Registry Cleaners: Digital Snake Oil

But Roger, that's my point. Why do you use an uninstaller?

 

@Krusty13 To remove leftover files and registry keys. But this is a lot different to using a registry cleaner, as uninstaller will find a lot of entries that a registry cleaner will miss. Also, they are only look of registry keys from the software that has just been uninstalled.

 

@roger_m ,

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti or pro.

https://community.norton.com/en/forums/registry-cleaners-digital-snake-oil

 

@roger_m Let me sum it up this way. I did not look up for reg cleaners out of boredom, I used to have tons of problems, from critical to some bothersome, so I was looking for ways to get rid of them. Since I use optimizers, my PC is problem free for years, I mean literally zero issues, not even bugs on my monitor.

I know, that people generally do not like them, so I try to fix their issues suggesting different ways, even though I know, that single Scan-Fix would do the trick, but the hard way is sometimes more challenging, so I do not mind, the problem is, they do not like the complicated way. At least CCleaner has become accepted.

 

I'm even more conservative. No Uninstallers or Registry cleaners.

 

You can't do any damage that way, Brian.

 

@TairikuOkami I used to have a lot of problems too, and they weren't fixed by registry cleaners. I have no issue with using a registry cleaner on a customers computer. But, no matter what strange problems the computers have, which I am having trouble finding the solution, registry cleaners never fix them.

Of course, your experience is different from mine. But, that is my experience from 14 or so years of using registry cleaners.

 

Registry cleaners are possible indication at best, downright dangerous at worst. They rarely fix anything, especially not more than what they damage when used carelessly.

Windows registry is quite resilient these days, and don't require "cleaning". Plus uninstallers are getting better, so the main reason for registry cleaning is already moot. Then there is good old registry editing, with search.

The only time I would ever recommend a registry cleaner is when the user knows what to do, but can't seem to find the source of the error. That's it.

 

Unless a wrong setting is repaired the impact on performance can't be measured

As a test I cleaned and compacted my registry. Besides removing 168 errors (mostly references to unused file extensions and most recently used files), it compacted my registry with a sensational 3.824 KB.

Can you image what an impact that has on initial registry load? Most disk drives read nowadays with 100MB/s So 3.824 KB. This will reduce my boot time with at least 0.03 second (I am jumping up and down now).

On top of that it would also speed up the memory read time with a whopping 3 cycles of my PC12800 RAM Memory (I am not jumping up and down, but dancing in the room, yelling to every bypasser on the street "three cycles less, three cycles less, three cycles less").

To quote "Sheldon" I am so happy, I am going to read the manual of my favourite linux distro in Finnish.

 

The goal of 3rd party maintenance utilities to which I task them is space savings and elimination of un-used things. Whatever they may be, defunct registry entries, empty directories, un-used programs, leftover temp files.

Less clutter for myself and for the filing system routines to keep track of is a good thing.

 

All good info!,Thank You All!

However,there is a lot of conflicting issues,as to certain cleaners and what some of them may,or may not do.

Newb question of the year: using Ccleaner to get rid of the Internet cache is,ofrom what little I know,NOT a bad thing?

 

I'm not against the use of them though I say use them sparingly and know what you are doing first. I had a machine at work a couple of weeks ago that had been through about 6 users and was having issues with wireless connectivity and email problems. Also about half of the taskbar tray icons were blank. A quick cleanup with a registry cleaner and all of the issues were fixed. Otherwise I probably would have had to re-image it. Make a registry backup or restore point first!

 

I always have used Registry Cleaners and compactors and contrary to popular belief was always able to squeak out a small but noticable difference on my XP systems. I guess it all boils down to how much muck one lets build up in the registry over time whether you can squeeze out any performance bump or not. I just know they HAVE worked for me safely everytime because i select what is to be removed not the app. BUT, you DO NOT and nor do i recommend ANY cleaners in such a sensitive area of the O/S without FIRST creating a Registry Backup and plan when something barfs out on you. I always recommend and use myself, Tweaking.com's RegBackup on Windows 8 with which i have had superior success.

 

No, it's not a bad thing.

 

Remember the old saying that "a good workman never blames his tools" ?? There's really nothing much more tiresome than the four millionth warning that registry cleaners are snake oil. There are horrid cleaners and there are decent ones, but even the good ones will wreak havoc in the hands of someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Registry cleaners are just a tool.

Years ago, I frequented a barbershop where one of the barbers undertook to do some carpentry in the back room. He rented a nail gun and set to work, but accidentally fired a nail through a drywall partition. The nail ricocheted off the tile floor and struck a customer squarely in the chest, killing him instantly. I stopped getting my hair cut there after that.

Anyway, if "registry cleaners are snake oil," we'd have to say that nail guns are, too. You see the fallacy. The problem ain't the tool. If you don't know how to use a registry cleaner safely, don't.

 

Interesting, but mostly because it runs contrary to most people's experiences.

What do you consider a real registry cleaner, if not CC?

 

Anything, that actually cleans registry?! CCleaner just does trimming. Deep cleaning is dangerous, but by default, it is usually off in most.

 

Driver Updaters: Digital Snake Oil, Part 2

https://blog.malwarebytes.org/social-engineering/2015/06/driver-updaters-digital-snake-oil-part-2/

 

I use Ccleaner frequently to clean my registry, have for years, no problems yet. Driver updaters on the other hand, wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. In my 20 years or so of using a computer I think I may have updated drives 2 or 3 times, last time being maybe 5 or 6 years ago. If it ain't broke I won't touch them.

The reason I clean my registry is that one time I tried to install something, forget what it was, but it wouldn't install, said it was because I was using Trusteer Rapport, I had uninstalled TP probably over 6 months before. Had to dig in my registry and find any TP items and remove them. So maybe cleaning the registry is useless 95% of the time but on occasion it is needed.

 

I use driver update software all the time, both on my own laptops and on customers computers. On my ThinkPads I use Lenovo's tools System Update and Lenovo Drivers Management, as well as Driver Booster, DriverToolkit and DriveTheLife.

While the need to update drivers is often overstated, I don't believe it is pointless to update a working driver, as new drivers often have minor fixes and improvements, and occasionally fix serious bugs.

 

There is only two registry cleaners I trust, the registry cleaner in CCleaner and the one in Privacy Eraser.

Other than that, I trust no other.

 

@TyRizian I just tried Privacy Eraser. I'd never heard of it before. I would not consider the registry cleaner safe to use, as it does not show the found registry errors, so you can't tell if wants to delete anything important not.

 

On one of my longstanding XP installs from 2007 I semi-anually more or less optimize, defrag, clean, and trim the registry. As well as purge many empty directories and orphaned files from un-installs. Some of this is automated, some of it is manually directed.

I don't doubt some of it's feel-good material. Some is. And yet, keeping the system trim, prim, and proper minimizes frivolous activity and superfluous disk reads and sorting.

ADDED:
I use CCleaner, older versions of Auslogics Registry Cleaner and Auslogics Registry Optimizer. I use them to hunt down empty keys, missing software keys, defunct file extensions from removed software, deleted shortcuts, dead recent documents, defunct history lists, paths, null DLLs, sometimes file associations and others things here and there if I feel like it. I also use an old version of something called RegCleaner to check and see what new major keys have been added by software. On occasion I may delete, but mostly it's just look and say ok-that's kosher.. I'll clear out shellbags from windows I no longer use too.

I have a thorough list of temp files and scratch files from many applications which are custom-entered into ccleaner.

On the disk side of things I'll clear filetips, USN journal, indexing, compact the MFT and removing the dead spots, Defragging the MFT and conducting file placement on the metafiles as well as the boot portion and os portion of the disk. I hit the LogFile, Bitmap, AttrDef, UpCase, MFTmir, Secure, and ObjId. Putting all the directories in one section along with all the start menu shortcuts works very well. I also do a memory test and disk surface read test. Not forgetting clearing event logs alternate data streams.

Restated, the goal is to reduce reads and writes, and ensure the files fly under the head assembly in a contiguous manner without a lot of seeking.

This is something I do 1x or maybe 2x a year or thereabouts. And it takes about an hour, maybe 2 if I'm slacking. When all is said and done there was a clear and noticeable speed boost the first time. Now it's all about maintaining it. And the maintenance things I do blast right along with minimal fuss. Most of the times the utility kit I use reports little or no changes are needed other than killing the temp files and freeing up space. And that is good. It's not like I'm deleting and changing things the system puts back by default.

Even Checkdisk gets a chance to screw up my system too! But like the other stuff it reports it did didn't do much. Running process check has been holding at XX for the last 3 years.

Been doing it for years and helps keep me in touch with the state of things. Each one of the tools I use are ones that I originally got to solve a problem or get tabs on the condition of something. And like drivers, I rarely update them. No need to. The last time I updated a driver was last year for a new iPad. And before that, back in 2009, to fix something in the wireless stack. Before that, 2004, for the graphics card.

Well I like the rock solid stability that became the order of the day after the first time I ran this routine.

I suppose activities like this will become less important as we move toward the goal of replacing the entire OS every year.

 

Some notes to be made:
1) It is XP.
2) Registry cleaning is far from the only thing done.
3) 99+% of the things you look for will be remedied with a proper uninstaller, monitoring, or virtualization.

Registry cleaners should only be used by experts who needs potential issues flagged throughout the system. Keeping everything clean is a personal choice that requires a lot of attention and care for problems to be (mostly) avoided.

Personally, I have seen negative effects even from "safe" registry cleaners like CCleaner, so the only times I ever used one recently is when I'm feeling particularly OCD. Even then, manual checking of each key is a must.

 

Yes.
RCs are not for everyone.