

 

[mm]

Yup.
Houston, I think we have liftoff.
A word to the wise is sufficient.

Okay, so it's wrong. Now I'm incredibly curious why both programs are
wrong in the same way, and how they could be wrong. How they could
possibly be wrong.

Doesn't the program just check for the existence of the file named in
the registry. If I can find it, why can't the program?

"If exist" and "If not exist" are conditions I see almost everywhere,
in languages 20 years old, at least.

(I know I should go look at the entry and maybe I'll see something,
but it's late.)

 

[milt]

Yup.
Houston, I think we have liftoff.
A word to the wise is sufficient.

Yup, its also been shown that registry "cleaners" find a ton of errors
in a freshly installed system, before the person has installed a thing,
now, how could that be possible? Simple, it can't! Unless one believes
MS doesn't know how to get their own OS to install without putting junk
in the registry, and that seems very highly improbable!

Seems this one is learning..

 

[Peter Foldes]

mm

All registry Cleaners are snake oil remedies. It is a fallacy that your system will
speed up and run faster and you will save a lot of space.
All it is good for is to make your computer inoperable.
You will find people posting that they have been using Registry Cleaning tools for a
long time without any problems. This is not true . It is a Russian Roulette tool
which when lucky nothing will happen and when unlucky then obviously you know the
result.
Yesterday on one of the MS Forums there was a OP who posted that he used the
Registry Tool of Cleaner and he is not able to start up his girlfriend computer
after the use. He was one that always boasted that Registry cleaners is the tool to
use .
Go figure,he finally found the Russian Roulette that was very evasive according to
him

--
Peter
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