Registry Cleaner

Can anyone recommend a good, and FREE, automatic Registry Cleaner? I've just tried both JV16 Power Tools and RegSupreme (both by Macecraft Software), and they are excellent tools, and the most powerful I've seen. But before I shell out some of my hard-earned cash for one of the tools, I wanted to make sure there wasn't a freebie around that's just as good.

 

I really like using RegSeeker....has a lot of features and it is freeware....it is designed for the novice or experienced user:

RegSeeker

 

Thanks, Mullyman. Have you ever used the products by Macecraft? I've never tried RegSeeker before, but I have used a number of reg cleaners (including Norton Utilities), and I've never found one that found/eliminated as many problems as JV-16 Power Tools did.

 

Hi Dazed,

I'll have to agree that (at least in my opinion) nothing but nothing can touch JV-16 -- it was a major blow when it became shareware instead of freeware. Even in just its registry cleaner, it gives useful notes about what it doesn't like in things it finds that it feels should come out, as opposed to other products which typically give you just a "raw" listing of them.

The biggest thing to watch for with Macecraft is payment -- their "preferred" payment service (with a long Finnish name) is the pits, will almost always reject credit. Visa isn't happy with them (even my service rep there was unsuccessful trying to do me a favor by using her own account), but they claim they can't do anything about it themselves.

They recently added PayPal as an alternative, and I gritted my teeth and registered there to buy it, but of course that boils down to whether or not you trust PayPal, which most of us don't.

Best,
Mike

 

Thanks, MikeBCda, for your info on jv16 and their RegSupreme registry cleaner. I've read very good reviews of their product and am planning to buy it. Did you see the June 2 (?) press release posted on the macecraft.com site, by the way? They came out with RegSupreme Pro with a better registry cleaning engine, which will be incorporated into the next update of jv16.

Can you tell me what is behind your distrust of PayPal? I've used them for about 15 eBay transactions (as buyer and seller), and haven't had a problem.

Regards,
Stro

 

Hi Stro,

Getting a little off topic here, plus with one exception anything I say about PayPal would be just hearsay, but you'll find quite a few here who have posted that they flatly won't use them.

I think they're honestly trying to "clean house" -- but they let their reputation get so severely damaged in the past that they may never fully regain consumer confidence.

My own personal objection to them is their privacy policy -- unless I misread their terms, any member can access the contact info for all other members. And since their primary function is as a payment service, not a "club" or group, that drastically needs changed.

 

Hi D&C:

You are looking for a FREE one I take it, and yes JV16 was/is the ultimate.

I am currently using RegSupreme, but as you know, not free.

However, don't you have an old FREE version/copy of JV16 itself. I know I still have one somewhere on disc. I NEVER trash any downloaded programs, always put them into a special folder and burn to disc. Saved my bacon numerous times.

I can have a look [will take a quite a while, several dozen discs to scratch thru] and see if I can find an old copy of the *free* JV16 for you if you like, and then maybe zip and email.

Cheers, TAS

EDIT: Forgot, that program RegSeeker posted by Mully is pretty good, though not as *InDepth* maybe, as RegSupreme. Give that a try, just carefully look over any results before 'fixing' anything. I used it a goodwhile back before JV16/RegSupreme

 

@ Stro:

slightly off from original Poster re FREE one, but since D&C bought jv16/REgSupreme up thought I'd post this.

Upon starting RegSupreme gives a few different options for scanning.

Normal
Deep
Extra Deep [I always use this one]

It scans and gives report, *nothing* is fixed at this stage.

You can then go thru and place check in boxes beside each entry to mark for deletion, but I simply go Ctrl/A [select the LOT it finds ] then hit "Fix".

Even then you still get an "out" option as a window opens for a Back up... You have to fill in a little window with a back up name, OK and it will then begin to 'Fix/Delete' the entries selected.

Attached a screenie below, I just did one. It usually finds between 100 and 300 on my system each week, as I do a LOT of work with images, and delete/move them and in XP each is a Reg Entry even if simply deleting from desktop.

When I first used RegSupreme, I got over 1400 entries which I promptly deleted, and never had a prob using it.

Cheers, TAS

 

TAS, I'm guessing you haven't tried your JV-16 in quite a while. All the old freeware versions apparently had a sort of "time-bomb" built into them -- as of sometime last fall, if you try to open one of them now, you'll simply get a warning "This version appears to be extremely old" and it'll refuse to run. A rather sneaky ploy to force you to pay for the shareware version or else look for a totally different program.

 

here is regsupreme before macecraft bought it. this version is free and works greatl RegCleaner 4.3 I have used this for years.

 

Mwahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..............arrgggggghhhhhhh!!!

Well, guess plan B is out. ROFL

Thanks Mike nope, have not used that for quiteeeeeeee a while, but, I wonder how they did it.

I mean they *must have known* they were going to go shareware long before then doesn't it, otherwise a 'normal' program should run no matter how old, as long as it's compatible with OS.

Sneaky buggers....

Thanks once again for info.
Cheers, TAS

EDIT: I see bigc has come to the rescue.

 

Regarding JV16's move to shareware:

There was a thread here about the freeware version refusing to function after late 2003. Someone posted a link to a legitimate freeware version that still works. It's probably not supported anymore, but if you're really attached to JV16 and don't want to pay for the latest shareware version, you might give this older version a try.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=19161*

I agree it's still probably the best, but I'm also getting used to Regseeker and Easy Cleaner, which both seem pretty good.

*scratch that, it seems the links were removed from the thread for some reason. I don't know exactly why, they linked to legitimate sites like www.majorgeeks.com, but it just so happens I just checked majorgeeks and the older version isn't there anymore either. Guess it's just a question of "getting while the getting is good".

 

Here is a link to the last free version of JV16 that a very helpful member here sent me. I'm trying it now.

http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/

 

Try regscrubxp, I use it and it works great. Head over to majorgeeks.com and download it.

 

Yep, v1.3 is the next to the last free version (v1.4) and doesn't drop dead.

Regards - Charles

 

Slovak,

Thanks for the tip on RegScrubXP. I have been looking for something to compare with my current cleaner (EasyCleaner). I'm also familiar with majorgeeks.com & am somewhat red-faced that I missed that one. Trying to control my strong addiction to testing freeware is the only excuse I could come up with (lame - I know).

I've been using erunt for registry backup (same site) but have not tested the restore function - my addiction has limits.

Take care,

Slim

 

Neither is free but.....Registry First Aid v3 will cleanup the bad entries ...then run Registry Compactor to re write the registry without the deleted keys leaving only the good ones while compacting them like a defrag. Reg Compact makes backup of the registry prior to compacting it. Reboot and its as close to a fresh install as you can get IMHO.

Both can be found HERE

Enjoy

 

I believe (?) NTREGOPT will do the same thing. This is a free proggy, and is a companion to the excellent freebie ERUNT.

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/

 

If anyone's still under 98SE (I'm not sure if this was in the first release of 98 ), there's a similar reg compactor built right into it. Reboot into DOS mode (this won't work from a command line within Windows) and run Scanreg with the lovely and apparently undocumented /OPT parameter.

 

can i delete all found files with confidence, or will i crash and burn??

phats

 

Hi Phatkid77,
You didn't mention which regcleaner you are using, but I suppose (IMO) the answer is the same: use care which entries you delete.

Most of the better registry cleaners are pretty good about picking up entries that can be deleted, and also make backups in case it turns out you need any entries restored. But, some larger programs & suites, particularly MS office (surprised?), have "useless" registry entries that point to components you haven't installed or used yet, ones you might need eventually. Also, if you find you need to restore any entries, it is possible that the program won't respond properly to restored entries.

I find that JV16 takes a pretty conservative approach, so I usually allow it to remove all entries it marks with a green light. Regseeker seems to be more agressive, so I use the following procedure with it:
Inspect all suggested entries and permit the program to remove the obvious ones first. Then I proceed on a different occasion to permit deletion of one type of "bad" entry that I'm not sure about. After that, I let a few days pass to ensure I haven't created any problems, and then permit another type of "bad" entry to be deleted. I exclude entries (use the exclude list) if they are associated with some MS products or larger, complex programs like NERO. Oh, and I create full registry backups with ERUNT.

I'd also like to recommend Tony Klein's post which I found useful, and got me to start using Total Uninstall. An install monitor like TU or InCtrl5 will help remove a lot of useless registry entries too, perhaps better than a regcleaner.

I hope others answer your question so I can guage how overly conservative I am.

 

well, i decided to bite the bullet and just delete all.......JV16
"are you sure you want to delete all?".............yes

a"are you really sure.....yoiu may delete something you need?""""
so of course i chickened out............then came back and read this post and said hell with it....

highlited 1400+ entries and deleted them.......

then immediately searched again..............107 entries?


phats

 

So you deleted everything, not just the "green light" items found by JV16. Pretty brave.

Keep us posted.

 

Well, it's not really that undocumented... :

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22scanreg+%2Fopt

I do a Scanreg /fix followed by /opt as part of regular maintenance of my Win 98 system. I can recommend it.

To phatkid77, read my post which Optigrab reffered to, and in which I explained that new, apparently "unnecessary" registry keys will keep being created.

And of course it's not advisable to allow RegCleaner to remove the 'red' entries as well; As RegCleaner is unable to say whether they're dispensable or not, unless you know what you're doing it's always best to leave them alone; I suggest you hold on to those backups!