Does anyone still use tune up utilities like CCleaner?

Bree said:

That's as maybe, but when the machine you're imaging contains one or more VMs then good luck with skipping the junk files in their .vhdx files.

The only way to keep an image of the host machine compact is to regularly clean the junk files from each guest OS, followed by compacting each VM's .vhdx file. When you have three or more VMs installed as I do typically, then the junk files in each can quickly add up to a substantial number of GB

Luck is not a factor excepting only maybe if you are a typical-old Macrium shill. For agentless backup of Hyper-V machines, Acronis Backup supports exclusions, provided that the filesystem is supported by Acronis Backup and backup is not performed in sector-by-sector mode.

RolandJS said:

GentleLadies, GentleMen, all of us are correct -- as such relates to our respective computers. I am always open to reading and hearing of new-to-me ideas, practices, constructs, etc. Some ideas I can adopt, many I file away onto my HDD.

Yeah, all of us are correct. Only problem, some of us are more correct than others...

RolandJS said:

Animal Farm

hdmi said:

In the vast majority of cases, garbage left behind by sloppy uninstallers does not hurt performance in any way that can be noticed. An aging installation of Windows can in fact bog the system down more significantly as a result from each time having upgraded/updated Windows to a newer version or build so, even if you never installed/uninstalled anything much besides Windows updates and driver updates, doing a clean install of Windows 10 every once in a while may prove to be a more worthwile solution than what I like to describe as "typical Windows 10 homeopathy". Some people go as far as to install apps to a VM just for keeping the OS all Spic and Span, when the reality is that running a VM even when it's not warranted is still rated very high at the top of the list of avoidable performance hogs so a user's misinterpretation of what's the real purpose of virtualization tends to be often counterproductive. While I agree that apps like Revo Uninstaller (among a few other, similar ones) might still be useful at times, a more resilient tactic that I like to use is called Sandboxie Plus. It's not always perfect, and, making an incremental image with Acronis True Image before I start to experiment is still the only way to be sure, but I am a pragmatist so, I like to combine multiple tactics in a layered kind of approach, or mindset. IMO use the nice, vanilla scented, Cape Cod polishing cloths with the separately sold horsehair brush, and add in a bit of fresh procmon. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...nloads/procmon

I like the idea of using a VM for testing out software that you download... and then, if something strikes your fancy and you want to use it regularly, then install in the primary OS. But if not bothering with VM's then a clean uninstaller like Revo would be my take.

I'll have to check out "Sandboxie Plus." Good point about a layered approach, right in line with my way of thinking.

But technically speaking, I'm starting to see the light. The registry may be "dirty" and contain some garbage references, but they are meaningless for other programs / functions that have nothing to do with them. It's like having a little bird poop on the corner of your windshield that is outside the reach of the wipers. Sure, you could pull over to clean it off... but really, it doesn't obstruct your vision and in fact, most of the time you don't even notice it's there unless you purposefully look at it.


I'm realizing that my desire to "clean up the mess" is antiquated here. In the old days when a registry was used rather differently, it could pose a problem if there were bad entries in it. But it sounds like at this point, it's not worth bothering about. In an analogy, like combing your Event Viewer events for all the warnings and errors that pop up, trying to solve them, when in fact they aren't impacting performance in any notable way as long as the functions you're using aren't associated.

^ Imagine that you have 100,000 grains of sand in the trunk of your car. This is your entire registry.

You uninstall application A, which has 15 red grains of sand. Unfortunately, the uninstall left 2 red grains of sand behind in the registry.

So, you have 999,987 total grains of sand left, and 2 of those grains are red and don't necessarily need to be there. If you find that hunting down the 2 red grains of sand and removing them makes you feel a sense of accomplishment, then by all means hunt away and clean them up.

pparks1 said:

^ Imagine that you have 100,000 grains of sand in the trunk of your car. This is your entire registry.

You uninstall application A, which has 15 red grains of sand. Unfortunately, the uninstall left 2 red grains of sand behind in the registry.

So, you have 999,987 total grains of sand left, and 2 of those grains are red and don't necessarily need to be there. If you find that hunting down the 2 red grains of sand and removing them makes you feel a sense of accomplishment, then by all means hunt away and clean them up.

100,000 - 15 + 2 = 99,987 so, not 999,987, and, too much cleaning is bad for mental health I mean... see how it already is causing your brain to fail at math?