Are Registry Cleaners Still Needed on Windows 10?

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  1. Posts : 90
    8.1 64 bit
       #60

    I have used CCleaner for years with great success, have never had an issue with using it to keep the registry clean.
    Now I can not say how much if any that has helped my performance, I can say though my systems have always run very well, from win7-win8 and now I will be using it in Win10.
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  2. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #61

    My friend insists using IObit system care all the time and it invariably screws up his system, has to reinstall his W10 every couple of month.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #62

    Jody Thornton said:
    There can't be NO PERFORMANCE increases from the use of registry cleaners.
    Why not? Unless your number junk records significantly exceeds your valid records it will not even theoretically make a difference - it will just take a bit more disk space. You have to get information in 4k pages from the index anyway.

    Discounting the tiny number of records you may remove from the database (a few hundreds or thousands say) who is to say how the database engine works? For sure it doesn't just read through every record but is indexed and this index may or may not contain the key data (depending on value type, size, database engine).

    Even if your whole registry had just 1 valid key you would still have to get a minimum of one 4k page (of the index or database I don't know) from disk. Add 1000 unnecessary ones you'd still only have to get one page. Add another 50 billion unnecessary ones and still you'd only have to get one page most likely (unless MS made the indexes wrong).

    Eventually your index would exceed your page size, and with only one value you wanted out of some massive number it would be (theoretically) slower if all of the junk ones happened to have the same key on the index as the one you were looking for.

    Now you can argue that junk registry entries add a tiny bit of disk space. You can't argue that they "must" add a performance overhead. Maybe (but considering that the registry has significantly more than one key) probably not.

    In any case if anyone had tested it then the answer would be clear and we would all do it (one way or the other). Thing is no-one has proved anything either way so it is all anecdote and speculation.

    I've used it for years and it didn't break anything
    or
    ..seems a bit faster to me, probably...
    is hardly a ringing endorsement. On the other hand,

    Mark Russinovitch says registry junk is a way of file

    is hardly a reason to think the other way (although you have to trust someone and he seems cleverer than me).

    Now, when I went to see my mother in law she put some salt and nigella seeds on my bike to keep the evil-eye away. Can I prove it worked or didn't? No. No-one nicked my bike though.

    So if you like using CCleaner (or RAM disks or changing your page file or disabling services or using one AV over another) go ahead. You could try a little bag of nigella seeds and salt as well :)

    Most likely, in most cases, it makes no difference either way.
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  4. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #63

    After XP, windows doesn't read whole registry looking for right entries, it ignores anything not needed for any operation. You can have a TB of registry size and still will not make any difference. Erroneous entries may be a problem though.
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  5. Posts : 68
    Windows 10
       #64

    They have not been needed since XP days. Applications have been written a lot better to install or uninstall. Even microsoft has stated in a video about how much harm than good these registry editiors are.
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  6. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #65

    Mansome said:
    They have not been needed since XP days. Applications have been written a lot better to install or uninstall. Even microsoft has stated in a video about how much harm than good these registry editiors are.
    I wouldn't trust MS as far as I could throw Nadella but in this case I tested it myself.
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  7. Posts : 5,442
    Windows 11 Home
       #66

    Just to add to this interesting discussion, I find it funny, that most people, who do not recommend registry cleaners, never actually used them. Their opinions are based on reviews of people, who used a fake software like from iobit. :)

    Basically it goes like this: How is the sushi? It is disgusting, I know, I have read all about it.
    "Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth." - with articles like this one, I am not really surprised.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 131
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #67

    This post has not so much to do with registry cleaning, but it does deal with the registry's affect on system performance a little.

    A few years ago, an audio user reported slow startup on a particular audio platform that seemed excessive. Lots of folk tried to help. I suggested he run PROCMON and send me the results. After studying it for a while, I realized he was a software developer and had a few MS development tools installed. His environment search path was enormous and he had 5938 CLSIDs [I have 1046]. Most of these I believe where from the development tools. It took his system 300 ms to scan a certain system entry while mine took 100 ms. Multiply that by the dozens and dozens of stuff he had to get through and you can see the performance issue.

    Now a registry clean tool will not help, he would have to uninstall all the development stuff and shorten his search path. But the size of one's registry can have a profound affect on performance in some cases.


      My Computer


  9. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #68

    arachnaut said:
    This post has not so much to do with registry cleaning, but it does deal with the registry's affect on system performance a little.

    A few years ago, an audio user reported slow startup on a particular audio platform that seemed excessive. Lots of folk tried to help. I suggested he run PROCMON and send me the results. After studying it for a while, I realized he was a software developer and had a few MS development tools installed. His environment search path was enormous and he had 5938 CLSIDs [I have 1046]. Most of these I believe where from the development tools. It took his system 300 ms to scan a certain system entry while mine took 100 ms. Multiply that by the dozens and dozens of stuff he had to get through and you can see the performance issue.

    Now a registry clean tool will not help, he would have to uninstall all the development stuff and shorten his search path. But the size of one's registry can have a profound affect on performance in some cases.


    How "few" years ago, XP time ?
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 131
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #69

    CountMike said:
    How "few" years ago, XP time ?
    Oct 2014, Windows 8.

    You can read about it here:

    Extremely slow startup of all NI software | Page 2 | NI User Forum
      My Computer


 

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