Good registry/hard disk cleaners

Orbital Shark · 21 Apr 2009

I've been a fan of Registry Mechanic for years now and have used it on every computer i've had, and sometimes on 1's i've fixed. I have, however, not installed it on Windows 7. I don't know if this is the technician in me or what, but i'm keeping my 7077 as clean as possible.

Untill I installed Windows 7 I was happily running Vista Ultimate and even installed Tuneup Utilities 2009. This was IMO excellent for cleaning my hard disk of unwanted junk and it even cleaned the registry. Again, i've not installed it on Windows 7.

My question is....

What is the best software for cleaning up your registry & hard disk?

Here's what I would like....

Scenario: Install a program, run it until it's finished (or until i'm bored). Uninstall the program, using Windows Add/Remove programs.

This will no doubt leave remnants within the registry & on the hard disk.

Solution: Run registry a cleaner to find any keys relating to the uninstalled software, then run hard disk cleaner to eliminate remnants on the hard disk.

There are several Uninstall programs available which supposedly do this all in 1. The only thing is after using Perfect Uninstaller, Final Uninstaller, Your Uninstaller & Tuneup Utilities 2009 i find that there are yet still keys & files left on the hard disk. Is it really that difficult to create a piece of software that actually uninstalls a program??

Open to ideas here

harmann · 21 Apr 2009

I used the Wise reg/hdd cleaners in the sticky above for free software. Somehow it made me unable to log on Live Messenger nor reinstall it. I made the grave mistake of not backing up the registry too

. Good thing I was about to do a clean upgrade to 7077.

So whatever cleaner you end up using, always backup and check what it's deleting first.

toolmister · 07 May 2009

I tried MoleskinSoft Disc Cleaner is a nice alternative to other programs. An intuitive easy-to-use interface and all-in-one tool for all your needs in order safely to clean your PC from temp and junk files and folders, also registry old keys. You shouldn't worry about. It deletes only what has to be deleted.

ces973 · 07 May 2009

Have you tried http://www.ccleaner.com? I use it pretty frequently and like it for getting rid of temporary internet files and fixing registry errors.

swarfega · 07 May 2009

The only one I trust is ccleaner. Ive had bad experiences with reg defraggers. Windows 7 must do things a bit differently from vista.

torrentg · 07 May 2009

Orbital, I highly recommend jv16 Powertools by Macecraft. Excellent reg cleaning and many other things too under all the OS, including 7. I use it on most aggressive possible to clean, use it all the time and it never causes any problems on 7 (or any other OS) to mess up. It can also backup all the changes you use it to make, but I never use this.

It's available out there, if ya know what I mean.

Orbital Shark · 07 May 2009

Cheers all, i'll look into them. I've used CCLEANER and it's a very good tool. I'm just skeptical as to the legitemacy of software that detects registry errors, even when it's installed after anything else.

garbanzo · 07 May 2009

try Revo Uninstaller. i swear by it!

XIII · 09 May 2009

I use the registry cleaner and registry defrag built into Advanced Uninstall Pro...
Its never caused any problems with W7 for me and cleans the system up suprisingly well, along with it having a installation monitor i thinks its the best alround piece of cleaning software available for W7 at this time!!!

Zirro · 10 May 2009

I ran Glary Uiltities registry cleaner on my old Vista installation.
Re-booted immediately after and boot time increased tenfold!
Fortunately it has undo changes functionality, but I won't use it again.
Have tried a few others and all have left me wary of registry cleaners.