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PC utilities: Do computer Registry cleaners really work?
- 6/19/09 12:42 PM
Graham 1962
by g0dtf - 6/20/09 7:44 AM In reply to: Do Registry Cleaners Work? by GRAEME1962What evidence can you supply to prove the 'Diskeeper' keeps the registry files in 'order and avoiding crashes? In other words, what is the nature of the connection, if any, between the Diskeeper and the registry and how can you prove such a connection takes place?
Eric
Do Registry Cleaners Work
by tonytft2 - 6/6/09 4:33 AM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I must admit I have not the solution to this question, but appreciate your problem as I have exactly the same problems and I have a number of register cleaners purchased and free and they all have the same indication one says cleaned the other 350 or so errors.
I am using Ashampoo Winoptimizer 04, CCleaner(latest Verion), Windows Registery Repair. They all find errors and clean, then when you run the alternative program, they state you have errors, so what does this leave you to believe? PCtools software leaves malware which is hard to get rid of in my experience, CCleaner is free as it Windows registery repair and they appear to be good particular CClean.
Any information as you have requested would be appreciated.
Tony Farley - Bolton UK
Registry Cleaners
by shrekerette - 6/19/09 7:27 PM In reply to: Do Registry Cleaners Work by tonytft2Hi.I would like to say that I did use Ccleaner and I had nothing but problems since I've used it. It deleted a lot of files that I really needed and when I started up the the computer it kept telling me can't open file as not found. So I deleted it and had to do a system restore. Then I bought a registry cleaner called Reg Cure and it has done wonders for my computer. CNET gave it great reviews.
Registry Cleaners
by waytron - 6/6/09 4:33 AM In reply to: Do computer Registry cleaners really work? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I personally have never had any real luck with registry cleaners doing much of anything worthwhile and occasionally doing more harm than good. I cannot say that I have tried every single one that is out there but certainly a large enough number to come to the conclusion that your time and money would be better spent on a good antivirus software, firewall and antispyware program. Personally, if your registry really needs cleaning that often then nothing cleans better than to simply reinstall Windows every year or so or better still, restore Windows from a previous saved image. You might think that reinstalling Windows is too big a job, but it can be fairly easy and fast if you plan ahead for it and especially if you start with a previous clean image. In the meantime I would suggest you focus on other types of cleaning:
1. Uninstall any programs that you no longer or never use.
2. Disable any unused Internet Explorer Tool bars such as Ask, Yahoo, AOL, Google.
3. Run a Temporary File Cleaner such as ATF to dump temporary files.
4. Scan with Malwarebytes and Spybot Search and Destroy to remove Spyware and malware.
5. Disable any unnecessary startup items using msconfig.
5. Finish up with running the Window disk defragmenter.
Dana
Wayland Computer
I have used many many of them and feel that they cause more
by jimmyjoejetter - 6/19/09 9:22 PM In reply to: Registry Cleaners by waytronIt is a real shame that MS does not make the install and uninstall programs work correctly.
In fact angers me to the point that I am using MACs for most things now as they can run both OSX
(The MAC OS ) as well as Windows in case there is an occasional program that I need that is only available
on Windows. I can also Run and do run ubunktu Linux and that has everything I need for day to day use.
Same with the MAC. Both Linux and Apple MAC OSX do not have a registry thus there is not the same problem. The Idea of a registry is kind of cool but in reality my experiance is IT is the main cause of most
problems.
This year alone we have rueend 2 systems with RegCure. I am very upset with both MS and the folks that wrote and sell RegCure. IT can on occasion fix stuff. However it for me has caused such damage that a Clean reinstall is needed and that can take days and days of work.
One thing I noticed about regcure is they have NO way to be contacted by phone and if I have sent them an
email they have yet to respond. So from now on before EVER purchasing ANY program I make certain that I can get in touch with them. I guess they make a lot of $ and they do not give refunds and you cannot contact them short of Driving over 1000 Miles in my Case and then wait for some of them to come and go from the building but I am pretty sure they will not help and will most likely call the police. At least MS will Answer the phone and email but why not make the system when uninstalling
a program Acctualy uninstall All of the program and its entrys in the registry. Even Vista has this problem. Also I like the sugestions from wayton. However I do not use the Defrag programs as the OS itself does not need it and most other data that would be fragminted is not fragminted to a point of a defrag causing much more speed. In short you will not feel the differance. Also Defrag is very hard on
the hard drive. IT causes the heads to work harder than any other process and the gain is very small.
So the result is a shorterr life for the HD with little to no increase in performance. IF you take a good look at the fragmentation on the drive and compair that that to the stresses on the drive just loading
windows(ANY VERSION) the fragminted Data and or program is far from the loads put on the system
from just starting the program.
Maybe if more folks tell MS they are tired of having to relead due to the many many problems with the registry in the first place they will do something about it. Many things cause registry problems and
what is realy intersting and discusting to me is After a clean load of the OS and updates that need installed you will already have a great deal of registry errors. That is pretty low class to me.
In short. Stay away from ANY software that does not have someone you can call if there is a problem.
In most cases a company that does not answer the phone for support knows the program is not very good and they do not want to pay to have someone on the phone that cannot help you even if they did
answer the phone. So I always now call a company before loading a software program.
One other way areound this is to use a good backup program and backup offten. I found Disk Imaging
softwares are better for backing up than anything else IF you have and extra computer to use to restore
a disk image. Acronis Work Station is the best I have found. It has all of the features of Ghost and more
but it always works and ghost does not always work. It is like MS and Almost works.
I do not hate MS or Windows. I just am not willing to put up with the problems of the OS anymore.
Not when Linux distrabutions such as Ubunktu, Kbunkto , Apple OSX and many others have every thing
you need for most all work or play. Even an Office suite that is good and easy to use.
Hope this helps someone.
jimmyjoejetter
[
Software Companies Not Having Phone No's. for Support
by GVGiant - 6/20/09 4:18 AM In reply to: I have used many many of them and feel that they cause more by jimmyjoejetterYou nailed it on the head with that complaint. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to have a decent way to contact people when something goes wrong.
Sadly, one of the worst offenders (for me) is AVG Internet Security. They have e-mail links, and given enough time (once it was almost three weeks), they will respond. But there is NO way in the United States to contact them by phone.
I have had viruses slip by AVG once or twice. And if it had not been for CNET forums helping me through them, who knows how long my computer would have been infected. But what took AVG three weeks to even begin to respond, some friendly folks on one of these boards helped me solve in one evening.
Don't need another machine with Acronis
by xdreduardx - 6/20/09 7:36 AM In reply to: I have used many many of them and feel that they cause more by jimmyjoejetterGood read.
I agree - Acronis is the best for backup. However I disagree that you need another PC to restore your backup. You can use a Backup Media Restore CD (which you should have made with Acronis when you installed it). This CD: 1. Allows you to boot your PC. 2. Allows you to completely restore the corrupted hard drive from either another internal hard drive or external drive which contains the backup image.
After the CD does that, you can reboot off the original hard drive. This works if you trash your registry and want the last working backup restored
Uninstallers vs Reg Cleaners
by salvatinim - 6/20/09 8:07 AM In reply to: I have used many many of them and feel that they cause more by jimmyjoejetterI share many of the comments about the wide variety of Reg Cleaners that in the end don't fit the bill.
I have used the free Revo Uninstaller for several years, through several iterations of Windows-XP to Vista, to 64 bit.
Revo is an excellent uninstaller that starts by making a backup point, and then runs the apps uninstall program if they have one. You can check the level of investigation of the registry and left over junk on your system related to the app you're uninstalling, then clean that out too.
I wanted to get rid of a lot of bloatware that came on a new PC, including Norton 360 trial. I always first download REVO and ran it against Norton. As noted, it first ran Norton's uninstall and then Norton said your app is uninstalled. I check the deep dive button and Revo found >300 entries in my registry as well as almost 200 entries/files, etc. all still left from Norton.
One note of caution, if your PC comes with Office Student/Home trial, when MS gets done with it's uninstaller, it asks you to restart. Don't! just continue with Revo to get rid of the left over reg entries and files. Then restart. If you restart after MS's Office uninstaller runs, then REVO can't see the file any more and search your registry/PC for left overs.
Revo uninstaller has nearly negated my need to "clean" my registry, although I do use CCleaner once or twice a year just for giggles. CCleaner does find stuff, but it's all been single digit number of entries, from some BS that got in via a demo ware I thought was running on line, but made reg entries.
Registry cleaner
by jeandrew - 6/20/09 2:16 PM In reply to: I have used many many of them and feel that they cause more by jimmyjoejetterI have been using CCleaner for a number of years, and always with great satisfaction. It does a thorough job and backs up every delition one can make. I feel it is safe and one of the best apps available for this kind of work.
Good Uninstaller
by adelacuesta - 6/23/09 8:00 AM In reply to: I have used many many of them and feel that they cause more by jimmyjoejetterA windows program adds bits of information in the registry during the install and regular use. In time, it gets cluttered with information that you do not need. A good program to aid uninstall is the Revo uninstaller. It scans and detects the related program registry data associated with the program that you want to remove. Revo is free under GPL license. Another windows cleaner besides ATF is Ccleaner.
Having mentioned that, I believe that cleaning (housekeeping) the registry is a good practice though it doesn't have direct comparison to faster computing.
Registry cleaners
by k9chtoy - 6/20/09 12:17 AM In reply to: Registry Cleaners by waytronI have tried three different highly touted registry cleaners for about forty bucks each. (got a refund each time) All three were a disastor. I had to reformat my drive and what a pain that is getting all your stuff back on. I think it's a huge mistake messing with the registry. I'm going to buy books on how to delete unwanted things yourself from it so as not to have a disastor again. I would not recommend any of them. The last one I used was highly recommended by MSN, and a lot of other huge companies. No thanks.
Thanks for all your informative info guys and gals.
Here's all you need - it's by Microsoft & Free
by ctime - 6/20/09 12:21 AM In reply to: Registry cleaners by k9chtoyhttp://onecare.live.com/site/en-Us/center/cleanup.htm
Regards
IE vs FIREFOX
by jreisinger - 6/20/09 7:18 AM In reply to: Here's all you need - it's by Microsoft & Free by ctimeHas anyone else noticed when using a browser other than IE Microsoft will not let you access or download from them? Another way for MS to force us to use THEIR software. ????
So Funny!
by ctime - 6/20/09 11:34 AM In reply to: IE vs FIREFOX by jreisingerFireFox (and many others) is an aftermarket browser latching on to the Microsoft framework like a baby to the teet! Is Microsoft in business to provide solutions for their own product to outside competition? Like MACS do? (surely I jest).
If FireFox isn't working for you try emailing them and ask them to provide support for the MS Scanning utility : ) OR just download the IE browser, perform the scan and then resume with FireFox. Heck, I still have an old Netscape browser looming around to open up once in awhile.
Seriously, No Disrespect to anyone at all but Hmmmmmm let's see - I just went to the FireFox website and LO! there's no Free PC Scanning utility and Advanced Registry cleaner for Windows, same thing over at at Linux, Ubuntu and Opera... Oh Well! Fortunately, MS has one : P
All I'm suggesting is that MS products work fantastically with Windows. And so they should. If anyone insists on using independent products in conjunction with Windows, then factor in that there are bound to be some glitches at times.
noblesse
by archeoptimist - 6/21/09 1:25 PM In reply to: So Funny! by ctimeMicrosoft may be noticing that their business is tailing off a little. I don't think the directors of the company are even capable of understanding that their paying customers are not the vassals of the Lord of Microsoft Manor. Their attitude that my computer is their computer has alienated me (not just kidding), and I consider myself a hostage to them. That Windows and Office work at all is a minor miracle of bloated work-arounds, premature releases, and hail-Mary patches. For the last 3 months, Windows up-date has been persistently up-loading 4 "security" patches which it claims are necessary to avoid intrusion, and which their operating system will not install. Apparently because I got totally fed up with Internet Explorer trying to cram Microsoft's crass view of reality down my throat, and switched over to Firefox, the failing uploads are an intentional ploy to coerce me some more. Might I add that Firefox seems so seamless, so congenial, that I can't think of even a slight dissatisfaction I have felt with it, through numerous updates. Conversely, most of the problems I seem to experience with my computer seem traceable to efforts on the part of Microsoft to "interest" me in their new products and their Herculean efforts to patch up bad code in the old. The second most annoying software provider is Symantec, a real servant of the Microsoft fiefdom, which recently appeared on TV during the conficker scare and said "use us or else." I have been a continuous customer of theirs for 8 years or so, and I believe that most of the hardware capacity that I have added during this time has been to support their efforts to plug the endless vulnerabilities of Windows and Internet Explorer. Norton's latest iteration has really unburdened the system, for which they have my admiration, but re-subscribing and installing their new products is a major pain in the... So if you every break your lip-lock on the bitter nipple and look around, you might not feel so cozy.
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