What if I never, never, never ever clean the registry on x64, W7 Sp1?

I ask this because I had some major issues with IE. I discovered this when after numerous installations of IE 10 (after all the search-able fixes) it would not launch. I then discovered IE 9 was mostly dead drop slow. I have no idea how long it was like that since I rarely use IE. So decided to do a repair install. If you are planning such you might be interested in my experience here. After the repair everything works perfect. I don't know for sure that a reg cleaning caused it of course.

 

There is absolutely no need to ever clean the registry, and most registry cleaners can cause problems.

 

Then you'll lose like 4KB of RAM and never notice any difference ever.

 

The best Registry Cleaner is ....... None!

 

I disagree. The default uninstallers that come with antiviruses and other applications often don't remove all the registry keys. Which recently caused a problem and I was unable to install another software because of registry conflicts. I used CCleaner to fix my registry, entirely automated, I didn't even bother looking what it removed and the problem was solved.... This is the only registry cleaner I trust and one that has often solved problems and never created any.
As for other registry cleaners, I agree. They tend to be more aggressive and end up messing up your Windows.

 

Yes, in extremly rare cases cleaning the registry can fix issues.

 

you like living dangerously, don't you?

i totally borked my system once because i did not bother looking at what CCleaner was removing.

thankfully i always have disk images at the ready.

 

I didn't think that was possible with CCleaner. It's never ever given me even a single false positive. Although, you should uncheck the search for obsolete software entries.

 

Thank you for the great replies! I hope I've learned my lesson. I periodically used Eusing, seemed harmless even though it always finds dozens and dozens. Relative to CCleaner, it does always show two entries for the ASUS Fan Control, part of a set of tools for the ASUS motherboard in my build. If those are deleted I have to reinstall it so I've learned to disregard them. I'm also at the point where I trust searching for specific left over entries with x64 RegSeeker if I remove an app. Admittedly, backing those up, even if you keep them months kind of doesn't help, because you may not notice anything is amiss for months.

 

Maybe but I have been using CCleaner for good 8 years or so and not a single time it caused me problems. And on a handful occasions it solved a couple here and there.

 

Cleaning registry keys can sometimes be a dangerous thing to do but if you really know what you're about to do then it's ok. As for CCleaner, I haven't found any problem with it yet (hopefully none!) and BTW I use the default setting but I unchecked Thumbnails in the cleaner section.

 

Eusing has problems with false positives like almost all registry cleaners, so it's best to not use it.

 

Zero problems with Ccleaner for several years now. I always manually clean out registry of uninstalled software. A couple years ago I tried to install a program, can't remember which one but it wouldn't install, said I had Trusteer Rapport installed, I did at one time but had uninstalled several month previous. I was finding registry entries for quite some time for Trusteer, hidden very well. So yes, some registry entries can cause problems down the road if not deleted.

 

There is not anything wrong with cleaning your reg
just because some people didn't know what they were
doing and messed up their system does not prove it
does not have benefits, if not anything else just for
a cleaner system, yes sometimes it can mess it up
but just find a "good" reg cleaner, I do not want
garbage left in my reg, because after time there can
be many things left over if you never clean it

if you are worried then use a good imaging program
you should be doing this anyhow and backing up your system

 

Every morning, I've been using Auslogics Registry Cleaner on XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 computers.
It's just me. I don't want to start an argument about Registry cleaners.
I've been using and I will use it until the computer registry really changes or disappears.
Maybe I've been lucky for many years and using Registry Cleaners is very dangerous. I don't know.
But, I've never had any problems related to Auslogics Registry cleaner.
Just recently, I added WinOptimizer from Ashampoo.
Also, on XP and Vista computers, I'm using Wise Registry Cleaners.

 

Yes a lot of stuff gets left in the registry, but what many people sadly fail to realise is that it simply does not matter. I've cleaned 10,000 (yes ten thousand) so called registry errors with multiple registry cleaners before, and followed that up with a registry defrag and reboot. The end result was that my system seemed to be running exactly as it was before cleaning the registry.

To be fair, there are situations where cleaning the registry where will improve performance, or fix problems. But this is extremely rare.

Or better yet, not clean the registry or at least use a safe registry cleaner, bearing in mind that at least 99% of registry cleaners will remove valid registry keys.

I always find it funny when people talk about how safe the registry cleaner in CCleaner is, when infact it can cause problems unless the check for obsolete software entries is unchecked.

 

Nothing will happen. After all these years using registry cleaners (I only use CCleaner since a couple years ago) i still have not noticed any difference at all.
I still use CCleaner just for the sake of using one.

 

The registry is just a database. Most databases need "compacted" from time to time. Not sure what happens when you do, but it makes a big difference in speed and size. Whether the registry is anything more than a delimited file or uses a true dbengine, I can't say.

But in the old days (9x-xp) you could find some improvement with registry tools. But to be fair, back then every ounce of performance you could squeeze out was more apt to be "felt". Todays machines are much faster, so you have to pay close attention to details to see if any tweaks do improve anything.

I have mucked in the registry so much, I have absolutely no fear of it. It can be backup up and replaced, it can be repaired. But in my experience, other than some common things that get dirty like the bags/mrus, I don't really see how any one application is going to have enough information or smarts to actually do YOUR registry much good. Too many variables IMO.

Now, if you are talking about a registry tool that is modular, for instance, allowing you to download specific registry fixes/tweaks for specific situations, now that could be a good thing. I haven't seen such a thing, but its what we registry tweakers do all the time.

I say leave it alone these days unless you are doing something specific.

Sul.

 

On Win 7 I sometimes use CCleaner after uninstalling software but always make a backup so that these backups can be merged back if necessary. I rarely find any (using CCleaner) though after deleting a program. Actually, it seems like Win 7 handles the registry a lot better than XP did because XP left always a lot of registry items behind while Win 7 does not. I have *obsolete software* unchecked in CCleaner.

 

RAM is this cool new thing where you can load a file into it and accessing one part of the file takes exactly the same amount of time as accessing any other part of the file, which scales to massively large files.

For a tiny little thing like the registry, removing mere kb will have literally no performance impact. For almost anyone the average 'cleaning' will be in KB, and a few MB at absolute most.

The *only* impact it will have, is in cases where the data in the key was causing problems ie: you had a key that changed a setting that cause problems. The key itself is meaningless to performance.

It doesn't matter if you shrink it to 10MB to 5MB or 10GB to 5MB. Accessing data in RAM is virtually constant, in terms of performance. If you have like... 25TB of RAM you might see a picosecond change in access times.

You might see some programs saying "OMG we can now access it 100x faster". That's because you're dealing with pico/nanoseconds. Going from 1 to 100 seconds is a lot. Going from 1 to 100 picoseconds isn't actually all that much.

 

It's got nothing to do with the operating system. When you uninstall software, the only registry keys which get deleted are the ones which the uninstaller has been told to remove. Having less registry items left over is due to better written uninstallers.

 

It isn't that simple. As Iolo put it (adapted):

"There is a design flaw in the registry. The registry is designed to hold data about every program you’ve ever installed, every driver you’ve ever used, and every printer, camera, USB drive, and any other gadget you’ve ever plugged in – even just once.

The problem arises in that many of these settings quickly become obsolete, but Windows is still trying to decipher the commands every time you start your PC or open a program."

 

BTW, Windows 8 largely solves this with the new "Refresh" feature.

- http://www.pcworld.com/article/2515...akes_it_easy_to_start_with_a_clean_slate.html
- http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

But that makes you need to reinstall third-party Win32 software.

On the other hand, your personal files as well as Metro apps and personal settings are preserved and the Refresh feature tells you what third-party Win32 software were removed (it "creates an HTML file that lists the applications that were not installed, and places it on the desktop of the refreshed Windows 8 system").

 

Like I said, if the actual data is causing Windows/programs to do things, sure. But in terms of pure *size*, it makes literally no difference.

That's why registry defragging is so useless, since it doesn't even address the fringe case of annoying key settings.