Bad News re Wise Registry Cleaner

I am a long-time user of free version of Wise Registry Cleaner (WRC). If you also use it...

Be Aware that WRC now seeks to install an Ask toolbar. I opted out of that installation (I detest toolbars). Even so, when I ran Tiny Watcher it reported that WRC had created a file and a registry entry for the Ask toolbar as follows...



The file that WRC created for Ask was 1.49MB. I had to manually uninstall this ap-cray from my computer.

I am VERY disappointed by the fact that, even though I opted out of the Ask toolbar, WRC still installed useless ap-cray on my computer, & (worse yet) did so in a furtive manner.

I am now seeking a replacement for WRC. Free or reasonably priced. Equal in power & safety. Any suggestions/links will be muchly appreciated.

 

Mahalo for da heads up brah. No can stand sneaks and such.

SourMilk out

 

Used to use Wise but ditched it in favour of RegSupremePro, not free but I believe it to be reasonably priced
($16.95)...and so far it has never caused me an issue.

http://www.macecraft.com/regsupremepro/

 

Eusing. Perhaps a bit aggressive. Review the entries it finds the first scan carefully. Nag screen on start-up with the free vers. But I have used it for quit some time.

I run a tweaked Explorer shell as well as some other tweaks. Once I added these entries to the ignore list I had no further problems.

 

I am using the Tune Up Utilities 2007.It never let me down.Never had problems with it.You can google and find the free Tune Up Utilities 2007 from vnunet etc.

 

Macecraft's RegSupreme Pro here too.
As well as Hover Inc.'s RegSeeker (Free).
Curious all these proggies find different entries.

 

In shadowmode, I tried RegSupreme Pro, Eusing, Free Windows Registry Repair, RegSeeker, & Comodo Registry Cleaner -- all are available from SnapFiles.

All of them are quite good, but I decided on the Comodo offering because it is fully as thorough as the others, AND also identifies safe versus unsafe changes.

Many thanks for your comments.

 

Hi bellgamin,

Which version of WRC did this happen with?

I've been using WRC a while now due to your past recommendation and first noticed the ASK toolbar on v3.92.0.0 (released on 17/1), I see there is now v3.93.0.0 available (released 22/1).

I've yet to upgrade to v3.93.0.0, but when I installed v3.92, I too declined the ASK toolbar and thankfully don't seem to have been dumped with those related entries you noted above.

I'm not fond of toolbars either, it seems an unfortunate trend these days that it's becoming more and more common to find them bundled along with free software. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the inclusion of these toolbars per se, I suppose these companys have to pay their bills somehow, but as long as the user can opt out of installing them if so desired.



Any chance you could follow up on your experience with Comodo Registry Cleaner after a few weeks of use, I would very much appreciate hearing your thoughts.


Thanks, RD .

 

I first noticed the toolbar ploy with WRC 3.92. Hoping it was a 1-time crapola dump, I later tried 3.93. Same thing, so I uninstalled WRC.

By the way, I tried posting my grumble to WRC's forum -- but the forum link seems to be dead-end.

Rats! I trialed ComodoRegCleaner in shadow mode, but didn't fully test it. Now I have it truly installed & find that it does NOT make a back-up file of only the registry changes. Instead, it uses Windows System Restore to create a restore point. I do not use Windows System Restore (I disabled it & use an imager instead). Further, I fail to see the need for a full System Restore when a simple back-up of changes suffices for other registry cleaners.

Thanks to my incompetent testing, I have had to uninstall Comodo's thing & am once again on the hunt.

 

Hi Bellgamin,

CCleaner registry cleaner is good + free.

I like 'Registry Healer' recommended by long time member, here HollywoodPC, but you should note this prompts for a system restore point + full back up.

I used 'Regseeker' for quite some time, until it trashed my computer, had to use the Acronis boot disc to restore.

Advanced System Care see Here is good.

Take Care Amigo
Rico

 

I use regseeker only in searchmode to look for remnants after uninstall applications and delete the leftovers manually, and as such its great. Cleaning mode is dangerous,way too aggressive.

BTW a very nifty tool to speed up your system is a good oldie TuneXP

http://www.download.com/TuneXP/3640-2086_4-10290928.html

 

bellgamin, I had tried Eusing and Wise side by side probably about a year ago and I discovered they found about the same so I dropped Wise. I still have Registry Mechanic, which I had a license for from work (I removed the renew nag file) and Eusing and it basically found the same. I have Comodo installed but had an issue with it a few months ago, however, I can't remember what it was. I know back then, from reading there forums, there were a lot of problems occuring so be careful. I've been a Reg cleaning junkie. I still use the last free version of RegCleaner and RegSeeker after uninstalls of software. Even using ZSoft or Revo uninstallers you can't believe the entries that are left behind. I only use RS in the search mode and have never had a problem. Last but not least, the best combination of safe yet thorough (often finding 100+) is an old app called CM DiskCleaner. I believe it is still around some of the freeware sites.

 

Its basically a useless discussion because using these cleaners is a useless exercise in futility,many in the know will confirm that.Extensive tests are done comparing before/after results and always an outcome that very disappoint the cleaner junkies > no results for the better with registry cleaning !! So stay away from this stuff,its just outright dangerous !

 

Bellgamin, give Argente Registry Cleaner a try. It's been updating at very swift rate and right now it's the most safe of the 4 registry cleaners i have. Eusing and the last free version of JV16 Power Tools, delete a key of FD PC Rescue that disables it. Argente doesn't.

 

I use CCleaner and Ace Utitlities http://www.acelogix.com/

 

I have used Ace Utilities and the now System TuneUp.
They have both worked great for me.

Another option that may be worth checking is Advanced System Care.
The program does have a backup feature.

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

 

If the discussion is so useless, why participate?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Fuzzfas- I'll try it. Is there an English-language version?

@cet- Per your suggestion, I found the LINK for the Tuneup freebie. Trying it now. I like it!

@ALL- Here is a fairly interesting review of several reg cleaners.

 

Why ? Read again my explanation please.

 

Yes, the installation file is multilanguage. The first step is choosing language. But even after installation you can change it. Only the EULA is in spanish. But it's freeware and clean alright.

Download link is on the bottom of the page:

http://argentesoftware.blogspot.com/search/label/Argente - Registry Cleaner 1.5.5.2

 

I tried Argente & like it a lot! {Pronounced "ar-HEN-tay"?}

Will donate in near future.

 

I think so. I think the final "e" is pronounced just like the first one: "arhEnte" (with the "e" pronounced like in "telex"). Not an expert in spanish i am afraid, just the way i expect spanish to be from hearing it now and then.

It's a very good cleaner. Better than wise cleaner who was too "soft" for my taste. This one goes deeper, but is also very safe. Regseeker, Eusing, JV16 are more aggressive, but the first 2 don't find something serious after a pass with Argente. So now i have almost abolished the others and only use Argente. One of the others also somehow managed to reduce my headphones volume although audio settings in control panel are maxed out and the only solution was to reinstall the audio drivers.

Argente for me is so trouble free, that i am hesitant to update to new version, fearing some bug or that they will move to "deeper" cleaning that will do damage.

 

Another FREE Registry Cleaner isVit Registry Fix 9.3 from VITSOFT.
It has a Disk Cleaner and Registry Optimizer (for Registry Defragmention), too.

Download Page

Direct Link

-Anyone tried/test it?

The GUI is very nice for a FREEware.

Maybe, the experienced Registry users, here,
can tell us how Vit Registry Fix is compared against
other great -FREE- Registry Cleaners
like
-RegSeeker,-C-O-M-O-D-O Registry Cleaner,
-Argente Registry Cleaner
etc.

 

Argh! That website is shrouded in white mist and written in what... Russian? Sanscrit? Hieroglyphics?

Anyhow, I have had my fill of testing reg cleaners for the moment (I settled on Argente because Fuzzy made me do it). I hope some adventurous soul will try Vitsoft & share his findings.

 

Yes, it's cyrillic alphabet, ukrainian site. Russians use the same alphabet.

I think you won't regret it. It's going pretty deep, but it isn't destructively aggressive. Now it's the only one i use regularly. I keep the other 3 i have only after Argente, for specific missions, and i carefully pick one by one the entried that i want deleted. While with Argente i let it delete everything it likes and to this day i haven't seen bad side-effects.

 

Who would know how to clean a registry better than the only people who really know what the specification is ?

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/cleanup.htm

It's free.