recommend a registry cleaner

chiguy · Oct 5, 2005

can anyone recommend a good registry cleaner....

i am using winxp sp2

thanks in advance

Dell-Boy · Oct 5, 2005

You will find one here (pick a popular one to use)

http://www.download.com/

http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/?ref=download

tomcole · Oct 5, 2005

Try dslreports.com and look in software section - there'll be some comparisons and tests

x_diver · Oct 7, 2005

http://ccleaner.com/

rtstrading · Oct 10, 2005

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171203805

Comparison of many registry cleaners

nkhoi · Oct 10, 2005

Quote from rtstrading:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171203805

Comparison of many registry cleaners

result is what I expect, EasyCleaner still #1

eastside · Oct 10, 2005

I never ran one of these programs, can someone tell me:

What are the chances of these programs causing problems with hardware and/or software ??
And if it does cause a problem, would system restore correct it ??

Thank you.

gnome · Oct 10, 2005

Probably no chance of damaging hardware. But in spite of the love some people have for their registry cleaners, there is *significant* probability of damaging some software... maybe a little, maybe a lot. The more aggressive the cleaner, the more likely it is to "clean" something you need to keep.

Most programs make a backup of the registry before alterations so a bad clean job can be restored.

Lots of people love CCleaner and RegSeeker. I've had trouble with both. (Maybe it has to do with the software on my machine. My perception is that most of the cleaners break something, but any particular one may not break what you have on *your* HD... YMMV.)

I've had many a program's functionality reduced by cleaners, so I now use only the one included in System Mechanic. It is rated as "conservative".

prt_systems · Oct 10, 2005

Quote from chiguy:

can anyone recommend a good registry cleaner....

i am using winxp sp2

thanks in advance

Linux.

Seriously though, there are a number of issues with any registry cleaning attempt. I have written several registry cleaning utilities. Without going into the details - you dont want to know how sausages or registry cleaning programs are made ...... - my advice is to attempt to avoid registry cleaning altogether by installing a base version of the windoze OS and then installing your base applications, backing up, and then do NOT install/unistall any further software unless absolutely necessary.

Every registry cleaner has a small chance of breaking something - although in the more recent versions of the OS - XP etc - the change is reduced.

nononsense · Oct 10, 2005

Quote from prt_systems:

Linux.

Seriously though, there are a number of issues with any registry cleaning attempt. I have written several registry cleaning utilities. Without going into the details - you dont want to know how sausages or registry cleaning programs are made ...... - my advice is to attempt to avoid registry cleaning altogether by installing a base version of the windoze OS and then installing your base applications, backing up, and then do NOT install/unistall any further software unless absolutely necessary.

Every registry cleaner has a small chance of breaking something - although in the more recent versions of the OS - XP etc - the change is reduced.

Right prt.

This is also my experience. I NEVER messed with cleaning tools. If you think you have to: re-install.
How to avoid this: timely backups, especially before unknown/doubtful changes.

BTW, having definitely dumped windoz for linux, I haven't missed the M$ registry a bit ever since. Package management is much cleaner, apt, rpm or portage depending upon the distro.

Counting on 'registry cleaners' is about the same like believing that pouring some 'engine cleaner' into your car's motor is going to fix it up again.