I used a Registry Cleaner

[lordpuffer]

I'm running Win 7 64 bit. I researched and then purchased Ace Utilities, which Cnet gave 5 stars to. I used it, and also used it's Registry Cleaner. I don't notice that the cleaner did any harm.

What do you think of Ace Utilities' Registry Cleaner, or Registry Cleaners in general for Win 7?

 

[pparks1]

I've never felt with Windows 7 that a registry cleaner is even necessary. After you ran your cleaner....did you notice any improvement?

 

[lordpuffer]

I may notice a little increase in performance, however, I can't really tell. It may just seem that way.

 

[bigmck]

I may notice a little increase in performance, however, I can't really tell. It may just seem that way.

I have had a bad experience with CCleaner. It conflicted with some devices and I had to remove it. I tend to stay away from registry cleaners now. I believe Win 7 has so many built in features, it will take care of everything.

 

[karlsnooks]

I am a hard and heavy user of CCleaner. I have never had any problems caused by CCleaner, which incidentally is on the MS "approved" list.

To have problems is not unusual and many are the machinations of many users, but if you seriously believe that your problems came from CCleaner, then by all means contact them. They will be more that glad to hear from you.

I use CCleaner, not to "clean" the registry but to let me know what some programs have tried to implant into my registry. I've detected malware simply by running CCleaner and Auslogic's registry cleaner.

When I remove a program, then I expect the program's uninstall feature to clean up behind itself. Most don't with Microsoft being one of the very worst offenders.

 

[JMH]

I'm running Win 7 64 bit. I researched and then purchased Ace Utilities, which Cnet gave 5 stars to. I used it, and also used it's Registry Cleaner. I don't notice that the cleaner did any harm.

What do you think of Ace Utilities' Registry Cleaner,or Registry Cleaners in general for Win 7?

lordpuffer,

You will get quite a few opinions in answer to your query.....

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.

Over the years I have used five different Operating Systems on five new laptops. Thus far I have never used a registry cleaner... & don't intend to start doing so.

 

[win7clutz]

...also used it's Registry Cleaner. I don't notice that the cleaner did any harm.

This an interesting statement! I'm wondering why your evaluation of a product is based on whether or not it screws the system rather than if it provides a benefit...

 

[IownAmoneyPit]

I had system mechanic pro for 3 years & some of the pitfalls were, changed the default programs that file extensions use to open files to .txt format if sys mech thought it was a dangerous file type association & you agreed, Deleted perfectly good registry key used by Windowsimagebackup because it thought it was an empty key & causing a major Windowsimagebackup malfuntion (Had to google solution for that one)

However CCleaner comes highly recommended by many members and is safe if used properly (if you're unsure back up registry first and only delete files that you think are safe to be deleted)

 

[Vertex]

What people experience after the use of registry cleaners are random. I do use registry cleaners but in a very controlled manner. I remove those things that I know are from the programs that I know are gone but those that are really weird, I tend to leave them alone.

You are really lucky if you don't get any problems, get performance gain and remove malware remnants after the use of registry cleaners. But those that have bad experiences with them will stay away from them. I say, reserve a backup, a restore point or a complete registry backup using Erunt.

Th authors of many registry cleaners would do anything in their power to make their software looks so good and superior to others in their websites so you'll be tempted to buy them and give them money. Those brands are not designed for inexperienced users. Its business, basically.

The makers or CCleaner are however, in the humble pack. At least they don't brag about these falsified software reviews and all of their products are free. CCleaner is also not an aggressive one, unlike others that can cause a lot of harm by removing too much. I love CCleaner.

Threads like this tend to create more and more debates about the efficiency of registry cleaners. That happened dozens and dozens of time on this forum. But opinions will remain split.

 

[marsmimar]

Over time, the Windows Registry can begin to contain information that's no longer valid ... Eventually this orphaned or misplaced information accumulates and begins to clog your registry, potentially slowing down your PC and causing error messages and system crashes ... Cleaning your registry once a month via the Windows Live OneCare safety scanner is the easiest way to help avoid these common problems.

From:
Microsoft Live OneCare Safety Scanner > about the Vista/7 edition of the scanner > what is the registry/why should I clean it?

What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7#

As others have said, using a registry cleaner is a personal choice. Microsoft recommends it and provides its own FREE cleaner. As with everything else computer related, if you're going to clean/edit/modify/change/erase/delete/alter/etc anything on your machine, it's not all that hard to backup or image the PC before tinkering around.

 

[karlsnooks]

Interesting is that the MS onecare center is now providing a registry cleaner with one of the options.

Now one needs ask themself: "Why would MS provide such if the world was going to come to an end by using a safe registry cleaner"?

You might want to run the "Full Service Scan".

Please see and investigate the following:
Windows Live OneCare safety scanner: Free online tool for PC health and safety

 

[CarlTR6]

The key is that MS is providing it; they know how the Win 7 registry works. I have used it several times; it seems to be very safe. I can't see that it does much more than remove obsolete keys from uninstalled software and left over entries from updates.

 

[JMH]

Re recommending Registry Cleaners....

Generally the people who seek advice are the ones with limited knowledge.
We have a duty of care with the advice that we give.
Often a generic answer may be the best.
We should also stress the importance of back up .


BTW karlsnooks your link is not available where I am here.

 

[karlsnooks]

Re recommending Registry Cleaners....

Generally the people who seek advice are the ones with limited knowledge.
We have a duty of care with the advice that we give.
Often a generic answer may be the best.
We should also stress the importance of back up .


BTW karlsnooks your link is not available where I am here.

Thanks for the info. I've heard the expression the "outback" but I didn't realize that MS also felt that way.

If you happen to run across an ms link that's valid for your great country, please let me know.

 

[Vertex]

I use the MS Onecare registry cleaner too and I never had any problems. And it also makes you a restore point. But whenever, I do a scan, it always skips 4 items and I don't know why. These 4 items look strange and they get skipped everytime I try to clean them with the scanner. Does anybody know why???

 

[Tepid]

MS Onecare registry cleaner

This is the only blind registry cleaner I would use.

IF you know what you are doing, then CCleaners Reg Cleaner can come in handy at times, but you should not run it blind. Make your selections knowing what you are selecting and have it make back ups just in case.

Every Single Reg Cleaner on the market that advertises itself as a benefit to speed and clutter should be considered SCAMWare and avoided. Especially those that run a Blind Clean. (you can't see what it is cleaning or doing. Or give you so many lines to go through that it is virtually impossible to know what it is really doing and most people give up and run it on all lines.

No, ALL Reg Cleaners are bad in the wrong hands. And the wrong Hands are the hands of those who have no idea what they are even looking at.

If you don't know and you have to ask if it is going to damage your system? You are better off not using it.

 

[Tepid]

I took a moment to look at Ace Utilities and I have to tell you straight.

You got took.

Everything they charge for and put in a pretty little package can be accomplished with a few well known, well established free tools.

CCleaner
ATF-Cleaner
MRU-Blaster
Defraggler

These 4 programs alone will do more for you in the long run and are far far far more safe than some
$30 dollar piece of Eye Candy Wrapper Ware.

Another $30 piece of garbage that is touted as "Recommended by Industry Experts"?
Registry Mechanic.

Who exactly are these experts, and what exactly are they experts of?

"I'm an expert in clicking on desktop icons that appear out of nowhere when I visit risqué sites" WOO HOO.

Last Edit... The only other point I wanted to make was that you have to realize that almost all of these sites that advertise these kinds of tools are actually getting paid for their reviews. Not all, but the largest majority of the big commercial sites like Cnet do get paid for their recommendations. Again, maybe not all, but I bet it's a large majority.

 

[payne9999]

I have tried a strategy for a while now that seems to work. I don't mess with the registry unless it is absolutely needed and I am pretty certain I know what I am doing. Then whenever I uninstall software I don't want, I use the free version of revo uninstaller. It seems to do a really great job of uninstalling cleanly and it shows you all the leftover files and gives you the option of deleting all of them. Seems to work way better than the standard windows utility.

So far I don't use any registry cleaners. Time will tell though.

 

[eldinv]

Why not leave all that's well alone. I stopped using these "Cleaners" back in Windows XP.

 

[lordpuffer]

Thanks Tepid.....But I use Ace Utilities for more than just it's Registry Cleaner. It has other functionality. I wasn't aware of these other utilities, so I may have shelled out $30 for nothing.

Just for the record, I have never had a problem using CCleaner, and have used it since it's inception. As was posted above, and what's true for me, I have a backup of everything, so if things get real messed up from Ace Utilities' Registry Cleaner, I'll just re-format. By this time, I think I could do that in my sleep.

But seriously, I have experienced no problems so for using Ace Utilities. But I respect everyones opinions on the subject.