Are Registry cleaners necessary or is it just smoke & mirrors? I'm not talking about sweeping up after the odd sloppy uninstall, but regular cleaning. Many of these programs offer to do it on each start-up, daily or weekly. But depending on who you ask or what you read, the verdict is split.
I couldn't really vote, as it depends on how one uses them. They can be very helpful in getting rid of leftovers after botched installations or uninstalls. I'd say to set them up for regular cleaning is dangerous unless one backs up any change, but nowadays I prefer to use a system image where the registry hasn't been through too many changes. My voting category might have been "sometimes".
I agree with Osaban. Whether registry cleaning or defragging, the results vary so widely it is hard to see, across the board, whether the really provide a benefit. The same can be said of service tweaking too, although with services it is sometimes easier to tell. I have used registry tools and disk tools reguarly throughout the years. And I have had periods where I never use them. Honestly, the only time I notice a difference is if the OS has been on for a long time (in the case of registry cleaners) or if a drive has had lots of data written/deleted (in the case of defraggers). In those instances you can "sort of" tell a difference, but not enough for me to warrant using them any more. I defrag my data drives once a year maybe, but I can't tell the difference other than hearing the head doing less seeking. Performance wise, it must be from microseconds to a couple seconds difference, not enough for my perception to tell. Sul.
I voted no as I generally steer clear of all registry cleaners. However, I would make an exception in the case that Osaban pointed out, a botched install/uninstall.
I voted no too. Seen a lot of problems caused by cleaners. I prefer to edit manually. Having said that, when it comes to updating drivers I use driver cleaner to tidy up any bits left behind, but that program is only updated with driver information and therefore damage does not happen.
I had a quick google and I couldn't find any testing to show how the cleaning of the reistry helps. Plenty of claims but only opinions, no facts. No data. And I've got JV16 and I wince whenever it makes that grinding noise to simulate some sort of physical cleaning process. A good uninstaller like Revo seems enough to me in theory. Back in the Win95/98 days Reg Cleaners were in their boom time. But with the coming of XP and Vista & Win7 those Reg. weaknesses were more or less eleiminated or significantly reduced. Weren't they?
If you're voting 'definitely' then are you saying registry cleaners are definitely effective or that they are definitely smoke screens? Poll question is Are Registry cleaners effective?
Definitly means definitely effective. But they're effective in that they work. It just depends what effects you're looking for.
Some are to effective,leaving OPPS missing Dll-Files or worse to bork the OS. Use Caution and always back up. They dont help much either IMO.
Don't worry about reg. cleaners deleting stuff willy-nilly. People from T'ronto are famous for deleting. 'two out of three ain't bad'.
After a big windows update like to SP1 etc it seems there are lots of registry entries that need cleaning out so I do use a registry cleaner. However on a regular basis I use Total Uninstall from www.martau.com when I install software as it tracks folder, file and registry changes. If I don't want to keep the software on the computerr then everything is removed for that program and no need to clean up afterwards - I've been using it for years
After installing SP1 you should launch disk cleanup and select the option "service pack files", or a similar name. Registry cleaning really isn't the way to do it.
They were useful in the days of 95/98 - but since then are more likely to cause a noticeable problem, than to noticeably improve performance. I stopped using them routinely long before coming across articles basically saying the same thing. The better approach is to avoid the need altogether: install only what you'll want to keep in the long term use portable apps (although some do write to the registry) uninstall with Revo Uninstaller try out new programs in Sandboxie first
De-Mystifying Windows Vista & Windows 7 Registry In Windows Vista, the Registry has been Virtualized, and hence unlike XP, does not tend to suffer from bloat. The same has been continued in Windows 7.
Yes thanks for the read. Regedit is exactly how I clean up up windows 7,The only thiing that gets deleted is what I select.Its Safer then a reg clean that may produce a FP and wipe something important.
I just use Revo Uninstaller free version. It removes anything left in the registry by the program only that I've removed. I think it does the work in a safe manner. Also, CCleaner, occasionally. I could trust it coz it only finds very few things. But still...I've check entries what it finds just to make sure I know what they are. I've stopped using many registry cleaners and removed those good looking elegant paid Registry Cleaners after I experienced that some of the features and functions on some of my programs installed are missing. Re-installing them are the only way to take back those missing features/functions.
even the pro version of revo dont remove all,u can see leftover registry in your registry trees (just try it)
I just use the moderate settings when removing programs w/ Revo free, maybe its the reason there's still some leftovers there, but it could be that... it is also there "safety nets" to avoid problems with the registry...isn't it? So it won't touch/removes anything that might possibly corrupt the registry...in other words...you don't have to make your registry super clean and tidy.
I just can't avoid it completely yet neither in CCleaner I do agree that registry cleaning software is humbug, atleast nowdays. Can anyone recommend any regedit replacement for manual editing/cleaning?
