cleaning the regstry

G_M

I ran Avast's performance cleanup, and it identified 400 'broken registry items' and tried to sell me the upgraded version of Avast to fix these.

I ran both Ccleaner and Slim Cleaner (both free), which identified and fixed numerous registry issues, then re-ran Avast. Which still found 361 'broken registry items'.

Is Avast just trying to upsell? Can I trust it? Or are the other cleaners find/fixing different issues?

Anyone got explanations or theories?

[Deleted User]

1. running registry cleaners is a bad thing.

2.running registry cleaners i a good thing.

both statements are true/wrong depending on who you want to believe.

i have run cccleaner and Glaryutilities both give different results, yet both told me they had cleaned the registry.

IMO just leave the registry alone.
i use cccleaner to clean other stuff.

forgotmyname

Free checks are there to sell you something that you may or may not need, mostly NOT.

Leave the registry alone. i was bitten with my first PC and and Norton utilities, it deleted broken shortcuts, but when i rebooted i found half my stuff no longer worked because the files were on another drive and dual boot i thought they were broken. They certainly were after running the fix it software.

Let me do a "FREE" check on your PC. Oh dear it looks like it needs £200 worth of my time and software to fix it.

Its working leave it alone.

John_Gray

Not cleaning the registry means you are using ever so slightly more disk space than you might get away with if you cleaned it. Your disk space is measured in Terabytes; registry cleans might 'save' Kilobytes. But even then the registry files stay the same size, roughly!

G_M

Thanks all.

Reassuring.

wongataa

Don't use registry cleaners. They can delete stuff that will cause you computer to not work properly. Orphaned entries in the registry will do no harm. Unless you have a specific need to do anything in the registry leave it alone. Needing to edit the registry is actually very rare.

J_B

wongataa wrote: »

Don't use registry cleaners. They can delete stuff that will cause you computer to not work properly. Orphaned entries in the registry will do no harm. Unless you have a specific need to do anything in the registry leave it alone. Needing to edit the registry is actually very rare.

I've used CCleaner registry cleaner on many occasions over the years without problems.
Whether there has been any benefit ........... ???????

wongataa

J_B wrote: »

I've used CCleaner registry cleaner on many occasions over the years without problems.
Whether there has been any benefit ........... ???????

You may not get problems but they are a possibility. It is highly unlikely you actually got any benefits though.

J_B

wongataa wrote: »

You may not get problems but they are a possibility. It is highly unlikely you actually got any benefits though.

Point taken and noted, thanks.

I do however, always back up the registry before doing it!

AndyPix

Jesus..


Leave the registry alone .. It is not intended to be poked around inside by these programs trying to upsell you snakeoil.


At best you will achieve nothing.
At worst you will brick your computer

A.Penny.Saved

I never use registry cleaners. I do however use registry compacters which just rebuilds the registry and removes wasted space from uninstalls etc. It does reduce the registry size a bit and does increase windows speed noticeably initially.

Registry cleaners/fixers tend to break more than they fix.