Computer newbies forum: Do "Register Cleaners" really clean?

on your computer that are not needed, thus each time you use even your favorite sites, there will be the same things to remove. They are not necesarily bad, but they are not needed to remain. Some are poorly written and eventually clash with other equally poorly written ones and then cause problems.

I also use Registry Mechanic and I have it set to run whenever I boot up my PC. As a matter of precaution, I also do a full scan before I shut down my PC, especially whenever I have been online for a significant length of time.

I also have SpyDoctor and they have done ok for me so far.

I would also recommend Privacy Guardian if you don't mind having to type in user names and passwords every time.

I always purge my tif files and cookies everyday and I have my history counter set to 0 days. Having seen what can happen to a PC when it gets infected I tend to err on the side of caution now. You can never be too careful.

This may be a better link.

http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6132-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=103390&messageID=1184733&tag=

Larry

I had a very hard time cleaning my registry of all kind of malware and popups until I found two programs that REALLY work: SpyFerret and StopZilla. Both combined with Hijack This and Google popup blocker did the trick. I never saw any popup or malware again. These two programs works in the background, don't take much space in your C: Drive. The only downfall is: Free version only works partially so to get rid of everything they found in your system you have to buy them, but it worth it, believe me!! My OS is Windows XP Pro SP2 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60 GHz, 504 MB of RAM.

Thank you Roddy32. Very interesting! but so far....they're working fine for me and I have peace of mind at last. Now I can surf without all that anoying pops up covering my screen.

I totally agree with you! This "spyware-malware thing" it has become a nightmare for everybody. And if you don't understand at least the basic of this situation is easy to crash you computer yourself. That's why I always recommend to those using Hijack This for example, to be very cautious of what they delete. Same apply when they access RegEdit.

Thank you for your tip about "boot camp". I will check it out. I'm always open to learn new things. I used to pay a bundle to companies to fix problems that I can fix now by myself.

Can anyone tell me why different registry cleaners all come up with different amounts of problems when scanning the same computer?Some of the discrepancies are huge.I've tried a good few on my computer they all do a free scan but you have to pay to get the fix.

I installed RegMech on my new AMD 64 Bit laptop and it did not seem to do anything so I uninstalled it. So I wonder if there are specific tuneup programs for the 64 bit systems. Also, I ran WebRoot a couple times and it quarantined and deleted a system file so I had to reinstall XP. Anyone know if there are tuneup and spy progams that work better with 64 bit computers.

I use registry mechanic and so far I've had no problems.I agree that Norton causes more problems than it fixes I got rid of it years ago.With regard to registry checker progams I think there is a bit of a con going on when you download these free trials they all seem to find a different amount of registry problems, I tried 2 the other day 1 found 43 problems the other 1 found 166 problems I ran my own registry mechanic and only found 15 problems.Nearly all the free trials will scan but not fix until you purchase.I have ccleaner as well.

my laptop is 15 months old; I have not run any registry cleaning cleaning program. My computer runs prety good, no problems and the speed is good also.
By the way, my computer came with Norton antiviruse, which I earsed after few weeks because it was slowing my computer down and keeps trying to do thinks when I am busy working.

Hi Vince, and my experience with computers and personally testing programs on my own to see how they work has lead to carnage at times, but I work it out and have recommended many things to my fellow workers and friends in order for them to avoid all the rogue programs out there also. Anyhow for Registry Mechanic, I use thatprogram also and really like the way it sorts out bad DLL'S as well as left over reg keys from a poor uninstall which happens all the time, for me it is one of the best all around cleaners and yes it does get rid of junk in your registry,but not 100%like alot of programs. I go right into the registry myself and just for curiosity see whats left from a scan and delete it manually. I also use Hijack this and have yet to come across anything yet that details possible hijacks or BHO'S and other startup malware like that program. I am currently running the guantlet testing diff spyware programs.

I purchased Registry First Aid because of problems with my registry. Specifically there are multiple entries in Windows 98 startup that shouldn't be there because the programs were deleted. After many trials just trying to get Registry First Aid installed I finally got it to work. Upon checking my startup three entries that should have been removed are still there. And they're still there after the weekly run of Registry First Aid.

Apparently the only way to clean up the registry is by personally going through REGEDIT.

I believe some work great. I use one called RegScrubXP. The first time I ran it even after other cleaners it found over 100 entries to fix. You can find it here. http://www.equorial.com/forum21/1241.html