Any decent registry cleaning programs?

S

Spare-Flair

Supreme [H]ardness
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A quick google reveals that most registry cleaning programs are of the same ilk as all those "speed up your computer", "fake antivirus" sort of products trying to take advantage of unknowledgeable consumers.

Are there any good registry cleaning programs out there? I have a feeling there's something wrong in my hkey classes and there are probably a ton of registry errors just because of how many things I've done to this OS and how many systems I've migrated between or how many programs have uninstalled correctly.
 
I used Macecraft a while ago with Win XP and found the program to be quite effective. I do not know how well it will deal with Win. 7 (if that is what you are asking for).
 
CCleaner

/thread

Don't use anything else.

Once the regulars on this forum wake up they will be echoing that.
 
criccio said:
CCleaner

/thread

Don't use anything else.

Once the regulars on this forum wake up they will be echoing that.
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QFT
When it comes to regular cleaning of your computer, nothing beats CCleaner. It should always be one of the first programs you download on a new system.
 
ccleaner is what i use. does a very thorough job if u analyze the registry and clean until there are no results.
 
Microsoft has a free registry cleaner. Why anyone would recommend CCleaner over the people who actually design the registry is beyond me.

With IE, visit http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

Install it, click customize scan and just choose registry. But if your OS is in such bad shape your grasping at straws by trying a registry cleaner to fix it you probably need to reinstall it.
 
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bigdogchris said:
Microsoft has a free registry cleaner. Why anyone would recommend CCleaner over the people who actually design the registry is beyond me.
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This whole site recommends it, as does almost every software review site. Where your logic comes from in this matter is beyond me...

Not to mention you have to be using IE, then go to that site, then click a bunch of prompts... etc.. Not worth it.

Launching CCleaner and scanning and cleaning takes less then 10 seconds. It has nothing to do with "people who designed it" knowing anything more.
 
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bigdogchris said:
Microsoft has a free registry cleaner. Why anyone would recommend CCleaner over the people who actually design the registry is beyond me.

With IE, visit http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

Install it, click customize scan and just choose registry. But if your OS is in such bad shape your grasping at straws by trying a registry cleaner to fix it you probably need to reinstall it.
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The reason so many of use recommend CCleaner is becasue of how versatile a program it is. Just because Microsoft makes a program that works for it's OS doesn't mean it's automatically the best. IE anyone? But I do agree with you on your last statement. Cleaning the registry isn't going to make your computer magically faster. It's more of a preventive measure to make sure you don't let it get in bad shape to begin with.
 
I also like TuneUp Utilities, even though you have to pay for it. It performs a lot of functions, though.
 
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Is CCleaner faster because it doesn't search as deep?

If I run CCleaner, and then run another registry cleaning program... the other program takes longer and finds more stuff.

Or does CCleaner only target the most important stuff, and other cleaners find every possible registry entry?
 
I used ccleaner on buddies old XP system and it completely hosed it. Prior to that I would have recommended ccleaner. Now, I don't know.
 
Used Tuneup Utilities for years, just recently started using Advanced System Care which is free, both seem to work pretty well.
 
bigdogchris said:
Why anyone would recommend CCleaner over the people who actually design the registry is beyond me.
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Because it does a great job. I'm a big defender of Microsoft, but they're tools aren't always the best. CCleaner has some great options all rolled into one software app. It's also portable.
 
Its also tough to get Microsoft engineers to check my registry over.
 
just a question, what kindof "registry errors" do you suspect?

are you cleaning the registry to remove malware or spyware or other "ware" installed?

to me it seems the only reason to want to remove or clean the registry is to remove those malware entries, but just a regular cleaning of hte registry just doesn't seem to make any sense unless the OS or programs are behaving oddly.

does CCleaner restore default registry settings? (which technically would be cleaning up the registry) or does it just delete unused entries?
 
I clean the registry anytime I remove a major piece of software or drivers, along with cleaning the registry of malware entries. Uninstall some Nvidia drivers sometime, reboot the computer, and then run CCleaner. Rogue registry entries can account for odd system behavior, so running a registry cleaner every once in a while, after system changes, isn't a bad idea.
 
Nenu said:
Comodo (known for their top notch firewalls) have made a registry/system cleaner which is worth a look.
http://system-cleaner.comodo.com/
Its certainly quick but I dont know if it is more effective than CCleaner. ]
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I have used that one several times...as Comodo has come up with quite a few little free programs, also their backup program.

The article I read about a year ago which compared registry cleaners didn't have Comodo in the comparison however, so dunno how well it works.

Glary Utilities was another decent registry cleaner.

CCleaners registry cleaner is actually quite shallow in how thoroughly it cleans.

I tend to not use them too much unless I'm working on a pretty squirrely system. Cleaning a registry doesn't really change its size much..not like the file is big anyways. So reducing it by a micro hair doesn't suddenly make the computer a barn stormer. And dead registry entries are just that....DEAD. If they point to nothing, they point to nothing..there's nothing to load.
 
I install CCleaner as a tool to have for analysis if I ever need it, but I don't really trust it or any program to do such things as wholesale cleaning of the registry for performance optimization. Instead, I see the value of those types of programs for compromised or more poorly managed systems where a quick-fix is needed. :)

Any registry issues that are present by default due to programming oversights are either innocuous, or can be fixed manually or patched if an actual problem is being experienced as a result.

I do any worthwhile cleaning tasks manually, aside from cookie-clearing with anti-malware programs like MBAM and SuperAntiSpyware.

An indispensable program for me is Total Uninstall. Its ability to track any OS-aware system changes (not rootkits) not only helps to remove software completely, but makes a fantastic investigative tool for troubleshooting and application management.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Cleaning a registry doesn't really change its size much..not like the file is big anyways. So reducing it by a micro hair doesn't suddenly make the computer a barn stormer. And dead registry entries are just that....DEAD. If they point to nothing, they point to nothing..there's nothing to load.
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I thought so.

Isn't the registry made up of hundreds of thousands of entries? Why is clearing 50 dead registry entries so important?

Although... I admit I run registry cleaners for the "why not" factor... :)

My registry is 80MB... 785586 lines...
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
I tend to not use them too much unless I'm working on a pretty squirrely system. Cleaning a registry doesn't really change its size much..not like the file is big anyways. So reducing it by a micro hair doesn't suddenly make the computer a barn stormer. And dead registry entries are just that....DEAD. If they point to nothing, they point to nothing..there's nothing to load.
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Yup. I just went over this with my brother-in-law. Good thing he asked. He was about to lay down $29.95 on a registry cleaner because he thought it would make his laptop screaming fast.
 
bigdogchris said:
Microsoft has a free registry cleaner. Why anyone would recommend CCleaner over the people who actually design the registry is beyond me.
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That's like saying the person that invented the zipper would know it better than anyone... It's such a simple device in operation that there's really not much else to know...

I prefer CCleaner because it DOES scan more shallow. I've never had it screw up a system. Just gets rid of the obvious entries, not the iffy ones that'll screw something up.



All of that said, with Windows 7 here: there's really not a big advantage to cleaning your registry anymore (unless you've got an issue with something in it). So installing and running CCleaner constantly? Not really for me. I'll do that on XP machines that I'm not familiar with, or cleaning up another person's machine. On mine I use, not really.
 
I don't use registry cleaners much, CCleaner is decent but like YeOldeStonedCat mentioned it's a little shallow in what it picks up but that could be a good thing for noobs. I have TuneUp Utilities 2008 installed and usually use the registry cleaner in that(about the only thing I use in it actually), seems pretty good, I run it once in a blue moon.
 
H-street said:
just a question, what kindof "registry errors" do you suspect?

are you cleaning the registry to remove malware or spyware or other "ware" installed?

to me it seems the only reason to want to remove or clean the registry is to remove those malware entries, but just a regular cleaning of hte registry just doesn't seem to make any sense unless the OS or programs are behaving oddly.

does CCleaner restore default registry settings? (which technically would be cleaning up the registry) or does it just delete unused entries?
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My OS is totally cobbled together. It's a long story. I manually install a backup of registry hives one by one on top of an imaged hard drive from a completely different system (even CPU and chipset is different) with the addition of the Windows\System32 folder completed manually overwritten by the one from a new installation. This is my way of doing a manual "repair" version of the repair option on the XP CD. There are hundreds of programs and drivers that have been through this harddrive. I have not done an actual format and start off fresh Windows for 10 years. I have basically used the same Windows installation in 3 different systems going from an AMD XP on XP original release to AMD 64 X2 and now to a Core 2 Quad with SP3. Never reinstalled Windows. This is the same harddrive image with manual cobbling together by me that probably shouldn't work. Call me stubborn and glutton for punishment.

Believe me, my registry probably has so many errors in it that it's hard to believe, but I know there are a few buggy instances like explorer.exe will sometimes generate access violation errors which occurs because one or more registry keys are not accessible or are bad calls. This could also be due to the various malware viruses and trojans I have cleaned out of this system over the past few years leaving traces that nolonger exist because I'm fastidious about scanning and doing most of my recovery with Combofix or manual registry restore through a dual boot.

I actually have CCLeaner on my other partition and didn't realize it cleaned the registry as well, I thought it was another driver cleaner clone
 
Spare-Flair said:
I actually have CCLeaner on my other partition and didn't realize it cleaned the registry as well, I thought it was another driver cleaner clone
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It's primary purpose isn't being a driver cleaner, but a temp/junk files cleaner.
It has a couple of other functions you can do. When it's open, look at the menu on the left side.

*Cleaner...For removing temp files, and you can see which options you have on the right side.
*Registry Cleaner..self explanatory
*Tools...clean up old leftover program entries in add/remove
*Options...a few simple options for above tools.
 
Spare-Flair said:
This could also be due to the various malware viruses and trojans I have cleaned out of this system over the past few years leaving traces that nolonger exist because I'm fastidious about scanning and doing most of my recovery with Combofix or manual registry restore through a dual boot.
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Honestly I would've reinstalled that system from scratch long ago. Once something gets as infected and jacked up as what you're describing, I'm not going to trust it.

If you're running Windows 7, you may even see a speed boost by re-installing it and not screwing around with the registry anymore.
 
I haven't used a registry cleaning program since having Vista and 7, but when I ran XP I used TweakNow RegCleaner. It was quick, always found things to remove, and never ever messed up my system. It has been updated to work with the newer operating systems so it's still actively developed, but maybe I'll try CCleaner since it appears to be what most people use. I've never really used it for anything but a quick/convenient way to free up space by deleting temp files.
 
TechieSooner said:
Honestly I would've reinstalled that system from scratch long ago. Once something gets as infected and jacked up as what you're describing, I'm not going to trust it.
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I've cleaned a ton of rigs, and only had a few I just formatted. I'd be more concerned with this:
Spare-Flair said:
I manually install a backup of registry hives one by one on top of an imaged hard drive from a completely different system (even CPU and chipset is different) with the addition of the Windows\System32 folder completed manually overwritten by the one from a new installation. This is my way of doing a manual "repair" version of the repair option on the XP CD. There are hundreds of programs and drivers that have been through this harddrive. I have not done an actual format and start off fresh Windows for 10 years. I have basically used the same Windows installation in 3 different systems going from an AMD XP on XP original release to AMD 64 X2 and now to a Core 2 Quad with SP3.
Click to expand...
 
I'm concerned with both.

The former- if malware did enough damage to cause registry errors, it was a decent enough virus I'd really never trust that machine again. Call me anal, but who knows what other new kind of malware it could've installed during its residency that the AV doesn't have definitions for?

The latter- there's really no guarantee of anything working right. It's almost a guarantee that something WON'T work right and you'll have to jack with it.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 did away with having to manually screw with stuff in the registry. It's rather well known, the more you jack with those two OS's, the more problems you'll have.
 
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