Registry Cleaner for XP

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by TomAZ, Sep 24, 2014.

  1. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    I'm looking for a good. safe and conservative registry cleaner for XP other than CCleaner - and preferably free. Any suggestions?
     
  2. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    You really don't need one except in extraordinary cases.
     
  3. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    You may be right, but I know I have lots of old leftovers that really seem to serve no purpose other than cluttering the registry. I don't know if that really has any effect on performance, but it seems like a good housecleaning might be in order:).
     
  4. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Sorry, but around 99.9% of the time, the leftovers will have absolutely no noticable affect on performance. Once, I cleaned 10,000 registry errors from a computer, and noticed zero performance increase. I've been using registry cleaners for years, and often on some pretty messed up systems which are running slowly and have other problems, and only once have I seen a noticable increase in speed, and I can only recall three instances where cleaning the registry fixed problems.

    Microsoft has designed Windows so that a cluttered registry won't slow your computer down. For the most part cleaning the registry is pointless and a waste of time, as all those hundreds or even thousands of registry errors found simply do not matter. To make things worse nearly all registry cleaners accidently think some valid registry keys are errors and delete them. Doing so can cause problems. To clear a common misconception, registry cleaners don't do this to increase the amount of errors found, but do it becuase they aren't smart enought to realise the registry entry is needed.

    Also, I'll add that if used with the default settings, CCleaner's registry cleaner can on occasion remove needed registry keys. With that in mind, it's best to not use its registry cleaner.
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    The best Registry Cleaner is "None".
     
  6. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    I can recommend RegSeeker to search manualy leftovers in registry by its name (I rather don't use other options) and VitRegistry Fix Free to find entries by name of software and clean registry automaticly. Both apps are from years safe and trusted for me.
    I know that Microsoft and many user say "it's not recommended and just stupid" but leftovers in registry sometime can lead to serious issue if we want to install other software especially security software. Not every user uses LV, snapshot/roll-back or similar to easy system restore and registry cleaning is sometimes necessary to proper working on system.
     
  7. 1PW

    1PW Registered Member

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    I quite agree with J_L, Brian K & roger_m above. Use the "Cleaner" section of Piriform's CCleaner only and because it's an XP system, follow with an occasional HDD defragmentation as long as your XP is on a HDD and not a SSD.

    It simply is too dangerous to use registry cleaners.

    Cheers. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2014
  8. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    RegSeeker is too agressive in its scanning and does consider some valid registry keys to be errors.
    Vit Registry Fix will do the same unless you disable its deep scan.

    Only in exceptionally rare circumstances though.
    I'm an expert at fixing problems on Windows PCs. I reguarly have to fix systems which aren't working as they should for customers, and only twice has using a registry cleaner actually fixed any problems. No matter what weird problems I encounter that I can't seem to get to bottom of, I can almost guarantee that a registry cleaner won't help. When it comes to my own systems, although I do it less theses days, in the past I was continually installing and uninstalling software and messing round with my systems. As a result I would often encounter problems. When I encounter problems I always try and fix the problem rather than restoring from a working image. Only once in many years has a registry cleaner fixed a problem on my own computers.

    For the record, in my opinion, the best way to fix any problems you have is by running Tweaking.com's Windows Repair. It can fix many problems, shouldn't cause any, and is completely free.
     
  9. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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  10. fax

    fax Registered Member

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    :thumb: Exactly, use CCleaner or own Microsoft tools
     
  11. layman

    layman Registered Member

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    Registry cleaners are just a tool -- a sharp scalpel, so to speak -- and any tool can do damage in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to wield it. If you do know what you're doing, though, and approach the surgery with care, there's nothing foolish about eliminating useless crap from your registry. The registry is, after all, the modern-day haystack. Smaller can be better when you need to search for the proverbial needle.

    EasyCleaner and Eusing Registry Cleaner are decent, comparatively safe shareware options in expert hands. But here is wisdom: if you are an auto mechanic, don't go trying your hand at gall bladder surgery. :)
     
  12. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    I have never had that happen, but i'm not saying it couldn't ;) At least its worth to mention that CCleaner is probably the "safest" one as it doesn't dig and clean as deep as some of the other ones.
     
  13. Compu KTed

    Compu KTed Registered Member

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    Have used both RegSeeker (agressive as roger_m stated) and CCleaner which is tame in comparison.
    That being said I to don't find any performance benefit and a reg cleaner may very well cause problems.
    If one does use one I would make sure you have it set to backup any changes you make. You could also
    backup the Windows registry itself. (Erunt comes to mind)
    When I install software I take a snapshot (before & after) which includes recording registry changes. Even when making reg tweaks I record any changes made. You'll probably find most people saying its best not to use one. I take it as good advice.
     
  14. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Removing obsolete software keys can cause problems in very rare cases. All the other options are safe to use in my experience, as I've never seen a valid registry key identified as an error.
     
  15. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Glary.. You can also use Glary to defrag the registry. Works perfect.

    For the record, I've run registry cleaners on over 3,000 machines - roughly 10% of the machines managed by our MSP just in the last 12 months, and never had a problem. I run them automated - daily - on all 12 machines, and the 2 servers in my home.
     
  16. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Maybe not. But, I doubt you've actually gained any benefit from doing so.
     
  17. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    I hope we're not confusing registry cleaning with registry defragging here. Though neither have obvious benefits, the latter is far less risky.
     
  18. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Having truncated, incorrect, or misdirected entries in anything on a computer isn't a good idea. Registry cleaners can be useful tools to solve certain kinds of problems in the registry, like those created when a program doesn't uninstall correctly or a malware infection isn't cleaned up properly.
     
  19. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    It simply does not matter at all.
    In extremely rare cases.
     
  20. JohnBurns

    JohnBurns Registered Member

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    After yesterday's update to CCleaner, I wouldn't recommend using it unless you are really a tech whiz. Monitoring of my system and automatic startup are enough to convince me I don't it need to create problems for me.
     
  21. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    In most cases. Take it or leave it, I am telling you that IBP is to use them, and myself, and other engineers in the top 100 MSP in the world, use them - after much testing/discussion/lab analysis. So for whatever that is worth, there is really nothing else I can say in that regard other than not every tool works the same way, or is as effective. On the consumer level? Glary.
     
  22. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    At least Glary these days does not give false positives. For years it has problems with false positives, but quite suprisingly they updated the scan engine to work better.

    One issue however, is that the scan for obsolete software is selected by default, which is not a good idea at all. Auslogics and Vitsoft are smart enough to have this not selected by default in their registry cleaners, and on some reigistry cleaners such as Registry Mechanic do not have the option to scan for empty software keys.
     
  23. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I would be interested to see the results of the testing and analysis, since such information is so rarely available.
     
  24. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Yes, seeing objective information would be most enlightening.
     
  25. Behold Eck

    Behold Eck Registered Member

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    Likewise.

    Of course they would have to be tested against different operating systems, though I still suspect the same result would point to staying away from tinkering with the registry to begin with.

    Oh and a slightly off topic test of HIPS/AE would also be most appreciated......just thought I`d throw that in there, you never know ?


    Regards Eck:)
     
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