Daave wrote:
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

1. Hardly anyone actually measures the speed of their computer before
and after running a registry cleaner, in part because accurate
measurement of speed is very difficult. So what they really mean is
that it generally *feels* faster. But just like taking a placebo,
such feelings can be very misleading, and many people think there's
an improvement where none really exists. Moreover if someone has
spent money (or even just time and effort) on a product, he *wants*
to be convinced that it has done something useful, and that he
hasn't wasted his money, time, and effort, and that placebo effect
is therefore greatly enhanced.

That's certainly a distinct possibility.

Another possibility is that the use of a combination temp file
cleaner/registry cleaner very well might speed up one's browsing. Then
again, it's deletion of *temp files* (not "dead wood" in the registry)
that causes this effect.

IMO all it takes to "measure" whether a "cleaner" made any difference is
a wrist watch or cheapie stop watch. If it's a noticeable improvement,
those instruments will readily identify non-negligible changes.

But there is more to a registry than noticeable machine times and
setting any control for timing is difficult at best anyway. I don't
look at such tools as "tuning" tools, but I do on occasion use them for
some pretty substantial problems. And, being able to "put back" the
changes made creates a neatly verifiable fix-situation. There's a lot
more to the registry than machine cycles.

This thread has taken the OP's simple questions and turned into an
ego-fest of closed-minded tripe that puts some groups to shame. I'm not
saying YOU are a closed mind, BTW; I don't know you and what you said,
though singular, is true enough.