[PCWorld]

Post your comments for How to Clean Your Windows Registry and Speed Up Your PC here

[billveik]

Other possibilities-Defraggler, TweakNow, and IoBit. all free.

Defraggler-same company as CCleaner
run it to analyze, select the files, then defragment. run this twice during the day, your system starts to snap.

IoBit-same company as Advanced Windows Care. fast, can also Defrag and Optimize.

TweakNow-has the ability to define issues as whether they are safe, not safe, or unknown. Then you can request a deeper scan to verify whether the items can be deleted. The ones that can't, you can set to ignore so they do not come up in subsequent searches.

[nintendofanboy]

I would like to point out that iobit also has the new beta of advanced windows care 3 which is alot better then number windowscare 2

[mightycaseyatbat]

While I appreciate your semi-objective benchmarks (10 second boot-time boost is legit; 987 errors found is not), I think it's irresponsible to recommend registry cleaners. Registry errors do occur and cleaners can help a few specific problems (DLL hell on startup), but users are far safer learning HijackThis and using good sense in downloading and installing programs. I can't say that cleaner X will always cause problem Y, but as a fairly experienced tech I know that the users with lots of registry tools tend to have the most bizarre and inexplicable problems, to say nothing of the hundreds of dangerous rogue programs out there. The benefits are far too negligable for the risks. Yes, programs leave leftover entries; who cares? Are you that concerned about a few extra kilobytes of extraneous text? Use Revo uninstaller if it makes you feel better. Unless you're having a specific problem with a specific solution in mind, don't muck about with the registry. Cue the mob: "I use cleaner X and have never had a problem!" I eat fast food every day and have never had a heart attack; so what? That hardly mitigates the risks. The article hit it on the head : registry cleaning makes you feel as though you're keeping your computer clean. Alcohol makes you feel warmer, but it won't solve frostbite!

[condenada]

I agree with you. I tried many registry cleaners and I didn't find satisfaction with any of them. The best thing for me is to recover the PC. I recover my laptop every six moths at least. I mess around quite a bit with different programs. I use Revo and Erunt.

Happy camper!
Saludos

[istanbul]

? very much liked your comment M?GHTYCASE..... ?t was very informative and funny to boot. ? tottally agree as well.? feel that REVO UN?NSTALLER is enough for most non heavy users.Also comments like yours give people new to computers a good idea of what might be better left alone.

[gfheiche]

I use the registry cleaner of CCleaner. How come, it is not on your list?

[billveik]

The judgement with registry cleaners should NOT be viewed from the standpoint of "speeding up" the machine per se. It is not related to the speed in which your software will operate, etc. It should be judged based on the reduction of problems.

Defragging your HARD DRIVE changes all of the files that are in multiple pieces into files that are one piece. That makes accessing them faster. THAT time is usually measured in seconds. So when there is an improvement, it is a noticeable improvement. The clean-up and defrag of the registry does not involve piecing things together, it involves removing pieces and fragments that are no longer valid. But think about this:

1-the time that computer processes access the registry is measured in MILLISECONDS. So decreasing the time by a couple of milliseconds is not noticed

2-the computer accesses the registry for every single move that it makes.............so if you have 500 invalid/corrupt/bad/empty/non-existent entries, your computer goes through all of it for every move, every decision, every process. inefficient at the least, making the computer components work unnecessarily hard, and leaving the possibility open for one of those items to activate and cause any type of unwanted problem.

Playing with the registry is NOT dangerous. Playing with the registry, HAPHAZARDLY, RANDOMLY, UNCAREFULLY, WHILE NOT KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DOING, IS FATAL. backup the registry. run trusted software that lets you read what it finds and pick the right files (folder is empty, software does not exist) and leave out entries you do not know, or allows you to find out more info. tweakNow will even scan deeper with unknowns, to doubly verify the safety of the removal.

My self-taught procedures for cleaning/optimizing are now company policy for my employer. I have worked on waylaid computers, installed my policy, and have never had to return to re-fix a previous problem, only new problems when people don't keep up with it. I have never had to wipe a computer clean, used system restore very rarely, and the only time I have had to pay for a repair was associated with installing a second antivirus to try, w/o uninstalling the other. I was less educated, and it was my fault.

Before and after tests on PCPitstop confirm what I do......when I started at the company I worked for, I was stuck using a Dell laptop that was several years old and had been decommissioned twice. Three days, 106 Windows Updates, and a full treatment later, it was scoring higher on PCPitstop then people owning the same Dell laptop containing the NEXT FASTER PROCESSOR. Described by the outside IT guy as "slow, but very stable. I can't believe this hunk still works." He completely starts over with his computer every six months too. Which I can understand, its fun and feel like a new adventure. But if you are doing it out of necessity, my point of view would be to say that operating a computer in a manner that makes six-month resets necessity would have me re-examining what I do...

[jrbales]

I've used Registry First Aid for several years on both Windows XP and Vista Premium. Knock on wood, I've never had a problem caused by the registry cleaner. One thing I like (maybe other registry cleaners do this to) is it first backs up the registry before it runs the scans, a good safety net just in case you decide to be overly aggressive. To be safe, I normally go with the suggested items to remove which may be why I haven't had problems. I can tell the system runs faster after the registry is cleaned out. Registry First Aid has gotten better with the years and has what I consider a friendly user interface. I highly recommend this great utility!

[ncrla]

Registry First Aid is one of only 3 or 4 programs I will pay money for. I pay for Bit Defender and I bought Excel years ago to replace the Dell installed Quatro Pro which I HATED! I had an old version of RFA that was fine for several years, then started hanging up in one spot while scanning. Called tech support, talked to the owner who was helpful. The best solution for me was to upgrade to the latest version, which I did. I'm very pleased with it. As one comment pointed out, cleaing the registry cuts off only a few milliseconds of processing time, but it gives me some peace of mind. Besides, it's interesting to see what's in the registry that doesn't need to be there, like keys for some deleted program.

[mightycaseyatbat]

I should point out as well, that even registry cleaners that offer full registry backups won't do you much good if Windows suddenly won't boot. So again, unless you're pretty handy with the recovery console, beware. Update, defrag, run the occasional spyware scan, and don't be stupid with what you download, and you won't need registry cleaners, promise.

[olddave208]

I have used REg First Aid for years. I have a number of versions on hand, I don't think the latest version supports Me or 95. It does a fair job of removing legacy junk from monster programs like Norton. It will indeed add some speed and stability to your system. Be aware, you need to read the frigging instructions before use, and make damned sure it creates a backup. A system restore does the same thing. I clean computers all the time for people. The first thing I run is Reg First Aid. I have seen machines with over 5000 bad reg entries. People talk about milliseconds for reg entries, but when you remove 5000 from a 800 meg processor with 125 meg of ram, the difference is stunning. No I don't sell Reg First Aid, I use it. Most casual users have absolutely no idea how much junk accumulates on a machine over time. Some of the comments are quite true, if you download junk software, wipe the drive and reinstall often. 50% of machines I repair get this treatment. I do not waste time trying to clean a system so contaminated with viruses and spyware, that it would take a week to clean with very little speed advantage. Run a REAL firewall, virus protection, and spyware protection and you will see a hit from the programs speed wise, but your system will be up day after day. Do standard maintenance, and your machine will run flawlessly for years. My cleaning programs are Reg First Aid (will run well on vista), windows defrag (if you use vista, run WinOptimizer defrag 5 minutes compared to 3 hours for vista defrag, and does a better job), windows disk cleaner, disk cleaner (a freebee everybody should have),Ashampoo WinOptimizer (runs on vista very well and will fix problems you can't). I have Never had a virus on my machine, and have not rebuilt the drive in over 2 years.

[olddave208]

I used a very old version of ccleaner years ago. How do you like the latest version? I have been tempted to try it. Have you had any problems with xp?

[NeverQuiteThere]

I have to say, like a few other comments here I totally agree with the opinion that this kind of article is worse than stupid! Recommending registry cleaners to possibly the less than adept PC user is one thing but to recommend it with such a bold headline about speeding up your PC is quite another. Pathetic really.
Like someone said, the speed difference is so minuscule as to be pretty much undetectable by our human standards unless you are able to tell the difference of events milliseconds apart?
I am not.
OK I will agree with what olddave208 says above, there are definitely cases where the registry is so far full of sh..rubbish that it is noticeable but this is not the rule in my experience, most PCs need repairing and cleaning from junk and malware and they do have registry entries coming with them but not so many as to slow down windows when the malware is cured.
I do use a registry cleaner now and then, CCleaner but then I also fix PCs daily and I am capable of restoring things if it were ever to get to that! I wouldn't really recommend registry 'cleaning' but I do it myself I think just as another symptom of my PC obsessive behaviour! It is nice to 'feel like' things are cleaned out but I know it makes very little difference...

[nantucketbob]

Good advice!

[kcs3295]

I like articles like this and don't understand why postings are so negative, especially when it's helpful to PC World suscribers.
This article doesn't try to sell you a registry cleaner - just give good advise about one of the most aggressively promoted utilities on the net.
Or maybe I do understand, because many of posts are by repair techs who do not want people to learn about maintaining and repairing their pc.
I got sick and tired of being screwed by so-called self-professed repair technicians about 8 years ago and learned to repair my own, and now I do some repair for those I like and I build my own pc's. I charge $40 for a pc cleanng - bet you charge $80 and more per hour while you clean 3 to 5 during that hour.
Case in point was a greedy da Jerk-it City employee who charged me $70 to make a bios change to recognize a zip drive rather than tell me or truly repair the problem by installing an inexpensive IDE card. So the next restore cleared his bios change and my wallet. And, for what it's worth, the pc was one of the first mid-level video production pc's being 1999 that cost $3,200. So he sacrifised a returning customer for chump change. They were receiving commission for sales at that time.
Back to the article. The speed you gain is not only from registry maintenance, but from the GUI features of the various utilities that cleans tons of garbage that Windows collects and retains. These easy access features for the casual users and novices does speed up the pc's performance - although not to be used recklessly and not to use just any most advertised program.
Thanks to all for their postings for their favorite utility and features.
Hats off to Steve for his free advise and evaluations. Please keep up the good work !http://forums.pcworld.com/message/138711/!!
Ken

[valoisr]

Hi olddave208 ...



I use CCleaner about once per month and each time there's a new version, I run the OLD version FIRST, then download the new version and run that one. If there's a problem, I have a backup of the old cleaned registry. I've been running CCleaner ofr a umber of years now and have never run into a problem ... yet. And maybe I shouldn't have written that last sentence ?:| .

Ray

[quark]

Tech Republic is emphatic that cleaning the registry is not only unnecessary and dangerous, but does not add one iota of speed or responsiveness to a Windows PC. I have used four registry cleaners regularly for a few years, as it seems logical to me, that the more junk files there are in the registry, the longer your PC will take to find the right key. I use, Registry First Aid Platinum 6.1, Registry Mechanic, Registry Booster 2 (Uniblue) and Eusing Free Registry Cleaner. RegSeeker's only use is that it has an excellent search facility, but NEVER use it for cleaning the registry - it is downright dangerous as I found out too late some time ago and had to re-install! But I really wish you High-Tech guys would settle this argument once and for all, so we home users can have the right guidance on this issue. What does Microsoft say? Thanks for the balanced article. quark

[techie4fun]

Techie has dumped Registry Cleaning. For that matter, I haven't cleaned any Windows Registry in 14 months. If you want a faster PC, reinstall Windows every 6 months.

[Rennagram]

I wholeheartedly agree. I was having a "Windows Installer" error, so it was recommended that I get Registry Booster 2. In addition to not resolving the error, it also deleted my music, photos, document, and other files that I created.

Their help desk people had no idea what, why or where -- caused this problem, please email this to us.

I finally said forget and counted it a loss.