Registry Cleaners in 2014

windude99 said:

I don't use any of that software. The closest I get is maybe an occasional Revo Uninstall, but even that I use rarely. Windows 7 manages itself well and the Disk Cleanup utility is pretty good. You can even clean up old updates that have been replaced which is not something (as far as I know) that you can do in CCleaner. I like to keep my Windows installations unmodified for the most part.

Before disk cleanup added that function, disk cleanup imho was not worth running. CCleaner was also faster. Since Microsoft added that function to disk cleanup (and ccleaner does not offer it, nor would I trust it for that function) I use both disk cleanup and then ccleaner.

Take note though:

Cleaning this stuff will not increase performance. The only time it does is when a pc has been running for 6 months to a year or more without any of the cleaning being done. For example, the only time you notice a improvement is when ccleaner cleans a 1GB or more off, then you will notice.

Windows does manage itself quite well. In windows xp days, ccleaner was almost a must.

In windows 7, it has maintenance checks and performance checks that run every 2 weeks and attempts to improve performance.

andrew129260 said:

windude99 said:

I don't use any of that software. The closest I get is maybe an occasional Revo Uninstall, but even that I use rarely. Windows 7 manages itself well and the Disk Cleanup utility is pretty good. You can even clean up old updates that have been replaced which is not something (as far as I know) that you can do in CCleaner. I like to keep my Windows installations unmodified for the most part.

Before disk cleanup added that function, disk cleanup imho was not worth running. CCleaner was also faster. Since Microsoft added that function to disk cleanup (and ccleaner does not offer it, nor would I trust it for that function) I use both disk cleanup and then ccleaner.

Take note though:

Cleaning this stuff will not increase performance. The only time it does is when a pc has been running for 6 months to a year or more without any of the cleaning being done. For example, the only time you notice a improvement is when ccleaner cleans a 1GB or more off, then you will notice.

Windows does manage itself quite well. In windows xp days, ccleaner was almost a must.

In windows 7, it has maintenance checks and performance checks that run every 2 weeks and attempts to improve performance.

I do agree that there isn't much of a performance improvement. Years ago, I used to run CCleaner (with CCenhancer for a while, which I do NOT recommend) but got little, if any performance increase. Then, I reformatted my PCs and left CCleaner off. I wanted to let Windows do what it was supposed to do and maintain it the way it was designed to be maintained. A lot of the problems with performance are from five things:
1. Hardware
2. Viruses
3. Too many startup programs
4. Bloated antivirus
5. Bad drivers
If you can fix those top five things, your performance should be good. If not, it is some other issue that you can start a thread about.

msalton1 said:

windude99 said:

I do agree that there isn't much of a performance improvement. Years ago, I used to run CCleaner (with CCenhancer for a while, which I do NOT recommend) but got little, if any performance increase. Then, I reformatted my PCs and left CCleaner off. I wanted to let Windows do what it was supposed to do and maintain it the way it was designed to be maintained. A lot of the problems with performance are from five things:
1. Hardware
2. Viruses
3. Too many startup programs
4. Bloated antivirus
5. Bad drivers
If you can fix those top five things, your performance should be good. If not, it is some other issue that you can start a thread about.

I find that windows 7 still doesn't do a good job of dumping temp files. I use it for that and to delete whitelisted cookie accumulation.

@windude99

I agree 100% for the problems with performance.

@msalton1

You are right, it doesn't. I cannot tell you how many times I have run ccleaner and it deleted over 10GB of internet temp files on someones pc. 10GB!!

Windows does need to do better with that. A lot better.

The average customer does not know they should empty that folder out every now and then.

Internet explorer is supposed to only save the data amount indicated below but for some reason this does not work and the computer gets filled to the brim with temp files. I suspect it has to do with the preserve option in the second screenshot. (By default it is checked, I have unchecked it on mine.)

andrew129260 said:

msalton1 said:

windude99 said:

I do agree that there isn't much of a performance improvement. Years ago, I used to run CCleaner (with CCenhancer for a while, which I do NOT recommend) but got little, if any performance increase. Then, I reformatted my PCs and left CCleaner off. I wanted to let Windows do what it was supposed to do and maintain it the way it was designed to be maintained. A lot of the problems with performance are from five things:
1. Hardware
2. Viruses
3. Too many startup programs
4. Bloated antivirus
5. Bad drivers
If you can fix those top five things, your performance should be good. If not, it is some other issue that you can start a thread about.

I find that windows 7 still doesn't do a good job of dumping temp files. I use it for that and to delete whitelisted cookie accumulation.

@windude99

I agree 100% for the problems with performance.

@msalton1

You are right, it doesn't. I cannot tell you how many times I have run ccleaner and it deleted over 10GB of internet temp files on someones pc. 10GB!!

Windows does need to do better with that. A lot better.

The average customer does not know they should empty that folder out every now and then.

Internet explorer is supposed to only save the data amount indicated below but for some reason this does not work and the computer gets filled to the brim with temp files. I suspect it has to do with the preserve option in the second screenshot. (By default it is checked, I have unchecked it on mine.)

Disk Cleanup has options to clean temporary files and to clean temporary internet files. You can also run Disk Cleanup as an administrator and it will find more stuff. I do think it is crazy that there was 10gb of internet temporary files.

Go to Internet Options.
Advanced

Scroll down to Empty Temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed. Put a check mark.

I also use Ccleaner before every shut down.

Layback Bear said:

Go to Internet Options.
Advanced

Scroll down to Empty Temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed. Put a check mark.

I also use Ccleaner before every shut down.

Yes that is an option. Unfortunately though it is not the default. I just want some type of cleaning for windows to do it automatically on that folder after a little while.

Ccleaner - I always install the Slim version and it contains no toolbars. Then I add CCEnhancer.

See last link on page: CCleaner - Builds

CCEnhancer - SingularLabs

Then I trim the cleaners that I don't need.

As for registry cleaners - I do use them but always find stuff that needs to be excluded from cleaning and always have several system image backups available and have screwed things up numerous times in the past due to letting a registry cleaner run in full auto mode.