Any thoughts on Registry cleaners?

Thanks, Rafe and Tom. :)

I don't recommend nor use registry cleaners. With the tens of thousands of keys and entries in the registry, a few hundred old left behind entries are not going to negatively impact the system any more than installing another piece of software (registry cleaner) which will certainly add additional stuff to the registry during the install.

I'm in the camp: They do more harm than good and are unncessary.

According to the links I've been checking (Thank you Grimmjow), MS does make a scanner, OneCare Live. It says it will scan your registry and remove items safely.

Clean Up Center - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner

Has anyone had any experience with this, or is this still not a wise move?

Well said, Carl.

Precisely inline with what I tell everyone who asks:

User: "I want to use [insert Registry Cleaner name here]"

Me: "Ok, but are you familiar enough with the registry and it's contents to be able to do the cleanup manually, without the aid of a 3rd-party utility?"

User: "No, why?"

Me: "Because if you're not, how can you be sure that [insert Registry Cleaner name here] isn't deleting something important?"

User: "Ok scratch that idea!"

Borg 386 said:

According to the links I've been checking (Thank you Grimmjow), MS does make a scanner, OneCare Live. It says it will scan your registry and remove items safely.

Clean Up Center - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner

Has anyone had any experience with this, or is this still not a wise move?

Even if it doess come from Microsoft, can you be sure that the person who wrote said utility was involved with the development of Windows itself, and knows enough about the registry to be able to translate and automate such knowledge into the said utility?

In a nutshell: ANY registry cleaner, no matter how reputable the source, is a no-go.

pparks1 said:

I don't recommend nor use registry cleaners. With the tens of thousands of keys and entries in the registry, a few hundred old left behind entries are not going to negatively impact the system any more than installing another piece of software (registry cleaner) which will certainly add additional stuff to the registry during the install.

I'm in the camp: They do more harm than good and are unncessary.

Well stated.

Borg 386 said:

According to the links I've been checking (Thank you Grimmjow), MS does make a scanner, OneCare Live. It says it will scan your registry and remove items safely.

Clean Up Center - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner

Has anyone had any experience with this, or is this still not a wise move?

I have used it with the XP machine. I did try it with 7 right after I installed. I have not used it since.

Dzomlija said:

Well said, Carl.

Precisely inline with what I tell everyone who asks:

User: "I want to use [insert Registry Cleaner name here]"

Me: "Ok, but are you familiar enough with the registry and it's contents to be able to do the cleanup manually, without the aid of a 3rd-party utility?"

User: "No, why?"

Me: "Because if you're not, how can you be sure that [insert Registry Cleaner name here] isn't deleting something important?"

User: "Ok scratch that idea!"

I like your approach! :)

Dzomlija said:

Borg 386 said:

According to the links I've been checking (Thank you Grimmjow), MS does make a scanner, OneCare Live. It says it will scan your registry and remove items safely.

Clean Up Center - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner

Has anyone had any experience with this, or is this still not a wise move?

Even if it doess come from Microsoft, can you be sure that the person who wrote said utility was involved with the development of Windows itself, and knows enough about the registry to be able to translate and automate such knowledge into the said utility?

In a nutshell: ANY registry cleaner, no matter how reputable the source, is a no-go.

Basically, I agree. But I would not be afraid to use the MS one - if I needed a registry cleaner.

Borg 386 said:

CarlTR6, Is there a website where I can see how Win 7 handles the registry?

Not that I am aware of. There are several very good books on Win 7. That is where you will find you best, in depth information.

I disagree with some of you. I think you definitely should clean the registry if and only if, you have experience, you are an expert and when you really know what you are doing.

Even if I do all those other tweaks besides the registry cleaning part, my computer is still undeniably slower by a few percent than before and I find no other explanations for that except there are registry bugs. The only downside of registry cleaning is that its the most risky.

If your RAM is 2GB or higher like you guys, I've seen your system specs, you probably won't notice this anyway especially if you are too busy with other things but if you have 1GB or lower, I swear, changes in system responsiveness are more noticeable and doing all the tweaks besides registry cleaning does not completely resolve that. If you do not have the Windows installation CD, this is even a bigger problem.

drugo said:

i uninstalled photoshop cs4 and it left lots of key linked to photoshop cs4
association too

what should i do?

I think the leftover keys that are linked to Photoshop are safe to delete unless you have installed another version of Photoshop.