Registry clean-up ?

theloft

Apparently if your computer slows up or crashes, it is often due to the Registry being clogged up with useless stuff and bits of prgrammes that you have deleted, but that may have left traces on the Registry etc. Also it is good sense to back-up the Registry. Being a non-techie and armed with this advice I set out to find a utility which would do this for me, preferably free. I found Registry Mechanic (https://www.download.com - very useful site) and another one called Registry Fix (I think). However like a lot of free downloads, the free version is not complete and both found over 300 "problems" on my computer, but were unable to fix them all (with the free version). In other words, now buy the full version. Does anyone know of a good free utility or have I got to, or do I need to, buy one :eek: . So far with the help of this site, all my anti-virus, spyware protection, firewall etc. have been free and I hate to spoil the show !! If TOG or anyone else reads this, can you help ?

Rex_Mundi

I've seen a lot of people talk about CCleaner and give it good reviews. It looks the sort of thing you are after, and is freeware so no time limited versions.

Find it HERE

shrek101

TuneUp Utilities 2004 is the dogs dangles

theloft

That must be the fastest three respones ever !! Thanks guys. I've looked at Crap Cleaner recommended by Rex_Mundi and with 4 million downloads, it should be OK. so will give it a go and let you know. :T shrek101 - Regrettably yours is a pay version, so will wait and see if CCleaner does the biz.

shrek101

Forgot the url for afree trial

http://www.tune-up.com/

T4i

Something I've learned the hard way over the years.

XP and 2000 DO NOT like the reg messed with. I've used alsorts of reg cleaners/fix's but I've now come to the conclusion that I should leave the reg alone.

Obviuosly sometimes the reg does need to be edited but I'm now very careful on what software I install.

This is my longest stint for having an operating system installed and its because of two things:-

a) None of these super XP tweaker progs have ever been installed/used.

b) The reg has not been messed with since XP was installed.

Infact, the only thing I ever did with the reg is tweak the start menu delay to 0.

Just what I've found over the years.

amit_1

what does this software do

voddyman

i use ccleaner and its good but i salso use regseeker and that has found stuff that ccleaner has'nt.good luck



http://www.snapfiles.com/get/regseeker.html

voddyman

forgot to mention that regseeker is free.....the best kind eh,lol

theloft

Rex_Mundi wrote:

I've seen a lot of people talk about CCleaner and give it good reviews. It looks the sort of thing you are after, and is freeware so no time limited versions.Find it HERE

Downloaded CCleaner, but when I went to run the programme, it says, "WARNING, YOU WILL BE DELETING FILES WHICH WILL NOT BE RECOVERABLE" or words to that effect. How do I know what files it will delete ? Will it only delete superfluous files ? Should I back up the registry first, and if so can you tell me how to do this. Sorry to be a pain in the whatsit!!

andy88_2

I used one of these programs to scan the registry. There are 93 redundant entries out of nearly 17,000. I can't be bothered to do it.

Most of those are junk left due to poor uninstall of Real Player and Music Match, which only increases my poor opinion of them.

I read recently that there is a free Microsoft utility on the SP2 disc that cleans up poor installations like this. If anybody asks, I might try to find the article again *

*edit - it's msicuu.exe - but I don't think it has the function that the magazine article described (or the way I understood it anyway). I extracted it from the disk and ran it

Continuing further will make permanent changes to your system. You may need to reinstall some or all applications on your system that used the Windows Installer technology to be installed. If you do not want to proceed, please press the 'Exit' button now. Choosing 'Remove' will make the permanent changes.

It lists MBSA, WebFldrsXP, MS Anti-Spyware, Adobe Reader, Sun Java, and MS Office Pro

ie it cleans poor Windows installations, not other products. So much for magazine articles. I'm staying out of it!