Any thoughts on Registry cleaners?

Glad you liked it!

When I was a full time IT bloke, before I retired, something like 90% of the problems myself and my technicians encountered at customers or on various machines, were the direct result of people using stuff without being aware of the possible consequences.

Some golden rules for all these things, ( and not just "registry cleaners");

If you don't know what the button does, don't press it.

If you don't know what the software does, then you don't need it.

If it isn't broken, then don't try to fix it.

The general performance and "speed" of desktop computers can not normally be appreciably enhanced by various "tuning" software. If you need better performance then buy a better machine, or upgrade the hardware.

The single greatest reason for poor performance is disc fragmentation. Modern systems like Win 7 have programs to alleviate this.

If you want to do "regular maintenance", then cleaning out the dust from the air intakes will make the machine more reliable than any "Go faster" software.

Regards....Mike Connor

I agree with the above

As if someone would think that Deleting something crucial in an OS must be a fool you are basically deleting your OS Bit by bit

marsmimar said:

And for an opposing view, in the left corner wearing pink trunks and weighing in at 165 pounds is Windows Live OneCare safety scanner.

View attachment 129028

Microsoft still offers a registry cleaner and recommends that the registry be cleaned. From my own limited experience with Windows 7, it's probably not necessary to use a registry cleaner. However, if one chooses to use a cleaner I'd recommend either the OneCare cleaner or CCleaner ... IMHO ... FWIW

Click to expand...

Microsoft is not supporting it for the past 2 years. I contacted them personally, and they suggested not to use it as this application might damage your system. It can not/might not run on x64bit machines. This info was given to me by the moderator of the site.

this all comes back to what "WHS" says using a system image is important, so do it before using a reg cleaner use the free version of Macrium reflect makes a system image in less then 5 mins.

-Andrew

I totally agree with Mike Connor. I couldn't put it better myself really. Absolutely, the noticeable benefits are upgrading hardware and saving up to get a better computer.

Looking at all in one tuning package including RAM optimizers and registry cleaners are cosmetics and snake oils.

Tatletz said:

marsmimar said:

Microsoft still offers a registry cleaner and recommends that the registry be cleaned. From my own limited experience with Windows 7, it's probably not necessary to use a registry cleaner. However, if one chooses to use a cleaner I'd recommend either the OneCare cleaner or CCleaner ... IMHO ... FWIW

Click to expand...

Microsoft is not supporting it for the past 2 years. I contacted them personally, and they suggested not to use it as this application might damage your system. It can not/might not run on x64bit machines. This info was given to me by the moderator of the site.

Click to expand...

Could you provide a link to the site and the moderator's comments? The OneCare link provided by Microsoft is still active and still says it's for Vista and Windows 7. Since 7 was released to the general public less than two years ago (10/22/2009) I'm not fully understanding how support was dropped for 7 before it was even released.

marsmimar said:

Tatletz said:

marsmimar said:

Microsoft still offers a registry cleaner and recommends that the registry be cleaned. From my own limited experience with Windows 7, it's probably not necessary to use a registry cleaner. However, if one chooses to use a cleaner I'd recommend either the OneCare cleaner or CCleaner ... IMHO ... FWIW

Click to expand...

Microsoft is not supporting it for the past 2 years. I contacted them personally, and they suggested not to use it as this application might damage your system. It can not/might not run on x64bit machines. This info was given to me by the moderator of the site.

Click to expand...

Could you provide a link to the site and the moderator's comments? The OneCare link provided by Microsoft is still active and still says it's for Vista and Windows 7. Since 7 was released to the general public less than two years ago (10/22/2009) I'm not fully understanding how support was dropped for 7 before it was even released.

Click to expand...

@marsminar => Please find some information here:
Message boards

Message boards

Message boards

Message boards

Message boards

Hope this will help!

Mike Connor said:

Using a "registry cleaner" for "standard maintenance" on a regular basis merely reduces the time intervals between failures!

Regards....Mike Connor

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more! I've never ever noticed any improvement in load times or performance after using registry cleaners but they have caused a fair few problems some of which came close to requiring reinstalling Windows.

Back when I had Win XP I used a "Registry Cleaner" every once in a while and never really had a problem. But when I did use it, hundreds of items had to be "fixed" - way too many to take a look at each item. So I agree with those Posters that, in general, Registry Cleaners are not a good idea.

However (funny - there is always a "however"), since getting my new system with 64 bit Win 7 I tend to run CCleaner's Reg Scan/Clean every day or so. It usually only pulls up just a couple of items which I can inspect throughly before executing the "Clean" function. This has worked out really well as the Registry stays clean. Works for me.

There is no doubt in my mind that if a registry does get too full of invalid handles, paths, dlls, non-existent references, etc, etc, that it will have a detrimental effect of some sort.

Microsoft has a Registry Cleaner. It is included in Live One Safety Scanner with a special version for Windows 7 and Vista. Available free from Live.OneCare.com

just for info;

Speed up your PC by cleaning your registry

Regards....Mike Connor

If you can prove(1) that cleaning the Windows 7 registry speeds up Windows boot time for more than meaningless 0.5 %(2), I walk (and / or swim) to where you live to personally shake hands with you and apologize.

(1) For instance a timed, continuous video of the whole process
(2) For instance 0.3 seconds off from a previous boot time of 60 seconds

Kari

Any volunteers?

Kari lives in Germany(according to the profile), I'll be dying to see transatlantic swim!

Kari said:

If you can prove(1) that cleaning the Windows 7 registry speeds up Windows boot time for more than meaningless 0.5 %(2), I walk (and / or swim) to where you live to personally shake hands with you and apologize.

(1) For instance a timed, continuous video of the whole process
(2) For instance 0.3 seconds off from a previous boot time of 60 seconds

Kari

Click to expand...

Keeping a clean registry (free of invalid handles, dlls, references, unused values, etc) is NOT likely going to affect Boot Time - if anything it would affect general day to day computing speed AFTER boot up, if the registry gets too full of junk, programs that repeatedly reference the registry will run slower - BUT - there is no way to statistically measure it so I guess you wont be having to swim anytime soon Kari (not much fun in the Winter). Cheers

OK. Let's expand this bet. Here are the new rules:

If you can prove (1) one of the things listed below, I will walk and / or swim to wherever you live, to shake hands with you and apologize. I wil also publish an ad on my own expense in the biggest newspaper on each continent to publicly admit I was wrong.

1. That cleaning the Windows 7 registry with a registry cleaner application speeds up Windows boot time for more than meaningless 0.5 % (2)
2. That cleaning the Windows 7 registry with a registry cleaner application speeds up Windows shut down or sleep / hibernate time for more than meaningless 0.5 % (2)
3. That cleaning the Windows 7 registry with a registry cleaner application speeds up the start up time of an application in Windows 7 for more than meaningless 1 % (3)

(1) = For instance a timed, continuous video of the whole process
(2) = For instance 0.3 seconds off from previous 60 seconds
(3) = For instance 0.15 seconds off from previous 15 seconds

Legal Notice:

If I lose this bet, the trip starts as soon as my neurologist gives me a permission to start walking (I'm recovering from stroke as some of here already know, at the moment walking with aid). I'll wait that permission maximum half a year; if neurologist has not given permission by then, I'll start walking anyway.

With "walk or swim to you" I mean that I at least walk the first 100 kilometers from the starting point, and at least the last 100 kilometers to your house or other meeting point. If the trip includes crossing an ocean, I swim at least the first nautical mile on this side of the ocean, and the last nautical mile on your side. In between these starting and ending points use of other means of transportation is allowed. If the trip includes swimming, it is allowed to return to the continental Europe after swimming the first nautical mile, then using other means of transportation arrive to your continent to be transferred one nautical mile to the ocean, to swim one nautical mile to your continent.
(100 kilometers = 62 miles, 1 nautical mile = 1,852 meters or 6,076 feet)

Kari

Kari, I do not think you need to hurry out and buy walking shoes; nor do I believe you are in danger of getting wet.

Kari, time for a new swim suit and some flippers

The best thing one can do for the registry => Fresh windows install, and NO registry cleaners AT ALL

QUOTE=drugo;767877]To uninstall complex programs such as Photoshop, I use Revo uninstaller. It gets the bits and pieces. [/QUOTE]

This is a good recommendation in that Revo Uninstaller does a brilliant job of removing the Registry keys, Registry values and program files that are nothing more than needless bloat after a program has been uninstalled.

~Maxx~

I also like Revo, currently using the portable version. It does a decent job at removing applications, their leftovers and registry entries. Highly recommend it if you don't want to spend money for the paid version