Registry cleaners

sreedhav · 07 Feb 2011

Dear gregrocker,
QUOTE " But CCleaner remains perhaps the most respected single app in the tech world. " UNQUOTE.

A point well made and valid! Kudos! If one looks at the "registry cleaning" functions in Ccleaner, the last one is "MUI Cache" (snap below). So, i went Googling and found three pertinent points!
1)MS coined the MUI to mean" Multilingual User Interface" and it stopped there.

2) A Wilderssecurity post mentioned that MUI cache is a log of all the programs you have used from boot to shutdown and is virtually a spyware cookie's paradise!

3) A very detailed and tech-savvy explanation was given in : Scot's Newsletter Forums > MUI
by "inbfedsp" and his/her post starts off like this" I'm not sure what MUICache stands for but I know for sure that Windows uses HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache to cache location of icons and their string descriptions for various internal windows uses." and you may read the rest of the post in the link above.

There is no unanimity on what MUI stands for and whether to casually clear it or not is up for debate! This is not a theoretical expose', but it is (as said above) there in Ccleaner's registry cleanup functions! If you are pleased with my research, kindly tip me!
regards,
Sreedhav.

profdlp · 07 Feb 2011

whs said:

If you know what you are doing

This is the key - - if you know what you are doing, you can do a lot of things. But when it comes to the registry, I think most "average" users have no clue.

I think gsx1000r02's original post indicates a pretty fair knowledge level. (At the least. I don't mean to damn with faint praise. :) )

Using a registry tool to remove obsolete references to a removable drive doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. The fact that he's asking before diving in willy-nilly tells me he would be prudent in its use.

gregrocker said:

...Unfortunately the Registry Cleaner sales scams with no genius behind them have tarred the whole lot. But CCleaner remains perhaps the most respected single app in the tech world.

Agreed. :)

I think the main reason the Greek Chorus inevitably shows up in threads on this subject is due to the vast number of ripoffs and downright dangerous registry cleaner programs out there. But if someone asked about an email client we wouldn't all automatically reply that "95% of all email is spam - stay away from it", would we?

Coke Robot · 08 Feb 2011

Hmmm, I've used CleanMyPC registry cleaner on Xp, vista, and 7 and I've always seen overall system performance go up. The only time it went terribly wrong was when I used the vista version on 64 bit 7....completely killed it.

Honestly, from my years of experience, registry cleaners DO help. For example, with Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 being a pretty major software package installed on your machine, when you uninstall it it commits jihad on the registry. Boot time goes from a solid 30 seconds to over a minute. Windows Explorer can act like vista, you open more than two windows and it freaks out. With a decent registry cleaner, it can take errors out and also defrag it. That's actually the most important there, defragmentation of the registry. Make sure the program you use has defragmentation capabilities.

And also, with use of 7 and registry cleaning and defragging, I can tell you for sure that the most you'll ever do it is probably one or two times every two weeks. Unless if you constantly install and uninstall major software that is. The NT 6.1 kernel is much more stable than 6.0. Yep.

slojo99 · 08 Feb 2011

Confessions from the congregation -

Found a Registry software program on a different Win7 forum that was "highly recommended as a Microsoft Gold certified program". Broke from my usual position of ignoring everyone elses recommedations (i.e., REALLY desperate to get my machine working again!!) and bought it for $30. Followed their istructions to the T for install, scan, clean up and defrag. Results??? Completely screwed up my machine (even worse then when I started).

Turns out I ended up shutting it down, recovering my system to prior to using the registry software, and finally finding people here who know what they are talking about when they say "just leave it alone"!!

Do yourself a favor - step away from the registry on Win 7 - just leave it alone.

Thanks again to gregrocker for his help with that!

My two cents...

slojo99

sreedhav · 08 Feb 2011

SIW2 said:

To answer the OP's question - doesn't wise run on 7 ? - I think it does.

If you know what you are doing - you should be able to identify the entries with that.

WiseCleaner - Wise Registry Cleaner Free

Dear SIW2,
You have made the point very well! I have never seen any reg.cleaner giving reasons as to why a particular reg. entry should not be removed! Very glad you gave us the link to check it out for ourselves! THERE IS NO HARM IN ADMITTING THAT I HAVE NOT GOT IT RIGHT (pardons for the bold type)! A rep. is on your way into your already fat bank balance!

. Kindly view the snaps below:

Ciara · 08 Feb 2011

After going 64-bit a few days ago I have no reg cleaner installed and wont be installing any ... on the good advice of established members here at Windows Severn Forums, and my system is running very smooth :)

Coke Robot · 08 Feb 2011

Wow, that is pretty interesting that a majority of people seem to have had bad experiences with registry cleaners or recommend against them. Wait...I just remembered. In my days with Xp, I believe I tested out about.....four or five different programs. I ended up using CleanMyPC ever since and like I said, used it on Xp, vista, and 7, no issues other than that one time using an older version of it on 64 bit of 7. That was my fault because I didn't bother checking for product updates for. I had that older version on 32 bit of 7 and it identified it as vista and it worked great.

Sometimes when a registry program is Microsoft Gold Certified, I'd question that since that could just be a marketing ploy.

I vote for cleaners since I sure as hell am not going to spend time reinstalling Windows every year or so and having to suffer through a non-Windows 7 type of experience.

techcal · 09 Feb 2011

Many years ago, I used a registry cleaner on XP..nuked my system completely.
Since then, I've avoided registry cleaners like the plague, and I have seen no benefit from it when my friends use it on their systems.

Ccleaner is a great disk cleaning utility, but I still wouldn't use its registry cleaning functions. YMMV ofcourse.

RandyD123 · 09 Feb 2011

If you need to "clean" your registry, you might just as well back everything up and do a re-install from a formatted disk.

Matt2488 · 11 Feb 2011

Comodo System Cleaner is good.

People say registry cleaners aren't exactly needed for W7, but I still use one regardless to clean up temporary files, certain privacy files, and standard disc cleanup with it because it works better than CCleaner and the windows disc cleanup.

I think Comodo System Cleaner works better than the CCleaner, mostly because have WAY more options, disk cleaner, privacy, registry, file shredder, and etc. Really the only time I use the registry cleaner is to clean up uninstall locations.

Comodo System Cleaner also features a feature called Safe Delete, which prevents it from deleting vital files or registry keys. But if that fails it automatically makes restore points just in case.