Do I Need a Registry Cleaner? - Comments

I am a big fan of Ccleaner. It has a registry cleaner and comes with a lot of usefull stuff that cleans out your computer. From their website: "Registry cleaner Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... also comes with a comprehensive backup feature."
It's easy to use and haven't had any problems and it's free. It also asks if ya want to back up the reg. I haven't tried any of the others, but may give them a go to compare features. //bob

Totally agree about CCleaner for cleaning everything including, to an extent, the registry. But relying on an automated process to delete things from such a fragile place as the registry isn't the best idea. We get lots of redo's on system restores because people, as soon as we leave, they install ALL SORTS of registry cleaners. Then they are upset because we must have not done our job right. The benefit really isn't THAT great compared to peace of mind. Registry cleaners are often equated to: Putting a knife shaped object to your wrist because someone else said that it was a good idea or because you're pretty sure that nothing bad will happen. It might give you a rush (added speed) but will never replace actual maintaince like showering (normal CCleaner)...

I have used CCLEANER and EASY CLEANER with no regrets so far but a couple days ago I down loaded a 30 day free trial, fully functional, copy of AMUST registry cleaner. It seems to be a cut above some I have tried. (I'm no expert.) If you want to check it out, you can find it at http://www.amustsoft.com

Columnist Fred Langa did a comprehensive registry cleaner test a few months back, you can read it from here:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171203805

He tested ten different registry cleaners and compared their results. My Choice, Then Yours From the above, I think that EasyCleaner is the best free tool currently available; and JV16 PowerTools 2005 is the current best commercial tool available.

Jv16 PowerTools can be downloaded from http://www.macecraft.com and the freeEasyCleaner from http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

Yes, you do need a registry cleaner. The problem is finding one that works. Honestly, I've tried more registry cleaners than I care to count and a good number of them are worthless. In fact, a few of the "free" ones just made things worse. I did find one I really like called Registery Repair. It's put out by a company called StompSoft. The link is http://www.stompsoft.com/registry-repair.html. I found it to be a heck of a lot more user friendly than most of the registry fixes out there and it does the job well.

Adrian, I have made use of the StompSoft software as well. I can say from experience that you are right about the fact that it is user friendly as well as effective. On the flip-side I have used CCleaner as well and found that I was a bit to aggressive for my tastes.

Registry cleaners are fun! So is Russian Roulette! In my experiance the only registry entries that effect Windows overall speed are entries that involve autorun/autostart programs. Registry cleaners don't usually touch valid entries, and a valid entry might be to run malware/spyware. It might be a bad program to run but as long as the entry is valid and points to a program in use the registry cleaner leaves it.

To me registry cleaning is a essential part of good computer maintenance. I will say however that not all registry cleaners are made the same. I have used many cleaners that really were too aggressive and have caused more problems than they actually fixed. I have however found that Registry Repair works quite well in cleaning the registry without being too aggressive in its cleaning.

Registry cleaning is indeed an important part of system maintenance. Theres a lot of sloppy programming around out there that leaves dregs behind. However, it is a place where you can really mess things up. So first thing before you do ANY cleaning, is backup that registry. If you don't have a backup (tut tut), in RegEdit, you can File, Export. If "My Computer" is selected, it will copy the works.

Also, don't forget "Disk Cleanup" in Windows Accessories, System Tools. Run that first to reduce the Registry cleanup needed. Bizarrely, if you use the sageset switch, a bunch more cleanup options (10) become available in Disk Cleanup. Google "sageset" for more.

I have to tell you that I am very excited now for my computer's high-speed!In the past I can't understand why my computer was so slow and I always thought it is a virus.But my antivirus wasn't able to find anything wrong.So I turned to my friends for help and then they suggested me to try a registry cleaner.I went to download registry cleaner software to scan my computer for free and found over 200 errors!!! After I corrected them,my computer return to high-speed and run like new again.It is the best I could have ever imagined!Thank you very much for saving me lots of time and money!