Is it necessary to clean windows 7

asser · 02 Dec 2011

hello
i have used utilities,driver software,registry cleaners and so called maintance software like no other,it has cost me a small fortune.
today the only cleaning software i have on my system is Ccleaner,and why?
because the last piece of software(Powersuite from uniblue) detroyed my OS and i was adviced to set the laptop back to factory conditions,sad but absolutely nesccesary,i am a mcafee man and i purchased advanced trouble shooting from their website,and i have never seen anything like it,a very very talented woman was cleaning and correcting(from spain)my system for 56 minutes to be correct.
my question is is it safe to use ccleaner to clean registry,and is it nessecary on windows 7 home premium(64Bit) or is all that tweaking a load of .....?
Kind Regards Asser:)

pparks1 · 02 Dec 2011

Don't install lots of garbage on your machine. Use virtual machines to test software. Most of us do not use any kind of cleaning utility, and we don't recommend registry cleaners. if you are your wits end, and having a problem, Ccleaner is about the only application that is recommended.

panais · 02 Dec 2011

Hi.

Read also this post from yowanvista

Windows is a closed source system. Developers of tuneup utilities and registry cleaners do not have the core code of Win 7 and are not working on definitive information, but rather they are going on past knowledge and experience, most of which is not applicable to Win 7. Automatic cleaners will usually have to do some guesswork.

There is almost no tweaking that can be done to Win 7 to speed it up. The system is designed to diagnose itself and take care of itself which it does remarkably well. Win 7 maintains itself and that includes the registry.

System Optimizers are pure snake oil. At best they do nothing except use resources. At worst, they can mess your system up, slowing it down, and even crash it. There is no utility out there anywhere that can speed Win 7 up and improve its performance, at least not at this time.

Modifying registry keys incorrectly can cause Windows instability, or make Windows unbootable. No registry cleaner is completely safe and the potential is ever present to cause more problems than they claim to fix.

Registry cleaners cannot distinguish between good and bad. If you run a registry cleaner, it will delete all those keys which are obsolete and sitting idle; but in reality, those keys may well be needed by some programs or windows at a later time.

Windows 7 is much more efficient at managing the registry than previous Windows versions. Even if you use the CCleaner registry to delete keys left over when uninstalling programs, these few keys will not make 1 millisecond's difference in performance. If you run CCleaner or any other registry cleaner and do not know precisely what you are doing, you will have problems down the road. There are no gains to be had from using a registry cleaner and the risk is great.

Forget all the "wisdom" you learned about XP. Windows 7 is not XP and does not manage the registry the same as XP.

This isn't to say that the system does not need to be maintained. Uninstall programs that you don't use, delete unneeded and unnecessary files. Defrag your hard drive. But don't screw with the registry unless you are an in depth expert in the Win 7 registry.

Most of the time, the cure is a clean install. Using a program such as Ccleaner is fine to get rid of old and unnecessary files. A tuneup utility is not only unneeded, it can actually harm your system. Don't use them.

Devux · 02 Dec 2011

pparks1 said:

Don't install lots of garbage on your machine. Use virtual machines to test software. Most of us do not use any kind of cleaning utility, and we don't recommend registry cleaners. if you are your wits end, and having a problem, Ccleaner is about the only application that is recommended.

Much agreed. I use CCleaner to get rid of a bunch of the stuff generated from web browsing, but that's about it. I usually don't let it touch the registry, and on the rare occasion that I use the CCleaner registry scan tool, I look at EVERY entry before considering tinkering with it. All of the scam programs; Registry Booster, My Clean PC, etc will cause so much more harm than anything. If your computer is really in that bad a way, just reformat and start fresh. Leave the "wonder programs" to the suckers who are willing to pay for 'em.

seavixen32 · 02 Dec 2011

Windows 7 is good and doesn't need any tweaking as such.

Just install what you need, keep your anti-virus definitions up to date, use disk cleanup and a disk defragmenter occasionally, and you should be fine.

Once you've got your system set up how you want it, create a system image backup and use that to restore your system if necessary.

asser · 02 Dec 2011

Thanks a lot fellow users that was all i need to know

gregrocker · 02 Dec 2011

Most obvious is to get a Perfect Reinstall to get rid of the crapware you've collected and the damage it's done - compound optimizing will often ruin your OS. The worst crapware of all if MucAfee so bury it in the backyard after replacing with Microsoft Security Essentials

I use CCleaner Disk and Registry cleaner about every month or two, followed by Puran Defragger to get a superior boot-time scan with it's Intelligent Optimizer option checked on Options tab - this moves most-used files to the edge of the HD where they are read faster and speeds up things a bit.

Other than that the best thing you can do for performance besides adequate hardware is to run a Clean Boot. In msconfig>Startup uncheck everything except AV, then after reboots do the same in msconfig>Services after Hiding All MS Services. Check back periodically to see that nothing writes itself back in, or turn it off in its Program Prefs or Uninstall it. This shrugs off all of the freeloaders on your System resources at all times.

JMH · 02 Dec 2011

Re

my question is is it safe to use ccleaner to clean registry,and is it nessecary on windows 7 home premium(64Bit) or is all that tweaking a load of .....?

IMO - there is no reliable way for a third party program to know whether any particular key is invalid, redundant or neither. Some registry cleaners may not know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have.
This has led to examples of registry cleaners causing loss of functionality and/or system instability.

If you do not have knowledge of the registry, then you would probably be better off leaving it alone, and definitely not placing blind trust in a program to do the job for you.

Should you decide to go ahead -
Make sure you have
1.a current System Restore point created.
2.a recent "Back up" of your computer- preferably to an external HD.

asser · 03 Dec 2011

hi(again)
i recently purchased Winferno registry power cleaner,and i must admit i have just used it but i backed up both os and registry,this software automaticly does that,and boot time is for sure fast,is there any opinions regarding this speciffic product,it is a 2010 version,and i also purchased snapzip,and from where,mcafee off course.

Devux · 03 Dec 2011

McAfee is a resource hog, I speak from experience. Not as bad as symantec, but still bad. I use Avast, both the free and paid-for version a very light, and have caught everything I've thrown at it (on purpose) plus stuff I've stumbled upon from..."questionable" browsing.