Which Windows Registry Cleaner Do You Recommend?

[CarolinaPilot]

Hello Gang,
I am running XP and the latest service pack on my Dell XPS notebook. What software solution do you guys recommend to use to clean up your windows registry and why? Thanks for your sharing.

[LChisum]

I used PC Tools link Registry Mechanic ($29.95) for a year. It seemed adequate and will also compact your registry. But they pi$$ed me off because they were going to automatically renew my subscription. I don't like that, and I had to jump through hoops to get the automatic renewal dropped. So I let the update subscription lapse, and will use the static version for a while until I think I need something else. Through Google, you can also get PC Tools Spyware Doctor for free. It also does a limited amount of registry checking.

Larry

[krygny]

I've never seen a registry cleaner that really gets rid of all the useless crap. Results are cursory, at best.

Wipe the drive and reinstall everything from the recovery disk.

Oh yeah: Remember to do a full backup first.

[Sunday Rider]

I use CC cleaner.

I have used in my home PC and notebook. Seems to work well.

It scans and tells you what it has found and you can accept each entry or all. So you have the final say.

It is FREE.

Here's the web site:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

[markraphael]

Yea for CCleaner. I've been using it for some time now and never had any problem. It gets the job done fast and it's free!

[iivtecracerii]

ccleaner here too. also use registry mechanic.

be warned that doing anything to the registry can potentially seriously F up your windows.

once i was unable to boot into windows anymore after doing a registry clean.

[CarolinaPilot]

Thank you guys for your time and input. I will CC a try and be careful not to mess up my registry file. Now that would take all the fun out of it. Duane

[LChisum]

Thanks for the tip on CCleaner. It looks pretty good.

Larry

[Roger]

What drives one to want to clean up the registry? How do you know you need to or is it just something to do? I've never messed with one before.

[krygny]

Originally posted by iivtecracerii
...
be warned that doing anything to the registry can potentially seriously F up your windows.

once i was unable to boot into windows anymore after doing a registry clean.

There ya go. Unless you know how to program the registry, I wouldn't touch it.

[LChisum]

Originally posted by krygny

There ya go. Unless you know how to program the registry, I wouldn't touch it.

I agree, direct editing of the registry is not for the faint hearted. One little key stroke in the wrong place could botch the entire system. If you think of the registry as a table, then over a period of time of program additions and deletions, changes of settings, and spyware and virus references, the table may contain many null, invalid, duplicate, or possibly malicious entries. In addition to potentially impeding system performance, i.e., longer table lookup, there are those of us who would just like to keep our systems as clean as possible. The preferred method is to use trusted software for the cleaning, and of course to establish a restore point beforehand. I include registry scans on my weekly schedule of virus and spyware checking, hard drive cleanup, defragmentation, and backup. And for you Mac people, I honestly want to know if you do any of the above, or does OS X clean and defragment the hard drive for you?

Larry

[jay]

Originally posted by LChisum


... And for you Mac people, I honestly want to know if you do any of the above, or does OS X clean and defragment the hard drive for you?

Larry

I don't do anything special with my Mac, except running the disk utility "repair permissions" every now and again.

In 6 years of regular Mac use, I've not had any issues that kept me from using the system or forced a rebuild.

I must say, though, that XP and Windows 2000 before that on my work laptop seem to be much more stable than 95, ME, and 98 that I was running before going back to Apple for home use.

[phi144]

Originally posted by LChisum


And for you Mac people, I honestly want to know if you do any of the above, or does OS X clean and defragment the hard drive for you?

Larry

Macs and Unix/Linux don't use a registry system. Hopefully someday Microsoft will abandon that practice.

[krygny]

Originally posted by krygny
... Unless you know how to program the registry, I wouldn't touch it.

And I would not assume that a "registry cleaning" program knows what it's doing. It doesn't.

[LChisum]

Originally posted by phi144


Macs and Unix/Linux don't use a registry system. Hopefully someday Microsoft will abandon that practice.

I'm aware of that. My question was more directed at cleaning and defragmenting the hard drive. In a recent experience of setting up a Mac for my sister in law, I downloaded updates for Leopard OS and other software (Quicktime and ITunes) as well as installing some third party software. These downloads will create fragmentation over a period of time, and will decrease the efficiency of the hard drive. Since not all software install and uninstall is well behaved, there are sometimes temporary and obsolete files left on the hard drive which take up space and promote fragmentation. I was just curious if any Mac users addressed these two issues.

Larry