Registry cleaner

[Jim Brown]

I am running Windows XP Home. What is the best most reliable registry
cleaner for this system?

 

[R. McCarty]

None - unless you want to take a working PC and place it at risk
of becoming erratic. Registry Cleaning is similar to the effect of a
Fuel enhancer like STP. You may image it helps but there is little
if any proof that it does. About the only left-overs of a uninstalled
app might be a startup service ( Norton products specifically ) but
those can be handled by a manual change.
There are far more effective routine maintenance operations for a
PC that deliver "Real" benefits than Registry Cleaning.

 

[John John (MVP)]

None of them are reliable! Those cleaners do more harm than good, don't
bother with them, they aren't needed. If you feel a need to "clean"
something go in the attic and clean the cobwebs off the rafters, it will
provide more benefit than any registry cleaner ever will...

John

 

[Big_Al]

I am running Windows XP Home. What is the best most reliable registry
cleaner for this system?

I know everyone hates them. But I use Tune Up Utilities 2008 and its
system cleaner and registry cleaner.

But the main issue, and everyone is saying it, they can delete too much.
I watch very closely what they delete. History yes, IE cache yes,
Firefox cache yes, temp files yes, etc. But when it gets to registry,
I kinda look for things I know are deleted and uncheck all the other
items.

Be smart and you may not have an issue. I do mine once a quarter or
so, and I do a full backup image and put in the reason why. I'm
ready to repair it, and I have 90 days to see if it did any long term
harm.

Its bad when you have to backup before running programs now a days.
But so is life and thus part of the reason people advise not to.

 

[Bob I]

RegEdit.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

This is a regular asked question. The simple answer is: If you are do not
feel competent or confident to manually edit the registry, then leave well
alone.

In most cases registry cleaners cause more problems than they solve.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurferguide.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

None. Think your Registry needs "cleaning" or "repairing"? Read
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099 and draw your own conclusions.

 

[db.·.. >]

the best registry cleaner
for microsoft windows
is the one made by
microsoft:

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

 

[Bill in Co.]

Here we go again....

the best registry cleaner
for microsoft windows
is the one made by
microsoft:

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

 

[smlunatick]

the best registry cleaner
for microsoft windows
is the one made by
microsoft:

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

n(Onecare) has never been reliable and now you want to recommend it
for a registry cleaner???

 

[db.·.. >]

its highly reliable on
my machines and mine
work in utter perfection.

so i can't vouch for
yours.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

the best registry cleaner
for microsoft windows
is the one made by
microsoft:

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

n(Onecare) has never been reliable and now you want to recommend it
for a registry cleaner???

 

[Bill in Co.]

n(Onecare) has never been reliable and now you want to recommend it
for a registry cleaner???

Well, for sure! Just like he probably recommends setting one's word wrap
to one inch per line, like he does.

 

[Alec S.]

Bob I wrote (in

RegEdit.

You know, for the most part that actually can work for both deleting stuff /and/
for compacting/defragging. Of course you’ll need to boot into safe mode, or even
better another copy of Windows.

 

[Alec S.]

its highly reliable on

my machines and mine
work in utter perfection.

so i can't vouch for
yours.

Then your advice is of limited usefullness. The best advice is that which takes
into consideration the variety of system configurations and user knowledge. Of
course everyone can forget now and then, but you have to try to keep in mind
that not all users and their systems are like you and yours.


Bill in Co. wrote (in news:[email protected]):

Well, for sure! Just like he probably recommends setting one's word wrap
to one inch per line, like he does.

Well it is readable and does stand out doesn’t it? You can’t condemn him for his
style if it isn’t horrible, which it’s not. Maybe you prefer everything to look
and be formatted exactly alike, do away with CSS altogether?


smlunatick wrote (in

n(Onecare) has never been reliable and now you want to recommend it
for a registry cleaner???

I’ve never used Onecare myself, but I would think that if it’s from Microsoft
that it would be fairly safe and/or useful; they would know how their own
product works and how to maintain it—well, presumably. Of course this
application may be aquired rather than written in-house, which would mean that
it would be better to wait for them to go through it from scratch.



Either way, there’s usually little to be gained from these tools, even for
advanced users.

 

[db.·.. >]

just because your
configuration is
all screwed up,
doesn't mean every
one else's is.

 

[Plato]

I am running Windows XP Home. What is the best most reliable registry
cleaner for this system?

None, there is no best. You'll have to experiement with several to find
out what you like:

http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
Windows XP Specific
REGISTRY AND SYSTEM CLEANERS

and

http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
REGISTRY AND SYSTEM MAINTENANCE

 

[Kayman]

I am running Windows XP Home. What is the best most reliable registry
cleaner for this system?

Why I don¢t use registry cleaners!
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

I'd use CCleaner ignoring the registry scanning/fixing option followed by
using NTREGOPT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I am running Windows XP Home. What is the best most reliable registry
cleaner for this system?

The best registry cleaner is *NO* registry cleaner.

A registry cleaner - even a safe one, should such ever be developed
someday - is, at best, an exercise in futility. There is no need for
registry cleaners, other than to provide a profit to their
manufacturers. On rare occasions, registry cleaners can be, in the
hands of a skilled technician, useful, time-saving diagnostic tools.
Otherwise, they're nothing but snake oil.

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
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

 

[Daave]

I know. What an ultramaroon!

That's like saying that the best partitioning tool is the Windows Disk
Management tool because Microsoft made it!

Ben's critical thinking skills leave a lot to be desired. I hope he's
not a registered voter.

To the OP, it should be clear that those who are familiar with this
issue are pretty much all saying that there is no concrete, objective,
verifiable evidence that registry "cleaning" is beneficial to a PC's
performance. Furthermore, although unlikely, it's possible to do some
serious damage if you use a registry "cleaner" (and many have done just
this). Also keep in mind that there are many rogue programs that claim
to clean the registry, but they are actually malicious programs that
constantly get in the way, prodding you to purchase their full product.

To keep your system in tiptop shape, see the following:

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

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Genl_Computer_Info

 

[Carl Kaufmann]

its highly reliable on
my machines and mine
work in utter perfection.

so i can't vouch for
yours.

Counter point: It will kill an UltraVNC installation.

Carl