Registry cleanup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Wray
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Wray

I would like to get a "really good" registry cleanup utility, whether free,
shareware, or commercial. I find it impossible to sort through all of the
decsriptions of this utility genre - they are all the fastest/bestest, etc.
I'm hoping the experienced gurus here can provide some realworld advice. I
am mainly interested in getting rid of all entries associated with a new
program install that I later decide to delete.

Any help will be most appreciated.
 
Jim said:
I would like to get a "really good" registry cleanup utility,
whether free, shareware, or commercial. I find it impossible to
sort through all of the decsriptions of this utility genre - they
are all the fastest/bestest, etc. I'm hoping the experienced gurus
here can provide some realworld advice. I am mainly interested in
getting rid of all entries associated with a new program install
that I later decide to delete.

Any help will be most appreciated.
Click to expand...


Having seen the results of inexperienced people using automated
registry "cleaners," I can only advise to you to avoid them all.

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, you also lack the knowledge and experience
to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner, no matter
how safe they claim to be.

I always use Regedit.exe. I trust my own experience and judgment
far more than I would any automated registry cleaner.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH
 
I'm not talking about an "automatic cleanup" utility...I'm talking about a
tool that can assist in the drudge work by hiliting any changes made to the
registry during an install (who knows what an installer will do?) and
presents them in such a fashion that facilitates the manual cleanup
process...it doesn't make any sense to not take advantage of such tools.
 
Hi Jim:

You might want to check out the "PCMAG.COM" web site and
their Utility download section for a program that keeps
track of all the files that are added to the registry when
you install a new program. I read about this program some
time ago in my PC Magazine, and I think it is exactly what
you are looking for. As I remember, it will allow you to
remove each and every file that was added to the registry
for a given program that you had installed earlier.

It was, as I remember, not an "automated" registry cleaner
but rather just a progarm that kept track of the files
that were added, and the ability to remove them at a later
date.

I hope this helps. By the way, I really think Microsoft
should include this type of option in their operating
systems. It sure would help to keep all the clutter out of
the registry, that's for sure.

Cheers
Frank.........
 
Hi Jim - Following is my "standard" reply about using Registry cleaners. In
your case you'll find two recommendations that will assist in what you want
to accomplish other than by using a Registry cleaner, Total Uninstall and
ERUNT/ERDNT. I don't normally link to paid software; however, when I
absolutely HAVE to use one for the exact purpose you mentioned, I use a paid
program called Registry First Aid ($21) available here:
http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/. I use it with great care and
primarly to identify things for me which I can then examine/edit with
Regedit or Regedt32. AT YOUR OWN RISK - This is NOT a recommendation for
any Registry cleaner.



In my experience all of these Reg cleaners, even the best, are fraught with
danger. I advise against using them except in one specific instance, that
is when you have one that is capable of doing specific Reg searches, and you
NEED (not just WANT) to remove the remaining traces of something that didn't
get uninstalled correctly. (and you didn't have foresight enough to install
it using Total Uninstall, http://www.geocities.com/ggmartau/tu.html or
direct dwnld here: http://files.webattack.com/localdl834/tun234.zip, in the
first place.)

Lastly, if you must screw around with your Registry, then at least get
Erunt/Erdnt, and run it before you do the Reg clean. You'll then have a
true restore available to you. Read below to see why you might not just
using the Reg cleaner's restore:

Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm I've set it up to
take a scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis,
and a Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject.

This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a "normal" Erdnt restore.) (BTW, it also
includes a Registry defragger program). Free, and very, very highly
recommended.

FYI, quoting from the above document:

"Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current
registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry keys.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
A while back I was concerned about cleaning up my system and had scanned with
a number of Spyware and Adware and Registry cleaners, but didn't know which
of the results are OK to delete---whether the infected files listed are items
that have been added to my system that I don't want or whether they are files
which my system does need but which have become corrupted. On the basis of
this thread, I guess I did well not to delete. But how does one who is NOT
experienced in registry matters clean up a system?? Programs recommended here
still only help people with the requisite knowledge and even then only in the
future. How do us 'simple folk' go about checking the health of our systems?

Janet
 
-----Original Message-----
A while back I was concerned about cleaning up my system and had scanned with
a number of Spyware and Adware and Registry cleaners, but didn't know which
of the results are OK to delete---whether the infected files listed are items
that have been added to my system that I don't want or whether they are files
which my system does need but which have become corrupted. On the basis of
this thread, I guess I did well not to delete. But how does one who is NOT
experienced in registry matters clean up a system?? Programs recommended here
still only help people with the requisite knowledge and even then only in the
future. How do us 'simple folk' go about checking the health of our systems?

Janet

the whole registry

.
WEll, it's apparent that everyone pretty much has the
Click to expand...
same opinion about fooling around with the registry and I
will have to agree, to a point. I think "Bruce" had
probably the best solution. That's to get yourself very
knowedgeable about the registry to begin with and then
know what you are doing with it.

However, I would suggest that anyone that wants a program
to just keep track of all the files that are added to the
registry and allows one to later remove or delete them,
should go to www.pcmag.com, click on "Downloads", then
search on "Registry Cleaner", then find the program that
was written by Neil Rubinking called "UnClean 2.0" and
read the article he wrote for the magazine regarding this
type of program. It's a bit lengthy but really tells the
story about what happens when programs are installed and
the Registry, as it were. Neil is probably, in my opinion,
one of the most knowledgeable and best computer
programmers that I know of.

And I still suggest that Neil's program "UnClean 2.0" is
one of the best for those that aren't really sure of what
they are doing regarding cleaning the registry !! I
don't "stump" for programs that are for sale, but I do
actively support Neil Rubenking's programs. There are NONE
better !!!

Everyone in this particular post question have some good
valid points and thanks to this newsgroup in general, many
problems are solved.

Cheers
Frank.........
 
If you use Adaware and SpyBot, in basic mode, for spyware removal you should
be safe. Both have an undo facility.
They are not the same as reg.cleaners, which the uninitiated should avoid
 
Hi Janet - Well, if you're concerned about malware impacts on your
Registry - Adware and Spyware - or viruses/trojans, then the changes they
make to your system are best dealt with by using good removal tools such as
an Anti-Virus and malware removal programs such as CWShredder, AdAware and
Spybot S&D which know how to deal with removals/changes from the Registry
safely . Attached are three of my "standard" posts aimed at the steps
necessary to treat with general and specific malware instances, and some
preventative measures to take as well, which contain links to appropriate
programs. Please read them carefully. (You might want to save/print them
out for future reference.)

Specific programs/procedures you might consider from these articles which
are appropriate to the subject under discussion are:

AdAware
SpyBot S&D
SysClean
HiJackThis (Read the tutorial and get help in the forums if you don't know
exactly what you're doing w/this one)
CWShredder

These programs should be run on a regular basis (I suggest at least once a
week). In addition, the following programs should be considered in
defensing your system to begin with:

SpywareBlaster - Very Highly Recommended
SpywareGuard
a good HOSTS file such as you can find here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm



Clearly you as a user have to become educated and do some work, but there
are tools out there to help. Perhaps this will help answer your questions.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
A while back I was concerned about cleaning up my system and
had scanned with a number of Spyware and Adware and Registry
cleaners, but didn't know which of the results are OK to delete
---whether the infected files listed are items that have been added
to my system that I don't want or whether they are files which my
system does need but which have become corrupted. On the
basis of this thread, I guess I did well not to delete. But how does
one who is NOT experienced in registry matters clean up a
system?? Programs recommended here still only help people with
the requisite knowledge and even then only in the future. How do
us 'simple folk' go about checking the health of our systems?
Click to expand...
Professionals do not "clean up" the registry of the computers that
they look after. There is no good reason to do so. It is rare that a
professional will need to even run the Registry Editor.

This is not because they can't be bothered. It's because "cleaning up"
the Registry is both unnecessary and **dangerous** to the system.

Cheers,

Cliff
 
There is no need, usually, to fiddle with the registry. Professionals
don't do it because it is unnecessary and dangerous. It is not
necessary to cleanup after an install that left stuff behind. It
doesn't make sense to risk the stability of your system by attempting
to "clean up" your registry.

It used to be necessary in earlier versions of Windows. It isn't any
more.

Cheers,

Cliff
 
Back
Top