Registry Cleaner Tests - Why NOT To Use One!

DBone · 04 Oct 2011

Thanks for the comments everyone. I guess my biggest surprise was just how many registry "errors" were found by both programs, but especially Auslogics, on a totally fresh install. The motive behind this was my 73yr old Dad called me earlier in the week to tell me he downloaded a program that really "Sped up his computer", and then a couple days later he called and said, "He had a failure to print error message all of a sudden". I did a system restore and we were lucky. I'm sure that these programs are capable of fixing a real issue caused by a rouge key, but the problem is that out of 57-149 keys displayed, the end user really has no clue as to which key(s) is really the culprit.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and reps everyone............Cheers to you all!

hybridfan · 04 Oct 2011

If you are computer savvy you would never need a reg cleaner, but for non geek/nerds I think Ccleaner is pretty good at what it does.

legacy7955 · 04 Oct 2011

Dbone:

Thanks for this post!

I have been quite vocal here around 7F warning beginners and even intermediate users of the potential damage that can be caused by using a registry cleaner. Yes, also many times it could be weeks or even months until the user discovers that a service they use has been damaged due to their use of the registry cleaner!

Simply put folks need to solve the root of the problem they are having and NOT go looking for general fixes that end up causing more problems then they solve. Windows 7 registry is quite complex. It is better to have a few small niggles and a usable OS than fixing one issue and potentially making the OS inoperable because the cleaner DAMAGED other critical entries!

THINK BEFORE YOU USE A REGISTRY CLEANER!!!!!!!!! It ain't worth the trouble 99.99% of the time!

jorpe · 05 Oct 2011

I've not had a single problem occasionally running the registry cleaner in Glary Utilities. I guess I'll stop though so no other problems end up creeping up without me knowing. Thanks for the helpful thread.

karlsnooks · 05 Oct 2011

Count me in with the people who have never had a problem caused by a registry cleaner.

the two I use are CCleaner and Auslogics.

I run CCleaner's registry cleaner at least once a day.

Why so often? two reasons: 1 to see what has been left behind in the registry by programs which I test (yep, I test a program before ever recommending a program here). I know that RevoUninstaller will also remove trash left behind but I don't count on everyone having RevoUninstaller Pro. 2: To catch, some but not all, of the registry entries made by the routers at the various coffee shops I frequent.

Incidentally, one of the worst offenders at leaving trash behind in the registry is Microsoft.

For a long while, I'd create a restore point before running CCleaner or Auslogics to be on the safe side, but since I never needed the restore points, then I stopped creating them.

A registry cleaner will not make your computer run faster or slower for that matter.

One modern computers, the size of the registry is of no concern, thus, you can't justify a registry cleaner on the basis that you've gained a few bytes.

The normal user has no need for a registry cleaner (and I'm the guy who runs CCleaner at least twice a day).

Some people have confused the registry cleaning and the file cleaning functions of CCleaner. The file cleaning/removal part of CCleaner should be used judiciously as some of the default settings can delete data which you may desire to keep, e.g., Word history, media player history, session history.

ickymay · 06 Oct 2011

karlsnooks said:

Incidentally, one of the worst offenders at leaving trash behind in the registry is Microsoft.

this line to me makes the point against registry cleaners

If the makers of the Operating System thought it was important to remove all old registry traces then they would be sure it happened where they where involved