do registry cleaners really work?

[pjmrt]

Thanks to ALL :up I downloaded and ran CCleaner. It helped a lot. Its still not like it was when new - but definitely an improvement. I may still try a fresh install of XP after New Year's. The last time I tried that it took me quite a while to rebuild all the applications. I have Ghost now (picked it up for free too - thanks to Frys and a great rebate) so it might not be so painfull. Will have to think about that one. Anyway CCleaner really worked pretty well - made me wonder why its free. Seems too good to be true.

 

[IcEWoLF]

I usually end up reformatting my computer every 2-3 months, I don't visit many websites other than satelliteguys.us, dbstalks, avs, ebay, amazon, newegg, and few other websites..
I keep my computer clean, I don't even install bunch of softwares, I just keep my system up to date with the firewall on, thats about it.

 

[waltinvt]

My theory is that no matter how much virus protection and firewalls you have, if you're online - you're going to pick up garbage and crud that will slow your machine down. If you do any kind of file management, you're going to get "loose ends".

I have no idea which registry cleaners and spyware eradicators are the best but all the ones I've seen that seem to do a decent job cost something. I use "RegCure" and "XoftSpySE" on a regular basis and my machine seems to work better. "PCPitstop's Optimize works well too. RegCure will usually find a couple hundred problems every time I run it. Most minor but some "high risk".

The problem today is most companies no longer think twice about invading your system. These are the same companies that don't give a sh*t how hard it is for you to get your child's toy out of it's package or how difficult it is to open a box of cereal. The customer's inconvenience is no longer the concern it used to be.

 

[skottey]

I use CCleaner, it handles stuff from startup through to registry and gives you some nice options and best of all its free.

Yes, CCleaner is a must!

 

[skottey]

How long since XP was originally installed ? If it's been 2+ years, strongly consider backing up your data and re-formatting. It will breathe new life into the system.

I recommend a semi annual or annual "fresh install" of any version of Windows.

 

[skottey]

Its been about 1.5 years. I am reluctant to reformat as xp has that silly reactivation thing w/ microsoft -- its cumbersome and I suspect I will have to call a rep and wait on hold to do so.

It really isn't that bad. You may not even have to since the hardware matches. I deal with having to call with MS Office (2002+ versions) all the time for my customers when doing a fresh install. Just tell them you are doing a reload and they won't hassle you. It may take ten minutes tops.

 

[navychop]

Nice catch, Hall.

 

[deaner]

I have picked up some good tips--thanks to all.

 

[Bogy]

Here's another good little program. AusLogics Disk Defrag. If you don't want to take the time the windows defrag does, this will defrag a hd in a fraction of the time. I have run this, and then run windows defrag, and the full defrag found very little to move.

 

[Peter Parker]

Adware is what you want to avoid. Ad-Aware is software that removes it.

Try this: Click Start, Run, then type msconfig in the box and hit OK. Click the Startup tab then "Disable all" and OK. Reboot when it prompts you to. See how much quicker Windows starts next time.

Actually you may actually need sSOME of that stuff. but over time we do accumualtea lot of junk.

 

[Hall]

I still say disable them all and then selectively decide which ones are needed. Problem is, most people can't figure out what they're for.

Honestly though, what do you *really* need loaded ? Anti-virus or similar security stuff should be run as a *service*, so they'll be unaffected.

 

[skottey]

I still say disable them all and then selectively decide which ones are needed. Problem is, most people can't figure out what they're for.

Honestly though, what do you *really* need loaded ? Anti-virus or similar security stuff should be run as a *service*, so they'll be unaffected.

Wrong... if your antivirus or firewall software has an MSCONFIG entry, those should be run in addition to the services entry. Leave them alone!

Turning everything off in MSCONFIG startup should only be done for troubleshooting (diagnostic) purposes. You certainly don't want to turn off security MSCONFIG startup items. You can freely uncheck items in MSCONFIG startup relating to Real Player, Acrobat, and other crap that wants to launch at startup that isn't needed, but things such as Norton Internet Security components in startup shouldn't be disabled. This is selective startup when you start unchecking things, which is fine if you know what you are doing. If you are unsure about a startup item, do a google search for it. A lot of scumware (Spyware/Adware,etc) will launch at startup and should be disabled and removed.

So yes, use selective startup, but don't turn off legit security components running in the MSCONFIG startup OR services.

 

[Peter Parker]

I still say disable them all and then selectively decide which ones are needed. Problem is, most people can't figure out what they're for.

Honestly though, what do you *really* need loaded ? Anti-virus or similar security stuff should be run as a *service*, so they'll be unaffected.

As is noted elsewhere you usually need the MSconfig entry. Some machines too have software that enables special features in the keyboard or other features. Somertimes you can live without those things sometimes you can't. The real answer is to figure out what it all is---google helps and deactivate what you don't need.

 

[gary s]

If I was to run CCleaner would I have to make choices as to whether to keep or get rid of things or is it all pretty much automatic?

I was given my computer with lots of stuff already on it and I am not sure about what I need and don't need on it.

 

[Bogy]

CCleaner won't actually take programs off your computer. It cleans out all the cookies, temp files, that kind of thing. That's the first step. Then it cleans out the registry, cleaning out bits that were left behind when you deleted or installed a program, or installed an update. Just installing some programs or updates can leave you with huge amounts of temp files you don't need taking up space, and lots of entries in your registry that don't do anything but slow things down. To actually clean things out of startup you can either go to msconfig, or use a program like Quick Startup or Startup Optimizer. Those can be handy, because they can actually tell you what the program does, and if you really need it, before you delete it.

 

[kb7oeb]

I don't see how deleting things out of the registry is going to speed up your computer. The only thing I am aware of would be the RUN keys that launch software at startup or login and those are easy enough to clear out yourself with regedit.

 

[Peter Parker]

I suspect that you are at least partially correct. If I was conscientious about cleaning all the registry items I could do it manually and I would catch most of the items a cleaner finds. but the cleaner does it in an automated fashion and creates a backup (which I admit i could do as well) and if the cleaner is free and easier to use than Regedit why not go that route?

I will say though that a lot of what all these programs find are really not big problems. They do find real problems but they also inflate the cont a bit to seem more useful than they really are.

 

[Van]

CCleaner will remove programs that you tell it to, you can select what area's it will go through and check for issue as well and it has an application that allows you to disable items on start up but it wont show everything that starts up outside of that.

I would asume that deleting dead entries in the registry keeps the computer from looking for something that links to a registry entry or an entry that links to a program thats no longer there.

Both Norton and Mcaffee are two companies who's software I'll never trust again, both have burned me with difficulties in upgrading the software to the latest engine and not being able to get the old version off the computer using all of the tools tech support provides ( mcaffe ) and the system tools both provide have deleted system32 files requiring a reformat.

 

[bryansr]

Both Norton and Mcaffee are two companies who's software I'll never trust again, both have burned me with difficulties in upgrading the software to the latest engine and not being able to get the old version off the computer using all of the tools tech support provides ( mcaffe ) and the system tools both provide have deleted system32 files requiring a reformat.

I have started using NOD32 made by a company called Eset ( Antivirus Software - Eliminate Spyware and Adware with ESET NOD32 Antivirus ) >>>> Runs VERY FAST & LIGHT + catches all of the "bad stuff" too. Check it out!!!!!!!!

BryanSR

 

[Stargazer]

I tried that CCleaner and it sure has made a difference on my laptop. It went from hardly usable at all to very managable / fast compared to before. Thanks for the reference to that software. Very easy to use too.