Registry Cleaners

Seems like there's been one of these threads running perpetually for three years. The advice never varies.

To make it easier I've created this video Tutorial on the Use of Registry Cleaners in Win7

Pilgrim said:

There are two underlying issues at the bottom of this and many other things, one is what I shall call the 'technical' issue; are certain things essential/necessary?
The other is the 'personal' issue; what do I want on my computer, how do I want it to run?
For me the second will always take precedence over the first.

That's all fine. I'm not one to tell people how to maintain their PC.
I've got my own PC festishes, as does everybody.
I used to use reg cleaners with no ill effect for years. Also saw no benefits.
Also hacked many reg entries with no ill effects. Just have to be careful.
I'm sure some folks screw up with that.
When I learned - either with XP or Win 7 - that reg cleaners miss a whole lot, and imaging became practical, I stopped using them.
I'm not a reg expert, but I'm pretty sure that reg cleaners don't pick up keys.
Think I found out by doing before and after reg compares with install/uninstalls.
That found a lot of junk that a reg cleaner didn't.
If you could see some of the useless junk in the registry it would make your skin crawl. Unless you adjust your attitude, and don't let it bother you.
Somebody here said even a clean install puts a lot of "junk" in the registry - or at least entries a reg cleaner wants to delete.
Anyway, I don't worry about the registry anymore, since I'm already crazy about having a "clean" system image.
Only real "maintainence" I've done on Win 7, beyond the normal file cleanups, is run the SP1 cleanup.
Windows 7 SP1 Disk Cleanup Tool
Think I got about a 4gb reduction in image size from that.
That's a tangible result showing up every time I image/restore.
Might consider putting a Sysprepped image as "image maintainence," and I do that now, but don't have a schedule for it yet.
Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer
Everybody has their own and other peoples' experience to go by, then they decide what suits them.

Back in the XP days, I used a third party registry cleaner once, with tragic results. Since then, particularly now with Win 7, I don't bother. Besides, I usually do a fresh install once a year, so, the whole topic of registry cleaners is a non-starter for me.

I use CCleaner once every 4 months or if I've uninstalled something and it's left Shell extentions, Autoplay entries that the uninstaller failed to remove. I wouldn't use any other reg cleaner, from past experience they have just created more problems.

Pilgrim said:

Victor S,

As for the second link, I created a number of images using the OS and when I checked the recovery option it could not find them, that was before I 'cleaned' anything. I'll stick with third party imaging software.

You may have misunderstood that. I use Ghost 15 myself for imaging.
It's the Sysprep, and having a sysprepped image that I find important.
That may be a bridge too far for many, but not for me.

ignatzatsonic said:

Pilgrim said:

Since my previous post I installed the trial version of RFA and ran a scan, it found 509 keys that it considers unnecessary

Try this test:

Install Windows 7 on a clean drive.

Install nothing else.

Then install RFA or some other cleaner and see how many unnecessary keys it finds on this virgin Windows install.

Then ponder the results.

OK I'll bite,



Clean install about 15 minutes ago at the time of posting. No Windows Updates run, no drivers or anything else other than RFA installed.

Looks like the keys it's finding are it's own.

Almost all of these are sales scams.