Putting Registry-/system-cleanup apps to the test

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	TOP STORY Putting Registry-/system-cleanup apps to the test
	By Fred Langa The most contentious software category has to be PC-system/Registry cleaners. Some users find them invaluable; other users consider them worse than useless A series of controlled experiments puts these apps to the test — and turns up some surprises.

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The full text of this column is posted at windowssecrets.com/top-story/Putting-Registry-system-cleanup-apps-to-the-test/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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It would be useful if this investigation could be taken a step further to take a look at uninstallers such as Revo and ZSoft

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I second Revo. I especially urge you to download the TRIAL PAID FOR version and then go to your c:Program Files dir and look for leftover entries in there of things you know you have uninstalled then copy the c:ProgramFilesProgram-to-be-removed” to “Forced Uninstall” in Revo Pro and see what happens. I clean many computers that way and in fact am about to buy the product myself. I am not even touching on trawling the registry for anything left there not appearing in Program Files but that is fun on a long cold night (;-}). Lastly, though this isnt a cleanup tool, once you have done that (or preferably the other way around) run Malwarebytes Anti Malware. If it finds something it also speeds the system up after removal, albeit probably unintentionally.

Did you ever buy a new laptop with Nortons or Mcafee installed and not want them so uninstalled to put your favourite on? Use Revo Forced uninstall and it will surprise you what was left behind. Oh and for Avast and some other well known free and paid AV programs, there is nothing like Revo to get rid of the rubbish blocking the computer if it gets infected with those AVs on it. They can cause all sorts of merry hell with the system as Zone Alarm will even if uninstalled when nothing was wrong with the computer. Revo kills it completely (paid for version or trial of same with Forced Uninstall).

Greg.

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After loading the programs, Windows was much less responsive; several subsystems (Internet and sound, for example) stopped working entirely.

This is the scariest line in the article. If installing twenty popular applications can destroy a fresh windows installation, wow, I’m left speechless. What can you add to that?

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This is the scariest line in the article. If installing twenty popular applications can destroy a fresh windows installation, wow, I’m left speechless. What can you add to that?

Just what I was thinking! Very scary.

Makes me happy that my old XP lap top takes only 8 minutes to start (and while doing a backup) with its dozens of apps installed! 🙂

Nil illigitimi carborundum

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This is the scariest line in the article. If installing twenty popular applications can destroy a fresh windows installation, wow, I’m left speechless. What can you add to that?

If you look at the applications it’s not surprising the system was hosed. There appear to be at least two different antivirus apps and an antimalware app, plus ICQ and MSN. The competing antivirus apps could easily between them kill the network and MSN is notorious for starting up slowly on a dodgy network.

Fred’s test was to look at how well the system could be cleaned after the uninstallation, not how nicely 20 random apps played together before being uninstalled. Personally I’m unimpressed but not surprised that the best cleaners could only recover a fraction of the file and registry bloat left after uninstalling.

Ian

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Thanks for the great article, I think it’s a good idea to “start again” with the testing of clean up utilities on the latest operating system.
I’m glad I hung on to jv16 PowerTools throughout the years. I’ve always thought this was a decent multipurpose app to have around.

I think we need, as others have stated, a good testing of some of the popular uninstaller tools, like Revo and others.

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Thanks for the great article, I think it’s a good idea to “start again” with the testing of clean up utilities on the latest operating system.
….
I think we need, as others have stated, a good testing of some of the popular uninstaller tools, like Revo and others.

CLiNT, I not only second your suggestions but I feel I have to take another look at jv16 PowerTools (finally). I remember trying them about 2003 (?) but back then turning away quickly.

On a side note: I don’t even leave CCleaner on my customer’s machines; one guy some time ago removed ALL startup programs and was infuriated that his DSL didn’t work any longer because he removed a utility that his ancient setup needed :rolleyes:.

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Same here, I have used CCLeaner for years and has done a great job. Another program that I just started using is Comodo’s Program Manager. Seems to be very similar to Revo in whereas it “tags” all information whether a file, folder or registry entry as it is being installed. Bad part though is that it cannot “tag” these items if they are already installed. Then if you need to uninstall, it completely wipes out the files, folders, registry entries, etc. It has been running on my test bed computer for a month now.

Great article.

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My own observations, although not nearly as complete as Fred’s excellent article shows, follow along a similar route. I have found that I use a combination of cleanup tools for maximum cleaning. I use both CCleaner and Privacy Mantra. I then use a batch file that includes Win 7 Disk Cleanup in the more aggresive mode. As with security apps, I feel the multi-layered approach does the most for this cleanup chore. As Fred mentioned, this scheme is designed for a periodic approach, not a once in a blue moon deep cleanup of your system. As always YMMV. I know there are other very learned persons that I respect greatly that have the opposite opinions of these cleaners. All I can say is my experience is similar to Fred’s.

It would be helpful to see what the differences are with Revo Uninstaller free and Pro versions. I suspect Revo would remove a fair amount of the left over stuff so that the cleaners would not find nearly as much, but as I say I choose to use the multi-layered approach which also includes Revo Uninstaller Pro for uninstall chores followed by the other apps.

For anyone attempting to duplicate Fred’s results, please, make a system Image before starting any of these type investigations. This is the best safety blanket IMO.

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Great article Fred & very interesting.

I’ve used CCleaner for many years and for the past three or four I’ve also run Advanced SystemCare Pro. Depending on which I run first the other nearly always finds something the other hasn’t. To date I don’t believe either has caused me any great grief. My only slight concern with CCleaner is that, after analysis, it tells me it’s going to remove a certain amount (in Mb), but after I’ve run the cleaner it quite often tells me that it has removed more – sometimes quite a lot more! I always save the registry back-ups it tells me it will remove, but I’ve never yet felt the need to restore from any of them.

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Thank you for a helpful article. I appreciate the credible test methods used.

I second the request to test third-party uninstallers such as Revo Uninstaller, and I’d like to add a wish: to compare them with the manufacturer-supplied uninstallers (such as the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool MCPR.exe)

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Excellent!
So nice to be validated by a Pro! I have used JV16 for too many years to count! Since it came out actually! I find that with a little caution and a lot of finesse you can improve a system beyond that of the original install or build. I do have to restrict my comments to Win XP and older tho, I have not worked these apps on Win 7, yet.

I also use CCleaner Advanced SystemCare Pro (and Free) frequently. I even have enough confidence in both to encourage my users to run them on a weekly basis. My users are programmers and service techs thus are constantly creating thousands of left over files, fragmentations and lots of ‘temp’ files. Resolving their day to day issues and technical research also result in lots of Firefox and Internet Explorer activities and in spite of internal ‘clean up’ settings for both browsers (and Chrome, and Safari, etc.) there is a lot of chaff left over.

I repeatedly find the application of CCleaner, ASC and JV16, IN THAT ORDER, to be all a IT pro needs…

Now to find the magic buttons for all that MalWare and spam!!!!

Excellent article, I really enjoyed and appreciated it. As for those that are asking for more details on ‘uninstallers’, that was not the topic of discussion now was it? Stay on topic guys and start a new one if your interests are elsewhere!

Ray L.

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kewl, someone finally mentions Advanced System Care!… up to version 4 now, my fave ‘freebee’ ever at this point, saves a lot of gunked machines for me, but Ray here fails to mention it’s from Iobit now, not CCleaner… also surprised not to see it mentioned by Fred in the article, probably not enough room for the whole bandwagon, so alas i feel to say something.
& i’m not a shill for them, ever.
the difference between the paid for version ASC 4 and the free is amazingly slight for casual users, scheduling auto tune ups is the main advantage i see for them in the paid version.
but even the more intense users like Ray’s (thanks again man, excellent addition to the article) can get the pro for $10 i think if you install the free & upgrade from their offer after install, sorry foggy on that detail, but not on it’s more valuable tools, gotta love ’em!
http://www.iobit.com/ascupdate-promo.html
responding to:
Excellent!
So nice to be validated by a Pro! I have used JV16 for too many years to count! Since it came out actually! I find that with a little caution and a lot of finesse you can improve a system beyond that of the original install or build. I do have to restrict my comments to Win XP and older tho, I have not worked these apps on Win 7, yet.

I also use CCleaner Advanced SystemCare Pro (and Free) frequently. I even have enough confidence in both to encourage my users to run them on a weekly basis. My users are programmers and service techs thus are constantly creating thousands of left over files, fragmentations and lots of ‘temp’ files. Resolving their day to day issues and technical research also result in lots of Firefox and Internet Explorer activities and in spite of internal ‘clean up’ settings for both browsers (and Chrome, and Safari, etc.) there is a lot of chaff left over.

I repeatedly find the application of CCleaner, ASC and JV16, IN THAT ORDER, to be all a IT pro needs…

Now to find the magic buttons for all that MalWare and spam!!!!

Excellent article, I really enjoyed and appreciated it. As for those that are asking for more details on ‘uninstallers’, that was not the topic of discussion now was it? Stay on topic guys and start a new one if your interests are elsewhere!

Ray L.

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I have used CCleaner for years also with great results. I used to use the RevoUninstaller free version until it no longer supports 64 bit systems. I now use IOBITUninstaller as it is a stand alone program and doesn’t need to be installed on your system. It WOULD be interesting to see what difference several of these third party uninstallers would make.

Excellent article!!

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I agree, excellent article. How about Vista System Junk Remover batch file and/or Revo uninstaller? CCleaner has a decent uninstaller and free space cleaning capability.

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I have used CCleaner for years also with great results. I used to use the RevoUninstaller free version until it no longer supports 64 bit systems. I now use IOBITUninstaller as it is a stand alone program and doesn’t need to be installed on your system. It WOULD be interesting to see what difference several of these third party uninstallers would make. Excellent article!!

I have revo uninstaller free installed on my 64bit windows 7 and is working fine. Mine is version 1.92 maybe you need to download the latest version.

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Just as I would have expected !
Not only ANOTHER great article by Fred, but the kind of testing the regular user could relate to, and to top it off the results that I see on a very regular basis. As a professional maintining several hundred workstations in a team enviornment I was turned on to JV16 by Fred years ago, and I turned our team onto JV16. The proof is in the puddin. Been professional in this business now for 14 years, and Fred has been in my email box most of that time – he has taught me a lot – and his team has kept me informed.
Thanks Fred – AGAIN!

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Great article. Many computer experts have written that registry cleaners are worthless and unnecessary. You proved otherwise. I would have liked to see a test of the well liked PC Tools Registry Mechanic or the Iolo System Mechanic that Dell strongly recommends, but I think that the results would have been similar. I agree with the comments that another good test might be add on program removers. Are they better than Uninstall? Are they better than Uninstall and a Registry Cleaner? Anyway, great article. Thanks a mission.

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Fred,
Excellant article and I am aware you claimed you were not comparing or rating these registry cleaners, but in effect it comes out to that. I have done some parallel work to yours and have looked at what I am gauging for is best performance versus price as well as support. May I recommend another one I believe is worth looking into. IOBIT.COM. They make a great utility called Advanced System Care presently at version 4.2.0 coming out at version 5.0 soon. It is a reliable product and works well on workstations and servers. One of the features it has in it is the registry cleaner. It automatically builds a restore point before it starts and I have “NEVER” had any issues with it. Please look into this product sir. Keep up the great articles.

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Ted Myers and I think alike – I use two programs (CCleaner and TuneUp Utilities). Registry/general cleaning is one of my obsessions. I’ve never had a problem using these two programs. The thing I like about TuneUp is that it has a disk cleanup feature that allows you to jettison restore points. I found that these types of files, if left unchecked, can grow to over 10 gigabytes in less than a week – sometimes in a matter of two or three days. No need to keep an excess of old restore points, IMHO.

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Interesting stats, Fred! I agree, if you install/uninstall a lot of software, your system gets junked up.
I used to use InCtrl5 to monitor installs, but it was very slow on Vista, so I searched the internet and found
a program on Sourceforge that I modified a lot, and also wrote a program to verify that all registry entries
and files were deleted when I uninstalled a program. I call it PRIMO, for PRogram Installation MOnitor.
If you want to give it a try, you can get it at…
http://members.tripod.com/~randy_hall/download.htm

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Excellent article. Thank you Fred. I seem to remember another article here saying reg cleaners weren’t necessary . You have proven that wrong. I use regmedic but it seems largely not supported now. Emails to customer support are not returned.

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Some people are saying that previous articles which claim that “registry cleaners aren’t necessary” got me thinking: Does this article necessarily bust that claim, or is more testing required before we could reasonably reach that conclusion?

The programs being used are doing two things, not one: removing old or unneeded files, and removing old settings from the registry. Perhaps only one of them is really causing the observed effect (file removal), which would then leave the “registry cleaners aren’t necessary” unchallenged. As the article’s testing methodology doesn’t get that granular, we can’t make the distinction based on this test. All we can say with some certainty is that, after having done both file removal and registry cleaning, the system-in-question is faster.

I’m not suggesting that reg cleaners don’t help — just pointing out that the test which was related in this article isn’t sufficient to prove it either way.

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Some people are saying that previous articles which claim that “registry cleaners aren’t necessary” got me thinking: Does this article necessarily bust that claim, or is more testing required before we could reasonably reach that conclusion?

The programs being used are doing two things, not one: removing old or unneeded files, and removing old settings from the registry. Perhaps only one of them is really causing the observed effect (file removal), which would then leave the “registry cleaners aren’t necessary” unchallenged. As the article’s testing methodology doesn’t get that granular, we can’t make the distinction based on this test. All we can say with some certainty is that, after having done both file removal and registry cleaning, the system-in-question is faster.

I’m not suggesting that reg cleaners don’t help — just pointing out that the test which was related in this article isn’t sufficient to prove it either way.

I need to re-read the article when I get time, but if it is noting an improvement in performance from running combined registry cleaning and startup application removal, then it needs to split those apart to get at the detail. I’ve encountered many PC’s that run like a dog until dozens of startup applications are disabled.

From my speed read through the article, a couple of questions and an observation stand out to me:

Does a clean installation of Windows really benefit from being cleaned?

Does cleansing the registry only, rather than removing startup applications as well result in the same rather impressive response?

/Caveat: I have only had time to speed read the article so may have missed an important section.

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I need to re-read the article when I get time, but if it is noting an improvement in performance from running combined registry cleaning and startup application removal, then it needs to split those apart to get at the detail. I’ve encountered many PC’s that run like a dog until dozens of startup applications are disabled.

From my speed read through the article, a couple of questions and an observation stand out to me:

Does a clean installation of Windows really benefit from being cleaned?

Does cleansing the registry only, rather than removing startup applications as well result in the same rather impressive response?

/Caveat: I have only had time to speed read the article so may have missed an important section.

One thing that was interesting was that the size of the registry wasn’t really changed after the use of the cleaners (excelp for jv16, in which the size reduction was only 1K). Also, one very interesting thing was that cleanmgr which I believe does not touch the registry was almost as effective as ccleaner and only slightly less effective than jv16. So this really makes you think about the origin of the reported improvements.

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Excellent article. Thank you Fred. I seem to remember another article here saying reg cleaners weren’t necessary . You have proven that wrong. I use regmedic but it seems largely not supported now. Emails to customer support are not returned.

That was Woody Leonhard’s article, which I mentioned earlier.

-- rc primak

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This article and the above comments were extremely timley for me as I just purchased a new laptop and have been googling on the topic of registry cleaners to prevent any resulting registry catastrophes. As usual in these types of situations, there are more than one point of view. I’ve taken the more conservative approach with the new machine, using CCCleaner and Glary Utilities (not always using the Registry Cleaner option), even though some users have mentioned issues with both. I have also used ASC free, Slimcleaner and Power Tools Lite 2011 on other machines, but as someone pointed out, registry cleaning can be over done. While it was not pointed out whether the version of jv16 Power tools was the paid or free version (Power tools Lite 2011), I assume that it was the paid version. So if the paid version is safe, hopefully the free version, as it most likely has fewer features, is safer.

I also agree that a followup article on uninstallers would be very interesting.

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As if you needed it, here’s another vote for a follow-up with REVO et al.

Thanks for an eye-opening article.

Regards,

Dan

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The lost space may be in used in system restore points. Many of the software packages you tested with use the windows installer, which creates those files on install and uninstall.

Thank you for taking time to test and document. It is much appreciated…

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Having tried several Registry cleaners over the years, I have found that a thorough cleaning requires running the program multiple times (with reboots in between) to find and remove all errors the software is capable of correcting.

On your recommendation, I purchased JV Powertools. Not having the time or resources to test as thoroughly as you have, I ran it several times until it found no more errors, then ran the free program, Baku. Baku found even more errors in the registry. A month later, I reversed the process, running Baku first until error-free, then JV Powertools. Powertools found no additional errors when following Baku. From this simple exercise it would seem that Baku performed better, but perhaps not. Please consider testing Baku when you get a chance. I’d love to learn your results.

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Bravo! Mr Langa, It was so refreshing to read, an article about the “simple fix” … I have a few friends who have done all the same type installs,downloads of apps, games, etc & have come unto me with… “Gee Idunno why its acting so stupid …must have a virus or something ..Can you take a look at it?” The first thing I do is retrieve CCleaner clean up their unit, designate what programs I want starting or not starting & trash any unwanted toolbars etc etc . and I do it mostly all from that one simple cleaning tool ! I then tell them to simply run the cleaner from time to time {& please do-not change any settings} Fred also thank you very much for informing readers on the windows cleaning program & displaying the results. I believe that I’ve read similar articles & I’m guessing that you may have also been in the mix : Using VM PC’s testing antivirus programs & their effects individually to each PC . Very Informative ..Again Thank You & please keep up the good work. also if there is a way one could add you to their Google + page ,please let me know ! Respectfully Troy C.

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I have been running a long term test of my own, using two Lenovo Laptops. These are both T500 laptops with identical software. My MIS department installed and “services” my work laptop, and I installed and take care of my personal laptop, kept at home. In both cases, for the first year, I used Advanced system care pro. I had admin rights for both my work and home laptops. In January 2011, MIS felt it was prudent to take away my admin rights, leaving me with power user status. I no longer had the ability to install critical updates at work, and using the enterprise server, am weekly subjected to spam, worms, pfishing emails. The end result is that my work laptop takes 4 times as long to startup as my home laptop, and will crash once a month, on average. My home laptop is still as quick as it was the day I installed advanced care pro. It is not just the programs one installs on a given PC that affect its response time or usability, it is the policies and “care” provided by the administrator that dictate the usefulness of the machine. I have had my work PC “fixed” twice by our IT department since January, whereas I’ve never had to fix my home PC.

I recently upgraded my home laptop to Windows 7, but still use Advanced system care pro. It is on every PC in my home and is worth the price for a yearly subscription for 6 pcs.

It is sad that my MIS department suddenly does not trust me anymore. I’ve had to bring my chrome notebook to work, in order to support my work, as typically, I am locked out of all sites on the internet, even though I shut down my work laptop every night. The usual fix is to reboot, but even then, the site restriction forces me to ask for a specific site to be opened for me to access. The funny part is usb sticks are still allowed, and not protected against, and smart phones with wifi tethering are available, so all of this perceived safety is nonexistant.

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I would have been interested in see how CCleaner would have done regarding file removal if additional file options had been chosen (over-and-above the defaults, as mentioned in the article). Otherwise, the results are interesting and informative.

A side note:
While reading the article, I was noticing the included graphics. After all, that’s where the interesting compare-the-results meat was presented. But I was surprised… at how bad they look.

JPEG? Everywhere? It is understandable why you would use JPEG on a photo, or on a screen-grab which has complex gradients in it. Those kind of images either look ok with JPEG, or are reasonably less byte-heavy than other formats. But many of the graphics in the article were not photos, and have no gradients at all (let along “complex” ones). They were simple, illustrative charts, with solid colors and text. There isn’t anything wrong with that from a stylistic perspective, but when using JPEG as the format-of-choice, the hard-edged text becomes muddled with JPEG compression artifacts. Besides the annoyance of my eye being drawn to that on each image, there are a couple of practical matters:
1) The JPEG artifacts make the text less sharp. If you want people to read the text, why make it harder than it has to be?
2) It actually makes the file size larger, in many cases (and almost certainly in these cases), when compared to a PNG graphic.

If the author were a novice, I’d chalk it up to that. But he isn’t, so I’m left wondering: What am I missing here? What trick about JPEG vs PNG does he know?

A quick Google of “JPEG vs PNG” yields this entertaining page on the subject.

Ok, PNG is good for quality, but what about the file size question? If I take a photographic image and save it as both a JPEG and a PNG, I can easily adjust it so there is no visible difference, but the JPEG file will be a much smaller file. But in this case, we aren’t talking about photos, but talking about charts, graphs, line art, and other things which often don’t have gradients.

But given that Fred’s article was all about side-by-side comparisons, perhaps I should endeavor to do the same. Here’s my procedure:

I’ve taken a screen capture of a blank Microsoft Excel 2010 page using the freeware (non-commercial) version of PicPick. This opens the PicPick editing window. From here, I’m going to select four different regions of the captured image, each with a different mix of attributes, and save each of them twice: once as PNG and the as JPEG. Then I will compare the images for quality and byte-size.

After creating the initial files, the quality between the PNG and JPEG were the same. Going into the options for PicPick, I found the JPEG compression control. The default in PicPick is for JPEGs files with a “100” quality setting. This would make the best-looking JPEGs but would also make them the largest size. I dialed this back to 50, in order to obtain a representative example of the visible artifacts in the images, as well as bring the file size in line with what one might expect from the graphics in this article. As a result, each comparison is as follows:

Figure A: PNG
Figure B: JPG as maximum quality/minimum compression/largest size
Figure C: JPG at medium quality/smaller file size

First, a portion of the screen with no gradients, just solid colors, lines, and text:
29391-Figure-1

Second, a larger portion of the screen, including some simple gradient in the tool ribbon background:
29392-Figure-2

Third, a larger portion including complex gradients in the “File” tab background color and the blurred Windows desktop graphic as seen through the Excel title bar (thanks to the Aero UI effect) [note: the portion of the screen originally grabbed and saved was larger than included here, but I cropped them somewhat so as to keep this composite graphic to a reasonable physical size]:
29393-Figure-3

Lastly, a smaller section, showing complex gradients in the background fill of the “File” tab, and the Aero-UI blurring of the Windows desktop image through the Excel title bar:
29394-Figure-4

In the first set of images, the file size for PNG1 is significantly smaller than both version of JPG. This is expected — this image is all solid colors and text. While JPG1x is much smaller than JPG1, it is still nearly twice the byte-size of PNG1, but has substantial artifacting around the text.

As we move from figures 2 through 4, the scales tip the other direction. The obvious difference is the inclusion of more and more gradients in the image. JPEG handles these better from a compression point-of-view.

So, what is the take-away? That for many graphs and screen-grabs, PNG is better quality-wise than JPEG (but never worse than JPEG), and PNG can often be comparable in file size (sometimes much better).

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Great article. I’ve been a computer guy since the Apple II and the Commodore PET, but have settled in to Windows for many years. I also believe in keeping my computer clean to enjoy a safe & efficient web browsing and other personal uses.

Here is my list that I run through a minimum of once per week:
tempCleaner
CCleaner
WinTools.net Ultimate
Spybot – S & D

On top of that, to remove a program, I use Revo Uninstaller Pro and the Windows Removal system. After this I run Registry Crawler to get rid of any left overs.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any coverage of WinTools or Registry Crawler on your site, so your comments when you get a chance to check them out, would be appreciated. I’ve had excellent results. I have MSE running in the background.

Thank you. Really enjoy the site and your weekly newsletters.:):):)

George

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We have also used JVPT for many years.

My curiosity with your testing leads me to wonder if the majority of the hard drive space that was still being used in comparison to the base system could be found in the locations below?

TEMP files were located in:
C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalTemp
C:WindowsTemp

It is also common to find orphaned folders from uninstall programs in these common locations.
C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocal
C:Program Files
C:Program FilesCommon Files
C:Program Files (x86)
C:Program Files (x86)Common Files
C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataRoaming

It’s also common to find folders that begin with { and end with } in “C:UsersadminAppDataLocal” that are also left over from installs.

A colleague of mine wrote a vbs utility that clears the LocalTemp, WindowsTemp and folders starting and ending with {} that can be found at: http://www.captainken.us/utilities.htm

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Fred, Have you updated your CLEANXP.BAT? I still find it useful, probable the simplest (and to me best) system cleaner.

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It is not irrelevant or off-topic to discuss powerful uninstallers, or even defragmenters, in connection with this article. Although the focus here is on system and Registry cleanup, uninstallers like Revo do clean up both the system and the Registry, as well as (in Pro version) monitor software installs for more complete cleanup upon program removals. This certainly does fall within the domain of cleanup utilities and whether or not they actually are of any benefit.

I trust that the system Fred used was running Windows 7, although this may not to be explicitly mentioned in the article (I’ll re-read and edit this post if necessary). Given the opposing view that these cleaners are of little use in Windows 7 (expressed at length recently here in Windows Secrets by Woody Leonhard), this article provides a good counterpoint to that point of view. Interestingly enough, Microsoft has claimed in their Microsoft Social Answers community many times that there are no benefits of the sort which Fred has just demonstrated, to using third-party cleanup and Registry cleaning tools. Guess who has the stopwatch to prove the point? Yep, it’s Fred.

One minor point about the test setup — I noticed that some of the listed files which Windows could clean up were Windows Install and Windows Setup Logs. Granted, the average user does not remove these, but I wonder if the results would be as impressive if these Install and Setup Logs had not been there? Again, minor point.

Also keep in mind that it is possible to over-clean Windows. Microsoft warns that any deep-cleaning utility may remove rarely used Windows System files which are necessary for future updates, including Service Packs, to install properly. While the jv16 Power Tools would be considered safe, some of the more aggressive System Optimizers, including Advanced System Care, can trip the trigger with Microsoft Updates and Service Packs. Nothing spoils someone’s day like having one or more updates go belly-up due to system over-cleaning.

With no malice intended towards those who like ASC, I submit that CCleaner and Glary Utilities do the work of getting my Windows 7 system cleaned up, with rarely even the need for Revo Uninstaller, and certainly no need for Advanced System Care. My Windows 7 C: Partition does not grow unreasonably, and with just an occasional defragmenting, my Acronis system Backup Archives also do not grow appreciably. That having been accomplished, I have better things to do with my time than fuss over a few extra Megabytes of disk space, a few extra seconds of boot-time, or a few stray Registry entries.

Finally, the main advantage of a free utility such as CCleaner over the built-in Windows Disk Cleanup is not that CCleaner cleans any better (which is questionable). It is that CCleaner actually leverages the built-in Windows cleanup routines, adds a few of its own, and presents it all in a fairly easy to understand User Interface. No Command Line, no Batch Files, etc. Very convenient. And therefore much more likely to be used regularly.

True, an unsophisticated user might disable or remove all the Startups using the CCleaner Tools module which is a separate icon and screen from the main System cleaner or the Registry cleaner icons and screens. But I can also imagine a similar user messing up a computer just by clicking on a clearly offset ad, thinking it to be part of a newsletter’s content. Such users need to become educated, and they do not create a valid argument for never using cleaning software, or modifying web pages to have orange Police-Tape offsets around each and every ad. In most of these cases I’ve read about here in the Lounge, the real problem was not with the software or the web site, but between the keyboard and the chair. :rolleyes:

-- rc primak

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Great article. This is the kind of stuff I like to see. It was also refreshing to note the confirmation of ccleaner and jv16 as they are the two I have settled on as well. Of course I have been a subscriber of WS for some time. I have used several others as well and though I’ve never had a real problem with any of them I’ve often wondered. I also bought the iolo utility, but have uninstalled it. I just didn’t have any confidence in it. The Win7 builtin cleaner I have used, but not the version your article mentions and I had never heard any comments on it, good or bad. So I was pleased to read your testing on it. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

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ruirib, I also noticed the effectiveness of cleanmgr and thought it interesting that it was almost as effective even though it doesn’t touch the registry. It still appears to me that very little is gained through the use of registry cleaners and there is potential for system damage for non technical users.

Jerry

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Fred, thanks for the great article. I hope you will do a “Part 2” to address the additional questions.

I prefer uninstallers such as Revo and Advanced Uninstaller (free versions available) because they target files and registry entries specific to the program being uninstalled. That’s safer than more general registry and file scanners IMHO, but it would be interesting to compare them with CCleaner registry cleanup and JV Powertools for both safety and performance gains. There is also the separate registry compression function that some tools offer which removes dead space and “re-parses” the registry to make it smaller and more efficient. In my experience compressing the registry is safe and does reduce its size, but I have no idea if it makes the slightest difference to performance.

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ruirib, I also noticed the effectiveness of cleanmgr and thought it interesting that it was almost as effective even though it doesn’t touch the registry. It still appears to me that very little is gained through the use of registry cleaners and there is potential for system damage for non technical users.

Jerry

I totally agree, Jerry. Actually it would have been nice to have Fred’s input on that :).

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After my earlier post, I got to thinking about the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit OS’s. Are the tools mentioned in Fred’s article and other posts equally effective in both OS’s? As most, if not all, of the utilities mentioned are 32-bit only, can they completely address a 64-bit registry or only the x86 portion?

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After my earlier post, I got to thinking about the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit OS’s. Are the tools mentioned in Fred’s article and other posts equally effective in both OS’s? As most, if not all, of the utilities mentioned are 32-bit only, can they completely address a 64-bit registry or only the x86 portion?

CCleaner does address the 64-bit areas you are concerned about. So does Glary Utilities Free Edition. Revo Uninstaller Free does not get at 64-bit programs. Their Pro (paid) version does this, as well as removing traces of older uninstalls and failed installs.

-- rc primak

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I liked the article as usual. I had to recently move files from computer A to computer B and keep working to satisfy clients. Undoubtedly I have duplicate files on my makeshift backup computer and my registry is probably bloated with entries because there are duplicate files. Things have really slowed. If I could find a duplicate file finder that would then REMOVE the duplicates things would speed up but they scan for hours just to give a sales pitch to BUY, BUY, BUY. With my planned NEW Win7Pro computer do I have to clean up the XP-Mode and the Win7 portion with different programs?
Treat it just like two computers? Thor

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I liked the article as usual. I had to recently move files from computer A to computer B and keep working to satisfy clients. Undoubtedly I have duplicate files on my makeshift backup computer and my registry is probably bloated with entries because there are duplicate files. Things have really slowed. If I could find a duplicate file finder that would then REMOVE the duplicates things would speed up but they scan for hours just to give a sales pitch to BUY, BUY, BUY. With my planned NEW Win7Pro computer do I have to clean up the XP-Mode and the Win7 portion with different programs?
Treat it just like two computers? Thor

XP Mode is like a Virtual Machine — you do have to install and run the cleaners separately.

-- rc primak

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Hi Fred,

Microsoft used to have a site “Windows Live OneCare Safety Cleaner” with a computer cleaner. Among the things it did was do a registry cleanup. It seemed to a good job of removing unused registry entries and was free.
After getting a new Dell notebook with Windows 7, I have not been able to find the site. Does the site and program still exist?

Ken in San Jose

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I am wary of automatic registry cleaners. I have had personal experience with using such utilities (including CCleaner) and then having serious problems because of cleansed items that apparently were really an important item that needed to be left alone.

One of the most troubling finds with these utilities is the registry item that points to a location that doesn’t contain the file. In the past, I used a registry cleaner that would look on your hard drive to see if the file in question was actually somewhere else (and would then rewrite the registry entry to point to the new location if you agreed). Alas, that was many years ago, and I can’t remember the name of the program.

I have no doubt that software I install on my PC’s will leave entries behind when I uninstall them. I wish there was an unbiased source of information about which software publishers are most guilty of not cleaning up after themselves during uninstalls. They should be singled out and publicly embarassed for creating a problem that the vast majority of their customers have to live with. I’m especially angry about programs that load all the international support files for languages I don’t use, instead of letting the user pick the one and only language they want the program to use. What a waste of time and space! Can’t we do better than that? That is the kind of crap that sits on my computer, taking up space, even for programs I continue to use. It’s time for a revolt!

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Drive Imaging & Restoration a potential solution to complicated uninstallations
The best way to get back to a clean slate is to recover the image you had made prior to an application install.

You would have to be “Johnny-on-the Spot” when it comes to performing such images, but it’s a decent solution when it comes to
potentially deep rooted and complex software. It also works wonders with potentially complicated WUs.

It’s works best for complicated large scale software installs, like Office or AV suits.

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Fred

I read your article because I like the cleaners. After your article I used my V 1.3 of Cleanup Assistant & decided to go a bit further than just clean, I decided to check how many empty folders I also had on my system since this software allows for it. It reported 18,000 empty folders. I would like to know if I can delete these or try many of the other cleaners to see if they will delete them. I posted a question in the lounge & am waiting to see if there are any responses. That’s a lot of files to just have sitting around empty.

Thoughts?

Regards

Ed

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Ed, you asked Fred for his input, so my apologies for answering.

I would leave them alone. 18000 seems a lot, but if they are folders (as opposed to files) that are truly empty, they will not be taking up any significant space on your system, nor slowing it down. Additionally some of these empty folders may have been created by applications so that program data can be stored as required – removing them may cause some apps to have issues.

If you really felt strongly about them, you could investigate why they are there in the first place and if then you become satisfied they are surplus to requirements, remove them – but only after taking an image backup.

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Fred

I read your article because I like the cleaners. After your article I used my V 1.3 of Cleanup Assistant & decided to go a bit further than just clean, I decided to check how many empty folders I also had on my system since this software allows for it. It reported 18,000 empty folders. I would like to know if I can delete these or try many of the other cleaners to see if they will delete them. I posted a question in the lounge & am waiting to see if there are any responses. That’s a lot of files to just have sitting around empty.

Thoughts?

Regards

Ed

Not to impersonate Fred, but just as there are supposedly unused System Files which come into play when you run an update or Service Pack installation, so there are hundreds of folders in a typical Windows installation which are at any given moment empty, but which are needed to do such things as update programs, hold temporary files unique to a program, do Web file transfers, and a host of other functions. Generally, if a Folder is not a leftover of an uninstall, I would leave it alone. Using cleaners which remove supposedly duplicated or supposedly empty folders without consideration of how they got there, is just asking for trouble.

-- rc primak

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I agree with both main thoughts thoughout this thread:
1. Another great Fred Langa article — well conceived and executed
2 It would be great to supplement this research by incorporating results for uninstallers such as Revo, IOBit, Windows own uninstaller, etc.

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