T
TBLUHP
What is a good registry cleaner and spyware cleaner? that are free...
K
Ken Blake, MVP
TBLUHP said:
The best registry cleaner is no registry cleaner. I always recommend
against the routine use of registry cleaners. Routine cleaning of the
registry isn't 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 registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit it may
have.
Note what Eric Howes, who has done extensive testing on Anti-Spyware
products, states:
"No single anti-spyware scanner removes everything. Even the best-performing
anti-spyware scanner in these tests missed fully one quarter of the
"critical" files and Registry entries" See
http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-test-guide.htm
I recommend a combination of
Spybot Search and Destry
Adaware
Spyware Blaster.
B
Bruce Chambers
TBLUHP said:
By "good," I assume you mean the one least likely to render your
computer completely unusable? CCleaner 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 experience, most of the reported
"issues" won't be issues, at all. (CCleaner's registry "tool" is a
great source of false alarms. 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 main strength lies in its
usefulness for cleaning up unused temporary files from the hard drive.
Why do you think you 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 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.
To deal with issues caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware," such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Smiley Central, Xupiter, Bonzai
Buddy, or KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but
without understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions. It's even possible
to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system against most
future intrusions. I use both and generally perform manual scans every
week or so to clean out cookies, etc.
Additionally, manual removal instructions for the most common
varieties of scumware are available here:
PC Hell Spyware and Adware Removal Help
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml
More information and assistance is available at these sites:
Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
The Parasite Fight
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
--
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
P
Plato
R
Rock
TBLUHP said:
Avoid registry cleaners. They create more problems then they are worth.
For spyware and other such malware, no one program does it all. You
need to run a combination of them. Some good free ones are Adaware SE,
Spybot S&D, MS Defender, HiJackThis, and Spyware Blaster (this doesn't
do active scanning but helps prevent infection). Here are some links
with info on dealing with malware.
THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
PC Hell Spyware and Adware Removal Help
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.spywareinfo.com
A
antioch
TBLUHP said:
I used one once and never ever again - mind you I had no technical abilities
then and have only a few now.
It was a market leader at the time and I did one of those free registry
scans - it frightened the life out of me when it showed all the stuff that
should not still be in the registry.
So I used it and crashed - had no backup - had to completely reinstall
everything all over again.
And I had no knowledge of newsgroups then either - so it cost me to get it
all fixed.
You make the choice - its up to you
Rgds
Antioch