How important is a registry cleaner? And which is a good free one to use?

Posted by scottparat | Filed under Registry Questions

Every one I use finds 120 items, but will only fix like 10 or 20. Is this something I should be concerned about & try to fix? I heard it’s not good to mess w/ your registry, especially without making a back up first?

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Tags: amp, antivirus, Computer Registry, Fix Computer, malware, Registry Cleaner, Registry Fix, Registry Mechanic, Registry Repair, Windows Registry

8 Responses to “How important is a registry cleaner? And which is a good free one to use?”

ray_8128 Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

Most of the performance claims made by companies that sell registry cleaners are pure fantasy. Removing the wrong key can leave you with a computer that will not run or a program that will not work. Using Windows Live OneCare "full scan" is probably the safest and good enough for all users.
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

Registry Cleaners
Myth – "Registry Cleaners improve performance."
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html

Reality – "A few hundred kilobytes of unused keys and values causes no noticeable performance impact on system operation. Even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches."

Notes – "Registry Cleaners can fix problems associated with traces of applications left behind due to incomplete uninstalls. So it seems that Registry junk is a Windows fact of life and that Registry cleaners will continue to have a place in the anal-sysadmin’s tool chest."
——————————…
Free Registry Cleaners

Windows Live OneCare (free)
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm
Full scan: Backs up registry and then cleans registry, virus and spyware scan, disk cleanup, disk fragmentation (if needed), updates windows, and checks for open firewall ports.
Clean up scan: Backs up registry and then cleans registry, updates windows.

CCleaner: Do not install toolbar option
http://www.ccleaner.com/
http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10720990.html?tag=lst-0-1
"Scan for Issues" function is the registry cleaner.
Clean function deletes unused files, history, and tracking cookies.
In options:
Set to run (does not registry) when computer starts.
Place cookies you want to save in the save list.

AusLogics Registry Defrag
http://www.auslogics.com/registry-defrag/
http://www.download.com/Auslogics-Registry-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10694974.html
Auslogics Registry Defrag is an extremely useful program to keep your registry as compact as possible. As a result of keeping the registry defragmented and as small as possible, your computer performance will be much improved.

Not a registry cleaner but a registry defragmenter. My seat of the pants feeling was it did improve my performance.

RegScrubXP 3.25
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Registry-Tweak/RegScrubXP.shtml
http://www.sofotex.com/RegScrubXP-download_L7528.html

Toni Art’s EasyCleaner(free)
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
Separate scans for cleaning registry, find duplicate files, find bad shortcuts, unnecessary files, and more.

——————————…
How to Use the Registry Editor
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/troubleshooting/os/windows_2000/555/

How to back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756

Safekeeping the Windows XP Registry
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/honeycutt_03march17.mspx

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

How to troubleshoot registry corruption issues
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822705
JD M Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

…….
Nahado Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

Go to http://www.download.com and you can find few good cleaners.
I recommend CCleaner.
J Lee Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

registry cleaners are nice to have. they usually make your pc perform a little better and keeps unnecessary registry files off your computer. there arent any good free registry cleaners but for a measly 20 bux you can get a real nice one. try googling (or yahooing) around for something called TuneUp Utilities 2007. thats what i use
and DO NOT mess with your registry no matter how unimportant it might look to u. with a faulty registry file, your whole computer could go balistic
chezzrob Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

microsoft invented the registry so might as well as let them clean it as they offer to do it for free.

Clean up pc and IE
==============

To clean up run this Microsoft’s windows live program. It does registry, spyware , virus , disk clean up and defrag

it takes 2 hours or more so once it starts to scan (go to bed etc)

XP Users http://onecare.live.com/site/en-ca/defau...

Vista Users http://onecare.live.com/site/en-ca/cente...

Run the full scanner, then at the end of the scan it asks you to set it running full time.

Think twice about setting it to run in the background as it could be another thing to slow you down. However, it may be worth while if you have no other security programs running.
n3w_guy1 Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

They help make your PC faster but none of them are free sorry suga you have to buy it.
Moy Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

Registry Cleaning is very important as it keep’s ur system polished and keep it running smoothly but if done incorrectly….its suicidal…..so be very careful and use only trusted products….the easiest choice for you will be OneCare web service(no need to download anything) by Microsoft….since Windows is also a Microsoft Product…then will know it best….
Though there are many such other utilities but you have to be careful in selecting the products you use….for novice uses use OneCare CleanUp Scan Web service….its totally free.
Over some time as you install and uninstall different softwares….some useless program related registry entries are left behind even after successful uninstallations…..though these are generally harmless(some may be viruses…but for that you have to use a virus scanner….but its very unlikely….so no need to do that unessesarily….so avoid full system scan)…they do slow up your system’s performance quite a bit.
Goto http://www.onecare.com
Select Safety Scanner
Then Select CleanUp Scan
and follow the instructions on screen….
Dont choose full system scan……that will take hrs and hrs to complete…..
Remember OneCare is a Microsoft Product meant for Windows XP only…..dont try the beta one on vista either.
To keep you safe against accidental deletion of important needed registry entries…OneCare will make a system restore point before doing anything with the registry…so that you can revert back changes.
However after the scan Microsoft will give you an option that you should try and probably buy the windows version of OneCare product…..which you have to download and buy to use….so that you dont need to go online everytime you decide to do a scan…..be don’t get mislead…the windows version doesnt have the CleanUp scan service…..remember that!!!!
Once you r over with a web cleanup scan….goto control panel>>add and remove programs and uninstall the safety scanner immediately…this is too insure that some other pc software doesnt mess up the installation…which will make running the scan and installing the web scanner nearly imposible the next time you try to do so…this is just an advisory…and it can be done without.
Hope this helps…
tell me how it goes….
gustavoprivate27 Says:
July 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

Everybody told you about the cleaners yeah…..its very important to clean your computer bue after that its really important than you fix windows go to http://www.playdimension.com …they have a really nice software than you can use

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