Registry maintenance

I have read alot about maintaining the registry for improved PC performance. Major Attitude (Co-owner of this site) recommends CCleaner, which I have used with confidence for years.

I recently installed the freeware of Registry Mechanic and it has found 206 restricted files that can only be removed if I purchase the full software. 112 of the problems are in the Temp Files / Shortcuts area and most of the rest are part of the 'deep scan' and says that my system health is low.

Is my system really have a low health rating or is this Registry Mechanic trying to get me to buy their software?

I have also downloaded and tried RegScrubXP. It found items that CCleaner left, but didn't find the items that Registry Mechanic wants to 'fix'.?

 

The Windows Registry needs very little 'maintenance' and 'maintaining' it has almost zero impact upon Windows performance.

Even CCleaner's default settings removes entries that make no real-world difference; most other registry cleaner dig deeper and find more entries that have zero impact (currently).

There may come a time when a Windows security patch does not get fully implemented because a registry entry it relies upon no longer exists because of over-zealous 'cleaning'.

All software companies want to get you to buy their softwares, not just Registry Mechanic ... caveat emptor.

Stick with CCleaner and waste less of your, and your CPUs, time.

 

JR,
IMO, these registry mechanics are vastly over-rated, I also stick with the cCleaner.

Running all these "fixes" can actually create more problems than they solve. I do run the registry cleaner as part of a pc clean-up, but I consider it a minor tool and I can't honestly say I've ever noticed a improvement in performance after running.

Managing your start-up processes and keeping free of malware are much more fruitful.

Whoops, right on your heels Halo!

 

To answer your question, it's more likely the second of the two, but I'm not familiar with Registry Mechanic so I don't know how the parent outfit operates.

Various registry "cleaners" will clean to different depths, mostly in removing null or empty entries, which every PC will have almost no matter what. CCleaner, which I use regularly, is pretty conservative and doesn't take any chances with boogering the registry. It, too, can clean to different depths depending on the options you have checked. But even with all of them checked it's still pretty conservative. Conservative isn't necessarily bad, though.

Almost any cleaner is going to find things that others don't because each cleaner seems to emphasize different areas and clean to different depths. The key is whether or not they will consistently find the same things in subsequent scans. A review of cleaners that I recently read tested just that and it was found that many of them don't do that, so they fall into the "scareware" or "bumware" categories.

There's also much controversy over the value of any cleaner. Some think that it's a waste of time, in that null or empty entries don't hurt anything anyway. Those who like to keep their registries as tidy as possible may disagree, but it's certainly debatable about whether cleaning empty or null entries really does improve performance. I use CC primarily to get rid of temp files. I know that there are other "unnecessary" entries still there, but I'm afraid if I go too far that I'll delete something that I really didn't want to delete.

All in all, sticking only with CCleaner wouldn't be a bad decision. I've been using it for years and it never hurt a single thing. I once ventured into trying Glary Utilities cleaner and it found several things that CCleaner didn't, and knowing that what it found wasn't important I let it clean those items, but I can't say that it really helped anything.

And no, it's likely that your PC isn't "unhealthy." An unhealthy PC is one whose registry contains bad data, like what would be put there by a virus.

 

I appreciate the replies from everyone. I too like CCleaner and will continue to use it. I will also delete Registry Mechanic because it continues to pop up and tell me i need to buy their software to 'fix' my PC.

 

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner 2.6.3

Hi you guys !

I'm visiting this forum from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. :wave

How about this program , for those who want it 'clean' ?

http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm

 

Registry cleaner question:
I just got a brand new computer. I did use the ccleaner you mentioned and it seemed to speed up my old computer. However, a computer tech in my neighborhood, told me not to, as it could delete registry's that are needed by mistake. I now am typing and the words are delayed and not filling in until much later. Could this be adware? Virus scan came up clean. I hope it is just the keyboard but that is brand new too. Help.
Do i install and run a registry cleaner or not?

 

All I can think of:
+turning off the Automatic Update in My Computer>>Manager>>Services
+install another internet browser

+turn off Spell-checker function of the browser

Good luck with that!

 

I have used Ccleaner for 6 years now, on many different computers, every few days. Not ONE time has it EVER caused ANY problem at all, whatsoever . This "computer tech" in your neighborhood is another fine example of the fact that a person's job is not necessarily reflective of that person's valid knowledge. I have more general computer knowledge than some people i've known who get PAID to be a computer tech for various companies, and I am a manual laborer .
There are people on Major Geeks that know FAR more than I EVER will .
I am grateful that these people donate their time to help those of us out who wish to learn more.

 

Re: Eusing Free Registry Cleaner 2.6.3

I agree with comments in this discussion about sticking with CCleaner for a safe cleaner. However, if you want to try another registry cleaner, the one you mentioned, Eusing Free Registry Cleaner, is one I've used, in addition to CCleaner; I have not used it nearly as much as CCleaner but I had no problems with it. It's also available on majorgeeks.com at http://majorgeeks.com/Eusing_Free_Registry_Cleaner_d5827.html. It is a bit more agressive and will usually identify registry items not found by CCleaner.

 

I also have used Eusing Free Registry Cleaner with Windows XP with no apparent problems.

Rather than being overly aggressive with Registry cleaning, a more effective
performance boost can be achieved by compacting the registry with NTREGOPT
It removes wasted empty space in the registry which reduces the amount of RAM
that is used when the registry is loaded during bootup.
Supposedly this also improves registry access times.

 

I think your point there is valid. I've also used NTREGOPT with Windows XP.