Windows 7: Registry Cleaners

Are registry cleaners at all effective? I've heard they can be dangerous, and want to be sure.

CCleaner

I use it all the time and find it to be rather reliable.

Ok, thanks. I have been using that to clean out temporary files, but was not sure about its registry cleaner. I'll backup, just in case. Still, I'd like responses from multiple people so I won't mark the thread solved quite yet.

It offers to make backup of items its about to clean, just in case.

Good on you for seeking second opinion. It helps making more informed choices.

There's also 5 more threads on this discussion at the bottom of this page.

I use Ccleaner all the time as well, you'll get plenty of responses on this subject.

On a related note, I've been using ERUNT to backup the registry before messing with it. It does a fast easy backup, and restore if necessary.

I used to use ERUNT but have switched to Tweaking.com Registry Backup primarily because it uses Volume Shadow Copy to do the backup.

^^ Looks good. I'll check it out.

Have been using CCleaner for years, never had a problem with it. I use it periodically to clean the registry, and it seems to only delete invalid items. I also use it to uninstall hotfix installers which can take up many GB of space (once I am satisfied the HF didn't cause other issues). You need to select the option to do that.

Recently, I installed Driver Cleaner Pro 2012 when I momentarily lost my head. Normally I check utilities out before I install them, but this one I just went ahead and installed. After the scan found 8000 problems, I was mighty suspicious. When I googled it, I found it was a fake registry cleaner which only "fixes" problems if you buy their full version software (problems it created on its own, of course). Fortunately, I hadn't yet clicked on the "Fix problems" button, which apparently makes nasty registry changes to basically lock you in for life.

Stick with CCleaner.

DD.

I have used CCleaner on all of the machines I own or maintain, and have never had an issue with its registry cleaner. My take on CCleaner is this:


CCleaner is easily the least aggressive registry cleaner on the market, as it only finds the absolute most obvious issues..........Sort of like picking out the 25 yellow rocks in a pile of thousands of purple rocks.

Other cleaners try to pick out the light purple, dark purple, magenta and fuschia rocks, and that's when the problems begin.