[1101doc]

Most commercial online Registry scans find lots of problems. Bigger numbers are scarier. XP has to have tons of usless Reg entries before performance is affected.The main use for a Registry tool is removing specific entries related especially to problematic uninstalls. Here not everything works the same. Most free and commercial"Fix-it-for-me" applications are too conservative to get at problems in the registrydealing with antivirus/antispyware/firewall issues. Just the kind of things that many users have problems uninstalling. For Registry seach and repair missions I usejv16PowerTools. http://www.321downlo.../index.htmljv16 has a file tool (to clean up those left over folders and files), a Registry finder( to hunt down specific entries), and a general Registry Cleaner. It also contains an uninstaller and a duplicate file tool.CAUTION/WARNING : JV16 will let you do anything to your Registry!Yes, it backsup by default, and Yes by default the cleaner is set to manualconfirmation, but if you ignore all warnings you can totally scranch your system with thisvery powerful tool. NOT for casual use.

[smithkarl]

Hi, I used to use CCleaner freeware and yep it was awesome. Though I don't know what happened recently it is giving me a bit of trouble.They also have their own forums.Now I switched from ccleaner to:Eusing Free Registry CleanerBoth are great and free.Karl

[Clint7]

Tune-Up Utilities 2007 is simply the best all around program that I have found. It will clean your registry,defrag,clean disk,uninstall,optimize,manage startups,and much more. This program is great and cost $39.95 but you can get $5.00 off at wugnet.com/newsletters then go to shareware tab and scroll to Tune Up Utilities and use discount code. It's fast and lets you easily go in and delete files left from previous uninstalls. If you want to see some user reviews go to cnet.com and put in Tune Up Utilities. You won't regret it. Randall Foreman

[Trebuchet]

I've had excellent luck with ToniArts Easy Cleaner, which cleans both the registry and performs a number of other useful maintenance functions.http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

[techie4fun]

I've been running the FULL LICENSED 8) version of Registry First Aid for about 5 months now and haven't had any problems. It works well, just remember to always back up your registry before you go and delete keys

[LaJan]

{size:14px}This is another program that defaults to backing up whatever it does so I wasn't too worried about trying it the first time. However, as some have noted, this one will also help you make your computer a gibbering idiot so it needs to be used with care until you know what you're asking it to do after the first time. I had Norton System Works in my machine when I got it and its registry cleaner worked but the problems continued to compound until I used RegSeeker. In fact, I still use Norton to check and see if it finds anything RegSeeker missed and it never has.Another caution tho: a good friend of mine used the program just before her dying computer went belly up for good. The tech who checked it out and grilled the performance of RegSeeker gave the program his OK but the friend will never try anything like another registry cleaner again. Already I can see the speed of her new machine dropping and I'm actually tempted to run the program - WITHOUT MAKING ANY CHANGES - periodically to see just how nasty the build-up of errors directly relates to her machine's performance. But, I like the friend more than the experiment. :lol:[/size]

[Mastertech]

Cleaning the Registry in no way improves performance.I highly recommend NOT running multiple cleaners, especially unknown ones or ones that do not make a backup. ALWAYS make a backup, if the Registry Cleaner does not automatically do this, don't use it period. Registry Cleaners like CCleaner for the most part are safe but keep in mind if you think it will improve performance, think again. Anyone who claims performance improvements is lying and cannot produce documented reproduceable tests of their claims. Quite simply they don't exist because cleaning the registry in no way improves performance. Read more here: XP Myths

[techie4fun]

[quote name='Mastertech']Cleaning the Registry in no way improves performance.> > > > I highly recommend NOT running multiple cleaners, especially unknown ones or ones that do not make a backup. ALWAYS make a backup, if the Registry Cleaner does not automatically do this, don't use it period. Registry Cleaners like CCleaner for the most part are safe but keep in mind if you think it will improve performance, think again. Anyone who claims performance improvements is lying and cannot produce documented reproduceable tests of their claims. Quite simply they don't exist because cleaning the registry in no way improves performance. Read more here: > > > > XP MythsAnyone who claims performance improvements is lying.. that makes no sence. This guy sounds like he's reading a script from somewhere. Please....

[Mastertech]

[quote name='techie4fun']Anyone who claims performance improvements is lying.. that makes no sence. This guy sounds like he's reading a script from somewhere. Please....What makes no sense? Registry Cleaners do not improve performance = fact.

[LaJan]

[quote name='Mastertech']> {quote:title=techie4fun wrote:}{quote}Anyone who claims performance improvements is lying.. that makes no sence. This guy sounds like he's reading a script from somewhere. Please....> > What makes no sense? Registry Cleaners do not improve performance = fact.{size:14px}I'm not a tech, I've never been a tech, and I don't play a tech on TV. :wink: That said, I respect the opinions of true techs because they keep my machines running with the least amount of problems. However, it doesn't take a lot of testing to see that registry errors both exist and cause problems.I have two computers side by side. They aren't alike but that doesn't really matter for the minor testing I performed. I set a stopwatch on both computers' start-ups and got an average time for both of them to drop to zero CPU usage. Matching keystrokes, I installed and removed programs. I moved files and changed shortcuts. Then I ran a RegSeeker on both machines. RegSeeker found errors on both and I allowed it to correct them on one machine. The machine that didn't get any RegSeeker usage began to noticeably slow in two days. I ran RegSeeker on it and corrected the issues and its usual speed returned. I reversed the test for the other machine and got the same results.Obviously, there are thousands of variables possible that would completely invalidate my highly limited testing and it's all anecdotal at best. But there's no way I'm gonna agree that the running of a registry cleaner didn't help maintain performance in two different machines.I had a miserable time conversing with (another?) tech regarding Norton and SystemWorks. I felt that running the program - with its registry cleaner - ended some of the grief I'd caused myself when I started amateur geeking around. Mastertech, are you saying that Symantic is "lying" by including their registry cleaner in their bundles for SystemWorks users?I followed your link, Mastertech, and took a look at your (?) website. And the only thing I could find was unsupported claims in this matter. If youve actually got some verifiable test results, Ill be willing to read them but a blanket statement even from a master isnt going to change what my stopwatch told me.OK PCWorld, Im willing to go with a tie-breaking vote from the techs Ive trusted for years: YOU! :D What say ye? Do registries need cleaning to improve performance of your machine? Are registry cleaners worthless at best and unsafe at their worst? Im sure this debate is as old as registries, techs, and the ignorant masses (myself included). Whats your take? [/size]

[Mastertech]

LaJan you clearly did not read the links or the sources in them.I have been doing this for over 15 years. And while registry cleaners can fix SOME issues relating to incomplete software uninstalls, leaving behind Registry and file system keys I have never seen them improve performance.Mark Russinovich clearly states why they cannot improve performance.Registry Junk: A Windows Fact of Lifequote:53a0e8ae01]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.[/quote:53a0e8ae01]If anyone questions who Mark Russinovich is and why we should listen to him:1. He wrote [Windows Internals2. He discovered the Sony Rootkit.I think his advice is more credible than all the wannabe "techs" online.I would never use ANY symantec products. What I stated was clear, they cannot improve performance which is why you cannot find ANY documented reproduceable performance tests online for them. What you find are half-ass tests that list how many "errors" or invalid reigstry keys they find but no analysis of if these are all safe keys to remove. Quantity does not make one better, one could be detecting perfectly good keys.If Symantec is claiming performance improvements from their registry cleaners than yes they are lying. Otherwise they would have documented reproduceable tests to prove it. Notice PC World includes not such tests.

[LaJan]

[quote name='Mastertech']LaJan you clearly did not read the links or the sources in them.> > > > I have been doing this for over 15 years. And while registry cleaners can fix SOME issues relating to incomplete software uninstalls, leaving behind Registry and file system keys I have never seen them improve performance.{size:14px}OK, I think we have some agreement here - at least between you and I. First, yes I read all of the sources in your initial related to the topic I was responding to: Registry cleaners. I wasn't responding to CCleaner in any way, shape or form because I know nothing about it. I believe you misunderstood when I responded, "the only thing I could find was unsupported claims in this matter". There is clearly no reference to RegSeeker in any source you cited.Second, like I said, I'm not a tech or a wanna be tech. I leave the correcting of the messes I make to the professionals. :lol: I've heard techs slam Symantic yet Symantic is still in business so I tend to lean towards the conclusion that they've got some sort of working business plan based upon the volume of computers their products are being bundled in. Obviously, computer manufacturers trust them not to damage their credibility badly enough for the consumer to shop elsewhere.Finally, you said exactly what I said and meant to say all along: "And while registry cleaners can fix SOME issues relating to incomplete software uninstalls, leaving behind Registry and file system keys I have never seen them improve performance." I fully agree with you and until you see the messes I've created in my registry with all sorts of messed up installations, you'll never see RegSeeker improve my machines performance. But I have seen it and clocked it.Just for kicks, I ran RegSeeker while typing this and looked at the results carefully.- I had shortcuts that didn't work anymore so using them would have led to, at the very least, the computer looking for the correct pathway after following the wrong one first.- Firefox updated and it didn't dump all the files from the previous version. Since I don't uninstall Firefox when Mozella tells me there's an update, I didn't know this but RegSeeker did.- I do photo editing and writing using Word. Gobs of the old versions of files were overwritten by me when I finished editing but all sorts of the entries RegSeeker found were obviously obsolete.- Templates were changed, favourites were both deleted and moved to different locations (some in the Firefox upgrade), and I had a few "open with" entries that were for extensions or filetypes to nowhere. In the end, of the 30 "errors" RegSeeker found, none seem the slightest bit dangerous to me and not a single one was in the Windows prefetch folder.So, please accept my apologies if I misled you into thinking I was responding as any sort of "expert" in anything other than my personal usage of RegSeeker. And, like my original post, I still firmly stand behind the program.Cheers.LaJan[/size]

[Mastertech]

[quote name='LaJan']OK, I think we have some agreement here - at least between you and I. First, yes I read all of the sources in your initial related to the topic I was responding to: Registry cleaners. I wasn't responding to CCleaner in any way, shape or form because I know nothing about it. I believe you misunderstood when I responded, "the only thing I could find was unsupported claims in this matter". There is clearly no reference to RegSeeker in any source you cited.RegSeeker is a Registry Cleaner thus falls under the Registry Cleaner Myth.> {quote:title=LaJan wrote:}{quote}Second, like I said, I'm not a tech or a ‘wanna be’ tech. I leave the correcting of the messes I make to the professionals. :lol: I've heard techs slam Symantic yet Symantic is still in business so I tend to lean towards the conclusion that they've got some sort of working business plan based upon the volume of computers their products are being bundled in. Obviously, computer manufacturers trust them not to damage their credibility badly enough for the consumer to shop elsewhere.Symantec makes most of their money off their AV products. While they have good detection, performance and other issues are a concern. If you have not heard techs slam Symantec then you need to read around more.> {quote:title=LaJan wrote:}{quote}Finally, you said exactly what I said and meant to say all along: "And while registry cleaners can fix SOME issues relating to incomplete software uninstalls, leaving behind Registry and file system keys I have never seen them improve performance." I fully agree with you and until you see the messes I've created in my registry with all sorts of messed up installations, you'll never see RegSeeker improve my machines performance. But I have seen it and clocked it.While removing an unused key can in some instance fix a problem it cannot improve performance.> {quote:title=LaJan wrote:}{quote}Just for kicks, I ran RegSeeker while typing this and looked at the results carefully.> > > > - I had shortcuts that didn't work anymore so using them would have led to, at the very least, the computer looking for the correct pathway after following the wrong one first.> > - Firefox updated and it didn't dump all the files from the previous version. Since I don't uninstall Firefox when Mozella tells me there's an update, I didn't know this but RegSeeker did.> > - I do photo editing and writing using Word. Gobs of the old versions of files were overwritten by me when I finished editing but all sorts of the entries RegSeeker found were obviously obsolete.> > - Templates were changed, favourites were both deleted and moved to different locations (some in the Firefox upgrade), and I had a few "open with" entries that were for extensions or filetypes to nowhere. In the end, of the 30 "errors" RegSeeker found, none seem the slightest bit dangerous to me and not a single one was in the Windows prefetch folder.None of that will improve performance. I know what you are saying but I suggest testing the speed of your claims. You need to provide documented reproduceable testing to prove that it improves performance. I have extensively tested it and have never found any registry cleaners to in anyway improve performance. Once you understand how the registry is accessed you understand that it cannot improve performance by removing keys.

[Lenny]

{size:12px}...do you ever get the feeling that sometimes one should just eat the olives and use the branch for firewood? :lol:Peace. No, really. :unsureLenny[/size]

[LuiFigo]

I have also used a registry cleaner since my system performance was really slow and not giving it a proper speed then i took a clean up process that helped me a lot to get my system speed back.