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PC utilities: Do computer Registry cleaners really work?
- 6/19/09 12:42 PM
Registry Cleaners
by danman1453 - 6/5/09 7:05 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Most of the time when you run registry cleaners and more often than not when you run multiple cleaners, they "clean" a little too well. It's not entirely intentional on the cleaner's part. It's just some company have different opinions on what should be cleaned. My personal favorites for registry cleaning are CCleaner, Glary Utilities, and HiJackThis.The last one works great for detecting the presence of malicious software on your PC too.
Always, ALWAYS check what your cleaner is cleaning. I can't provide you with the proper resources here on what to look for, but they are out there.
cleaners
by erley - 6/5/09 7:06 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have 4 of them installed, one paid (tuneup utilities) and the others free. Nobody knows what these software do, really. I think that after I started using them, I didnt't have many problems of crashing in my computer (and that's 5 years), but if you ask me which one is better, I don't know. CCcleaner is good, free, but it cleans too much, even memory events you would like to preserv, but it surely makes your computer faster.
Uncheck the boxes
by scorpious - 6/5/09 10:29 PM In reply to: cleaners by erleyWhen using ccleaner you have options of un-ticking the boxes so no deleting of cookies or history happens including it's registry sweeper,also if you need to you can make ccleaner keep whatever cookies you need so they get ignored, clicking on the tools button gives more options at your disposal that goes for any registry cleaner that's any good they will usually have options to ignore certain cookies etc,pays to read the help ile n how to use or click on all the buttons to discover what the sweeper is capable of *winks*
Registry cleaners really work?
by jrenick1 - 6/5/09 7:08 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have also used and wondered if these really work or not. They look impressive, but who really know's. I have saved the registry file and then run the cleaners and then saved another file and checked the size of the file's. The second file is smaller so one would think that the program has done it's job, but who really know's if it did or not!. it seem's that what ever program you use comes up with a different amount of errors.
A way to test one of these.
by sendmark - 6/5/09 7:10 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Here is something I did once to see if one of those programs were a phony or not. Set up an OS on a Virtual Machine, (Virtual PC 2007 Free from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en) with the OS freshly installed, download and install one of those free programs or 'try before you buy', and run it. At this point there shouldn't be anything wrong with the OS or the registry as it is basically a 'virgin' machine both as far as software and hardware (since all the hardware is virtual), if the software tells you there are multiple errors, it might be a phony. By the way, the one I ran came up with over 300 errors which it offered to fix if I bought the software, which I didn't, I just used the "undo" feature of Virtual PC and the phony (and all of it's so called errors) went buy buy.
A good suggestion, but...
by rbsjrx - 6/5/09 8:35 PM In reply to: A way to test one of these. by sendmark...before running this sort of test, make sure your virtual Windows installation is free of all the trialware and cr*pware tha typically infests new installations.
They are crooks check for better bus complaints- dump them
by johnkseitz - 6/5/09 7:15 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Clem, you ask the same question at least 3 times. I think you must know the answer but are having trouble wanting to accept it. Of course, they are willing to sell you crap you don't need. Of course they are willing to sell you stuff you don't need. And, of course, if you were dumb enough to fall for it once, you should know they are willing to slam you a second time, third time...you decide how much you want to donate. I have gone through the same crap with both Symannac and McAphee...their stuff caused more problems then they solved...note how difficult these packages are to install. Symannac doesn't give you the deinstall software, forcing you to go to their website to try and get it. I eventually went in and cut it out of the registery, search for their files and deleted them indiviually. I now use AVG Anti-virus free version. If you switch over, be sure they don't trick you into upgrading to the costed version
then again
by mittens - 6/5/09 8:01 PM In reply to: They are crooks check for better bus complaints- dump them by johnkseitzwhat a registry cleaner does (without the scare tactics) is remove the bits and pieces that uninstalling a program leaves behind. If you delete a picture, or a file, it's not gone, there's a shadow left behind, called a footprint. Every single thing you download or install puts itself in the registry.
Everything.
Uninstall only gets the bigger chunks when you uninstall a program. if you go into the registry after uninstalling, say, Corel, there's a pretty good chance that you will find hundreds of 'hooks' associated with Corel. All of these, over time, can slow down your computer. Some programs do not uninstall at ALL. They say they do, but often there is still a full workable version in the registry, one reason why it's sometimes so difficult to install a newer version.
And all a good registry cleaner will do is clean out the missing .dll files, the bits left behind by programs no longer installed, the temp files that you may have created. It will also show you what it found, and you have the option to save it or dump it. If you are running a good malware/antispyware program like Spybot and/or Hijackthis, they take care of the uglies.
Most Registry cleaners record false positives when nothings
by fturla - 6/5/09 7:17 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Many software program checkers especially those that check the Microsoft Operating Systems registry record any possible variance to a clean brand new registry (not used PC) as being in violation or a possible error in the registry. Therefore you may get hundreds if not thousands of recorded errors on the registry as stated by the 'Free' version of a registry evaluator. These programs fail to tell you that most of those errors if not all are not errors at all but additions to the registry when adding other programs to the computer. Any used computer will have many non errors. If you pay for the premium version you will find that the errors have miraculously disappeared. But as soon as the premium version expires, a check with a free version will say that you have hundreds of errors again. This implies at least two things. One is the original premium program did not fix the problem since there may have been nothing wrong or two the program placed back all the errors when the software license expired which would be criminal at best. Do not fall for this malware. You do not have hundreds of errors. A few at best. I would recommend at least once a year or longer if you can tolerate it, you should have a clean format and reload all your software to remove unwanted executables and the such. Good Luck
Wrong!
by rbsjrx - 6/5/09 7:47 PM In reply to: Most Registry cleaners record false positives when nothings by fturla"...especially those that check the Microsoft Operating Systems registry..."
The Registry is a Microsoft-specific database of machine applications and settings. This statement implies that you don't know that other OS's don't use a MS-style registry.
"...record any possible variance to a clean brand new registry (not used PC) as being in violation or a possible error in the registry."
Again, this is incorrect. Registry cleaners work by analyzing the entries and looking for internal inconsistencies and pointers to non-existent objects.
You are quite correct in one thing, though... The marketing of PC maintenance software is often nothing short of fraud. However, it's fairly easy to spend about 10 minutes on Google to figure out what works and what's a scam. A good rule of thumb is that, for a lightly loaded, largely static system, almost any reputable free registry cleaner is good enough. For more heavily loaded systems which see a lot of software being installed and removed, a commercial product might be better - or maybe not. Before spending anything on it, do your homework. Find out what you can about the company's reputation, other users' experiences, and what (if anything) the commercial software might offer that free software wouldn't.
I spent the extra money on my own (<u>very</u> heavily loaded) Windows PCs for IObit's Advanced System Care Pro because it offers background operation, keeping the registry clean (also cleaning out junk files and spyware) during idle times when I'm not otherwise using the machine. OTOH, it does claim to catch many more problems than its free version which I use on my wife's PC. But, I've never seen any evidence that the extra cleaning results in any significant improvement in machine stability. So what I'm actually paying for is background maintenance.
registry cleaners/definitely buyer beware
by mittens - 6/5/09 7:28 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
any cleaner that "finds" a huge number of errors and 'dangerous problems" in your registry but will only get rid of them if you pony up serious money is to be avoided. Uniblue does the same thing, and it's the devil to get rid of once it's installed.
One way to tell if a registry cleaner is suspect; when they show you the huge list of what they found, copy and paste a few of the suspicious malware things they found into google. see what comes up. Ill wager most of them are made up.
If you just ran your own trusted reg. cleaner and it came up empty, then any program that tells you you have serious problems is suspect.
I use Registry Fix, my husband uses CCleaner and we've never had a problem.
Most of them work, but on slightly different sets of "errors
by johnpy2 - 6/5/09 7:31 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I think you would see the same sort of behavior if you had two or three more registry cleaners on top of the one you have already paid for, and the one that you just ran that told you about the 300 some errors. I ran one earlier today that I downloaded from another site that normally I would think would be fairly reliable, and this registry software was showing me in the tens of thousands of errors in my Windows Vista 64 SP1 registry, which I clean several times a week with a couple of different utilities. One of the features they have to have is to be able to show you a certain number of errors in your registry when you first run their software, even if you have run other registry cleaning software -- that's how they sell their product. We found these errors -- don't you want us to clean them? I think a couple different registry cleaners should be plenty, and you shouldn't have to pay for more than one of them. Advanced Windows Care has one in the free version of their utilities and it does a pretty good job as part of a set of tools.
Registry Cleaners
by SBKDisco - 6/5/09 7:31 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Personally I believe registry cleaners, along with other utility software, can help to keep your PC working efficiently.
A registry cleaner should find any old and unused registry links and offer you the option of removing them. By removing these unused registry files you will ensure that the registry doesn't grow larger than necessary. I liken a PC's Registry to a library, if you are looking for a particular book you will find it quicker in a smaller well organised library than one which is disorganised and has many unused volumes to sort through.
There are several very good registry cleaners available on CNET Download site including: CCleaner (Which has a CNET Editors Choice award)& Advanced SystemCare Free. To name just two.
These will both find and remove any unused registry entries, while keeping a back up of them which you can use to undo the registry changes because the cleaning process has removed an entry that causes a problem with software on your PC. I can confirm that I have never needed to use the undo feature after cleaning my registry because I haven't had any problems due to the registry cleaners I have used.
Do RegCleaners Work
by purposed - 6/5/09 7:40 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I will myself be interested to see the other answers to this question. My practice has been to use CCleaner, which has so many supporters and is so highly regarded.
Last week, for the first time, it failed me.
After running it, the customer's PC was fine except for one nagging item plus one showstopper. The nagging item is that CCleaner could not remove one HKEY entry. The showstopper is that after CCleaner did what it could, the customer could no longer browse the web. Pinging by name or ip address worked. Browsing did not. I tried all the tricks for fixing "ping but no browse" the result of which was that I had made the mess just a little worse.
Finally I did a system restore. I had done a manual restore point before ever starting on this customer's system, and had done two CCleaner restore points at different stages in the cleaning process. When done, much to my dismay, the two CCleaner restore points could not be found by the system. So, I went back to the manually-entered restore point. Restore worked, and because a bunch of other junk I had removed from the system made it run faster, the customer was happy.
I was not, and I remain quite disappointed in CCleaner.
It depends . . . .
by RWallaceJD - 6/5/09 7:41 PM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Registry cleaners clean out unused, "broken" or non-essential files such as temporary files, among other things, freom the computer ostensibly to free up space on the hard drive and to allow the computer to run "faster." Whether they "work" depends upon several things. FIRST: What is the definition of "error"? Definitions vary. Your definition of an "error" may be different than that of the software developer or someone writing advertizing copy in that developer's company's marketing department. And, one developer's definition may vary from another developer's definition --- as well as the areas addressed by the particular software in question. SECOND: Not all registry cleaners address the same areas containg those "unwanted" files. So, one cleaner may report all is well, while another examining a broader base might find, say, an additional 355 errors, whatever an "error" is defined to be. THIRD: Some registry cleaners apply their definitions, collect data, and report to the computer's owner all potential :errors.' The computer's user can then select what files to delete, and what to keep. FINALLY: It is a conundrum. There is no guideline or rule stating what a registry cleaner should or must do --- there is no standardization. So, read as many reviews as you can concerning the particular software. By the way, I have found CCleaner (the first two letters are two C's -- you can "Google" the name) to do a very good job, and it offers extensive choices of what to delete; Uniblue is good but the choices are relatively limited. Anyway, read all that you can and try to educate yourself as best you can. I am sure other responders to your question will have some good thoughts as well. Good luck!
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