Discuss the uses of 'registry cleaners', 'disk cleaners', 'optimizers'

BunnyJ said:

I don't see anyone here starting any argument or requiring a warning like that. This is a thread that's allowed to morph into a discussion on the merit of registry cleaning.. this occurs in many threads here. And by allowing this to stay in the current forum it will give members a good idea of the merits of a registry cleaner.. if there are any.

My take is that a registry cleaner is not needed and hasn't been of any use since WIn95/98. From the articles and evidence that's out on the Web by many there is no proof that a registry cleaner has any affect on the performance of a PC. While cleaning up a few dead entries in the registry data base might feel good it's not needed.

Jeff..

BunnyJ said:

I would never tell anyone not to use a registry cleaner like CCleaner. For me I never used one for reasons already stated. But if someone does use one I recommend that a backup of the system and/or the registry is a must just in case something does go wrong.

I don't see any arguments either, or anything requiring a warning. Maybe you did, and I missed it. Don't know what "like that" refers to. Morphing is just another way of saying "go off topic".

If you've never used one (registry cleaner), what experience are you basing your opinions on? There are Web articles and sites to backup the pros or cons of any subject. Common sense and rational decisions are all that really matter.

No disrespect intended, but I still have not seen any comments posted by the OP. Nor any problems/issues that would have prompted him to open this in a help thread. Only that he wanted to give others a place to talk about it. If he's not going to comment in his own thread, why is it here?

Mystere said:

As long as you stick to general cleanup tasks, like emptying temporary files or internet files, sure. But as soon as you go into the more advanced cleanup, you start taking more risks.

Microsoft doesn't recommend ccleaner at all. for example:

http://news.thewindowsclub.com/micro...isagree-80369/

CCleaner does not and did not give any sort of issue after windows 7 preview build 7000, at least for me. Whatever advanced operation it may be, it is always safe.

I personally have tried almost all of the known cleaners. All are problematic other than CCleaner. Their problem is, they want to perform/outperform, they want to clean and free up more space than the others, it makes them aggressive, and the aggressiveness kills some necessary system files. In many a cases those files are impossible to recreate without either hacking the system resources or a complete clean install.

In the prevailing situation, if anybody can cause a system damage using ccleaner, they can cause a similar damage using the windows explorer too. IMHO that is an user level issue, not program level.

If the user knows what he is actually doing, and if his cleaner keeps him aware about what it is going to do, then he can use any cleaner safely. After a number of bitter experiences, I learned how to use TuneUp Utilities and used it successfully for next few years. But I never recommended it to anybody, because I dont know for whom the above two conditions will be fulfilled.

Arc said:

CCleaner does not and did not give any sort of issue after windows 7 preview build 7000, at least for me. Whatever advanced operation it may be, it is always safe.

I personally have tried almost all of the known cleaners. All are problematic other than CCleaner. Their problem is, they want to perform/outperform, they want to clean and free up more space than the others, it makes them aggressive, and the aggressiveness kills some necessary system files. In many a cases those files are impossible to recreate without either hacking the system resources or a complete clean install.

In the prevailing situation, if anybody can cause a system damage using ccleaner, they can cause a similar damage using the windows explorer too. IMHO that is an user level issue, not program level.

If the user knows what he is actually doing, and if his cleaner keeps him aware about what it is going to do, then he can use any cleaner safely. After a number of bitter experiences, I learned how to use TuneUp Utilities and used it successfully for next few years. But I never recommended it to anybody, because I dont know for whom the above two conditions will be fulfilled.

It really does boil down to experience and common sense. As far as The Windows Club, they have a vested interest in publishing articles and excerpts that will help promote products from their ad base, and cast a dim light on others. They are not Microsoft.

f14tomcat said:

I don't see any arguments either, or anything requiring a warning. Maybe you did, and I missed it. Don't know what "like that" refers to. Morphing is just another way of saying "go off topic".

If you've never used one (registry cleaner), what experience are you basing your opinions on? There are Web articles and sites to backup the pros or cons of any subject. Common sense and rational decisions are all that really matter.

No disrespect intended, but I still have not seen any comments posted by the OP. Nor any problems/issues that would have prompted him to open this in a help thread. Only that he wanted to give others a place to talk about it. If he's not going to comment in his own thread, why is it here?

Why not here?? It's a good a place as any.

I have studied registry's and what they are and how to work with them and what a registry cleaner is good for or not. And from all of that work/reacherch I have found that there is no evidence that supports registry cleaners having any benefit to a PC. I don't use them because of this study I found no reason to.

Evidence ..
Are registry cleaners necessary? - Windows Help

The Windows* registry is a database that lists all of the configuration settings that determine how Windows looks and behaves. Sometimes, settings that are no longer needed will remain in the registry in case they're ever needed again. There's nothing unusual about this, and this data is small in size.

Some products available for free on the Internet suggest the registry needs regular maintenance or cleaning. Although a registry setting can become corrupt on occasion, in general, the registry is self-sufficient. If you decide to install a registry cleaner, be sure to research the product and only download and install programs from software publishers that you trust.

Why Using a Registry Cleaner Wont Speed Up Your PC or Fix Crashes

The Reality

In reality, registry entries aren’t a drag on your computer’s performance. The registry is a massive database containing hundreds of thousands of entries and individual registry entries are fairly tiny. Even removing a few thousand entries won’t make an appreciable dent in the size of your registry.

Now, if our computers only had a tiny amount of memory or an extremely slow hard disk, there could be some value to shrinking the registry a bit. But this will be completely unnoticeable on computers in use today. We don’t live in the days of Windows 95 anymore. The Windows registry has also become more robust as Windows itself evolved from Windows 95 to Windows 7 and 8.

I know some feel that by using one will help their PC and they have had zero issues by using one. That's fine and they can use them but I want to see a fair and balanced discussion on this topic. New users have the right to see both sides and make up their own mind on what to do or use on their PC.

BunnyJ said:

Why not here?? It's a good a place as any.

I have studied registry's and what they are and how to work with them and what a registry cleaner is good for or not. And from all of that work/reacherch I have found that there is no evidence that supports registry cleaners having any benefit to a PC. I don't use them because of this study I found no reason to.

Evidence ..
Are registry cleaners necessary? - Windows Help



Why Using a Registry Cleaner Wont Speed Up Your PC or Fix Crashes


I know some feel that by using one will help their PC and they have had zero issues by using one. That's fine and they can use them but I want to see a fair and balanced discussion on this topic. New users have the right to see both sides and make up their own mind on what to do or use on their PC.

I guess you could say, If it makes the user feel good....

Even manually deleting something from the registry using search can nuke your system, as there are shared .dll's(libraries) in the WinSxs portion of the registry, and if you delete the link.... ***poof*** you just killed 3 or 4 programs if not Windows(ntdll.dll for example).

That's why if I remove an old program manually, I only do the ones in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE] and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE].

Cliff S said:

I guess you could say, If it makes the user feel good....

Even manually deleting something from the registry using search can nuke your system, as there are shared .dll's(libraries) in the WinSxs portion of the registry, and if you delete the link.... ***poof*** you just killed 3 or 4 programs if not Windows(ntdll.dll for example).

That's why if I remove an old program manually, I only do the ones in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE] and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE].

I agree. What I like to do when deleting a program is to use this: Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download - Uninstall software, remove programs, solve uninstall problems

It removes more than the Windows uninstaller and it can clean up registry entries. Oh and you can set how aggressive you want the clean up to be.

+1 for Revo Uninstaller. It is one of the programs that I always install immediately after a clean install. It deals with the registry perfectly; but still it makes a restore point before uninstalling a program.