Are registry cleaners any good/safe?

MimiJane

I'm interested in any "unbiased" views of you techies on the above.

A year after buying my p.c., it's slowed right down and takes an age to turn off. I know this happens, but wondered if any registry cleaners are any good and, if so, which ones?

I run A-Squared/Spybot/Adaware regularly, but like the idea of "safely" cleaning the registry to try and speed things up.

Are they a waste of money/likely to install spyware/do you have to pay to use a decent one?

Any views welcome ...

foxwales

The registry is not going to help speed up your computer.

The reason why computers slow down is because of lack of memory; full hard drive; or just normal usage over time causing too many obsolete references cluttering the page file.

To speed up your computer;
Run Defrag atleast once a month
Run chkdsk/f to correct any corruptions or delete lost references
Purchase more memory; very cheap from Ebay

If you have the facility to back-up your personal data, which everyone should have; I would recommend a fresh install of windows, which once complete you will see a notable difference in performance.

With regards to registry cleaners though; not worth the hassle whether free or paid for; unless you know what registry details your looking at before the software deletes them; then you could find yourself with greater issues than you originally had.

alanrowell

I've used CCLeaner for several years and never had a problem

Reggie_Rebel

http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm

This one is free, and has been safe on all the PC's I have used it on/am using it on.

Can't say I agree with faxwales.

In my experience a registry cleaner will make a bloated PC considerbaly faster, also I'd be very wary about buying memory from eBay, it's cheap enough now from palces like crucial and you know it's going to be legit.

Cricri

I would recommend NOT to run a registry cleaner until really necessary (i.e. corruption). I used to clean my registry often, and strangely enough, that led me to reinstall my system more often as well!
Do not use Microsoft RegClean, it's now unsupported and can compromise some newer software, as mentioned in the Microsoft KB.
If your computer is slow, start by unsinstalling all the crap: yahoo/MSN messenger, ICQ, Yahoo/Google toolbar, RealPlayer, QuickTime, etc. These fire up a lot of stuff on startup, and when you aggregate them, they will definitely slow your system.
Alternatively, start by trying to prevent these (or other) processes to start on boot with a program such as Autoruns:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Those will be in the "logon" section.

nomoneytoday

I would backup all the documents / pictures / favourites etc, stick some more ram in it, and then format the machine and start again.

After a year's use machines can be full of all sorts of orphaned programs, old bits and pieces, corrupted downloads etc

BillScarab

Like alanrowell I use CCleaner. IU've never had an issue after using it. It also gives you the option to take a backup before changing the registry so if you do experience an issue you can always restore it.

De-fragging is not a bad idea but I doubt if you will see a massive improvement in performance.

As Cricri said look at what is running at startup and if you don't use them get rid of them. Or at least stop them starting automatically and just start them as you need them.

BennyB_2

Another vote for CCleaner here. Especially for getting rid of unwanted startup items.
Many things, like Quicktime, Adobe Reader, etc. run programs when you start your PC, which are totally unnecessary. These can be removed using the tools in CCleaner.

Aliktren

I use Tuneup 2008 it's so good I actually bought it!!! - seriously, does a lot of housekeeping besides registry cleaning and since I've left it running on all our PCs they all tend to run better for longer, you can get a trial download, run all the checks and then uninstall it if you want

BritBrat

I stear clear of registry cleaners.

Thats not to say I dont delete parts I do it manual and know what I am deleting.

Conor_3

alanrowell wrote: »

I've used CCLeaner for several years and never had a problem

I tried, against my own better advice, to try CCleaner registry cleaner and it broke one of my applications.