Registry Cleaners

Ken Blake wrote (in response to another thread) -
Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the registry
isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and don't use any
registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and what vendors of
registry cleaning software try to convince you of, having unused registry
entries doesn't really hurt you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit it may
have.

I would agree with the warning of the possibility of (serious) damage to the
Registry and the consequence that the computer may not boot up. I would
also agree that it may not be necessary to clean the Registry very
regularly. However, the Registry does become bloated with calls to
uninstalled software which does increase the time needed to boot up - at the
very least. However, the additional space requirement of a bloated Registry
may not be significant. I would suggest, say, an annual tidy-up.

I have used two Registry cleaners over the years (Max Registry Cleaner and
Registry Mechanic) both without any problem. Mind you, my backup system
includes a cloned hard disk drive and separate copy of all key files (as at
the previous day). I have recently proved that I can get a system with a
failed hard disk drive up and running in the time it takes to swap a hard
disk, copy key files and update Windows and NIS: About 30 minutes.

Bill Ridgeway

Bill

You do not need a Registry Cleaner.

Use Autoruns to remove the orphaned start-up entries

To identify what loads when you boot use Autoruns (freeware from
Microsoft).
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys.../Autoruns.mspx

With Autoruns you can uncheck an item, which disables it from
starting,or you can right click an item and then delete it. If you
uncheck you can recheck to re-enable the item. It is a much safer
approach than editing the Registry and better than using msconfig..
Another useful feature of the programme is that you can right click an
item and select Search Online to get information about the item
selected.

You will spot them by seeing an entry like this -File not found being
the relevant bit
Display Panning CPL Extension File not found: deskpan.dll

Using the Online feature you can get information as illustrated in the
next link.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=deskpan...ox&Form=IE8SRC

Using a Registry Cleaner produces so much information that you cannot
see the wood for the trees.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Bill Ridgeway wrote:
Ken Blake wrote (in response to another thread) -
Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the
registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and
don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and
what vendors of registry cleaning software try to convince you of,
having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.

I would agree with the warning of the possibility of (serious) damage
to the Registry and the consequence that the computer may not boot
up. I would also agree that it may not be necessary to clean the
Registry very regularly. However, the Registry does become bloated
with calls to uninstalled software which does increase the time
needed to boot up - at the very least. However, the additional space
requirement of a bloated Registry may not be significant. I would
suggest, say, an annual tidy-up.
I have used two Registry cleaners over the years (Max Registry
Cleaner and Registry Mechanic) both without any problem. Mind you,
my backup system includes a cloned hard disk drive and separate copy
of all key files (as at the previous day). I have recently proved
that I can get a system with a failed hard disk drive up and running
in the time it takes to swap a hard disk, copy key files and update
Windows and NIS: About 30 minutes.
Bill Ridgeway

you're a wart on the ass of progress.

You're an ass on wartless progress.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
you're a wart on the ass of progress.

Unknown wrote:
You're an ass on wartless progress.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
you're a wart on the ass of progress.

Thank you! That's quite a concession coming from you.

Unknown wrote:
You're an ass on wartless progress.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
you're a wart on the ass of progress.

Thank you! That's quite a concession coming from you.

You're an ass on wartless progress.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
you're a wart on the ass of progress.

you're a wart on the ass of progress.

"Bill Ridgeway" wrote in message
...

Ken Blake wrote (in response to another thread) -
Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the registry
isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and don't use any
registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and what vendors of
registry cleaning software try to convince you of, having unused registry
entries doesn't really hurt you.

==================================================

"Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil."

Well why is it then that Windows Live OneCare promotes this on their
website:

"As part of its Clean Up scan, the Windows Live OneCare safety scanner
offers a free registry cleaner. Running this scan is a great way to rid your
PC of clutter and keep it running at its speediest." ??

For the full details
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-Us/a...leaner_why.htm

I have used CCleaner on mine and client computers for some time and I have
yet to have a call back complaining that something has gone amiss. I have
also regularly used RegCleaner by Jouni Vuoro with no bad repercussions.


--
Regards,
Touch Base
Report back on the results, good or bad so others may benefit

Touch Base

Does Windows Live OneCare have an assured future? It is being dropped by
Microsoft!

The problem is that using a Registry Cleaner gives negligible gains for
a certain risk that any errors it makes are invariably insoluble
problems for all but the most expert users.

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Touch Base wrote:
"Bill Ridgeway" wrote in message
...

Ken Blake wrote (in response to another thread) -
Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the
registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and
don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and
what vendors of registry cleaning software try to convince you of,
having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt you.

==================================================

"Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil."

Well why is it then that Windows Live OneCare promotes this on their
website:

"As part of its Clean Up scan, the Windows Live OneCare safety scanner
offers a free registry cleaner. Running this scan is a great way to
rid your PC of clutter and keep it running at its speediest." ??

For the full details
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-Us/a...leaner_why.htm

I have used CCleaner on mine and client computers for some time and I
have yet to have a call back complaining that something has gone
amiss. I have also regularly used RegCleaner by Jouni Vuoro with no
bad repercussions.

To add to Gerry's typically good advice:

Many people have this vision of the Windows registry: They see Windows
scurrying through the registry and getting stuck in all those dead-ends
left behind by uninstalled software. They think: "this is surely slowing
my computer's performance." However, the registry does not work that
way. Applications make specific calls to registry keys; they don't go
hunting for data.

Another misconception: the "bloated" registry. In theory, if you remove
an unused registry key, it will take less time to load the registry into
memory. However, since a registry key typically occupies only a few
bytes, you would have to remove millions of registry keys to notice the
difference. And even if you could remove millions of registry keys, the
time needed to load, run and then exit the registry cleaner would
outstrip the time saved, by far.

In general, the more you know about the registry, the more you
understand why we like to poke fun at registry cleaners (and the people
who use them.)
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Gerry wrote:
Touch Base

Does Windows Live OneCare have an assured future? It is being dropped by
Microsoft!

The problem is that using a Registry Cleaner gives negligible gains for
a certain risk that any errors it makes are invariably insoluble
problems for all but the most expert users.

Leonard Grey wrote:
To add to Gerry's typically good advice:

Many people have this vision of the Windows registry: They see Windows
scurrying through the registry and getting stuck in all those
dead-ends left behind by uninstalled software. They think: "this is
surely slowing my computer's performance." However, the registry does
not work that way. Applications make specific calls to registry keys;
they don't go hunting for data.

Another misconception: the "bloated" registry. In theory, if you
remove an unused registry key, it will take less time to load the
registry into memory. However, since a registry key typically
occupies only a few bytes, you would have to remove millions of
registry keys to notice the difference. And even if you could remove
millions of registry keys, the time needed to load, run and then exit
the registry cleaner would outstrip the time saved, by far.

In general, the more you know about the registry, the more you
understand why we like to poke fun at registry cleaners (and the
people who use them.)
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Gerry wrote:
Touch Base

Does Windows Live OneCare have an assured future? It is being
dropped by Microsoft!

The problem is that using a Registry Cleaner gives negligible gains
for a certain risk that any errors it makes are invariably insoluble
problems for all but the most expert users.

Because it bugs you that someone else understands the registry well
enough to write a good program for it, eh? That's nothing but ego and
based on myth, nothing concrete.

They don't mess up any more, and probably less, than even MS's own
programs.

Twayne

I do have to disagree with you on this issue. Show me proof on a hard copy to those
facts. Have you seen these Registry Tool issues that were posted by a few OP's
lately saying that their Reg Tools messed up their OS. One even could not boot after
using a Registry Cleaning Tool.

Some posters even remarked that you did not show up in those threads because you
were then going to be proven wrong. I was also one that said the same.

Automated Reg tools in the hand of persons that do not know computers and what the
Registry does have no business using these snake oil remedies

My take on this and period

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
Leonard Grey wrote:
To add to Gerry's typically good advice:

Many people have this vision of the Windows registry: They see Windows
scurrying through the registry and getting stuck in all those
dead-ends left behind by uninstalled software. They think: "this is
surely slowing my computer's performance." However, the registry does
not work that way. Applications make specific calls to registry keys;
they don't go hunting for data.

Another misconception: the "bloated" registry. In theory, if you
remove an unused registry key, it will take less time to load the
registry into memory. However, since a registry key typically
occupies only a few bytes, you would have to remove millions of
registry keys to notice the difference. And even if you could remove
millions of registry keys, the time needed to load, run and then exit
the registry cleaner would outstrip the time saved, by far.

In general, the more you know about the registry, the more you
understand why we like to poke fun at registry cleaners (and the
people who use them.)
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Gerry wrote:
Touch Base

Does Windows Live OneCare have an assured future? It is being
dropped by Microsoft!

The problem is that using a Registry Cleaner gives negligible gains
for a certain risk that any errors it makes are invariably insoluble
problems for all but the most expert users.

Because it bugs you that someone else understands the registry well enough to
write a good program for it, eh? That's nothing but ego and based on myth,
nothing concrete.

They don't mess up any more, and probably less, than even MS's own programs.

Twayne

I do have to disagree with you on this issue. Show me proof on a hard copy to those
facts. Have you seen these Registry Tool issues that were posted by a few OP's
lately saying that their Reg Tools messed up their OS. One even could not boot after
using a Registry Cleaning Tool.

Some posters even remarked that you did not show up in those threads because you
were then going to be proven wrong. I was also one that said the same.

Automated Reg tools in the hand of persons that do not know computers and what the
Registry does have no business using these snake oil remedies

My take on this and period

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
Leonard Grey wrote:
To add to Gerry's typically good advice:

Many people have this vision of the Windows registry: They see Windows
scurrying through the registry and getting stuck in all those
dead-ends left behind by uninstalled software. They think: "this is
surely slowing my computer's performance." However, the registry does
not work that way. Applications make specific calls to registry keys;
they don't go hunting for data.

Another misconception: the "bloated" registry. In theory, if you
remove an unused registry key, it will take less time to load the
registry into memory. However, since a registry key typically
occupies only a few bytes, you would have to remove millions of
registry keys to notice the difference. And even if you could remove
millions of registry keys, the time needed to load, run and then exit
the registry cleaner would outstrip the time saved, by far.

In general, the more you know about the registry, the more you
understand why we like to poke fun at registry cleaners (and the
people who use them.)
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Gerry wrote:
Touch Base

Does Windows Live OneCare have an assured future? It is being
dropped by Microsoft!

The problem is that using a Registry Cleaner gives negligible gains
for a certain risk that any errors it makes are invariably insoluble
problems for all but the most expert users.

Because it bugs you that someone else understands the registry well enough to
write a good program for it, eh? That's nothing but ego and based on myth,
nothing concrete.

They don't mess up any more, and probably less, than even MS's own programs.

Leonard Grey wrote:
To add to Gerry's typically good advice:

Many people have this vision of the Windows registry: They see Windows
scurrying through the registry and getting stuck in all those
dead-ends left behind by uninstalled software. They think: "this is
surely slowing my computer's performance." However, the registry does
not work that way. Applications make specific calls to registry keys;
they don't go hunting for data.

Another misconception: the "bloated" registry. In theory, if you
remove an unused registry key, it will take less time to load the
registry into memory. However, since a registry key typically
occupies only a few bytes, you would have to remove millions of
registry keys to notice the difference. And even if you could remove
millions of registry keys, the time needed to load, run and then exit
the registry cleaner would outstrip the time saved, by far.

In general, the more you know about the registry, the more you
understand why we like to poke fun at registry cleaners (and the
people who use them.)
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Gerry wrote:
Touch Base

Does Windows Live OneCare have an assured future? It is being
dropped by Microsoft!

The problem is that using a Registry Cleaner gives negligible gains
for a certain risk that any errors it makes are invariably insoluble
problems for all but the most expert users.

Because it bugs you that someone else understands the registry well
enough to write a good program for it, eh? That's nothing but ego and
based on myth, nothing concrete.

They don't mess up any more, and probably less, than even MS's own
programs.