|
Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
I am looking to clean up and optimize my registry. I already use the cleaner and defragmenter in CCcleaner/DeFraggler.
Some registry optimizers show hundreds of additional ‘problems’ in my registry. I’d like to restore some of the “snap” this machine had when it was new…
a search shows no posts on registry optimizers since 2004/5…
What would be a good program to use? And is it freeware or lowcostware? THX!
I use RegCure ( carefully ) and get safe results and they have a back up restore for any changes made.
System Mechanic is another at IOLO
Low cost if you purchase.
Edited to add: I knew there would be other opinions on this . 
I agree with you, Joe. And I have read Ed Bott’s view long ago, agree with him also. He has sound and informed views on many things related to Windows!
I can understand if anyone who has built a machine themselves (thus starting clean, not getting an, in many cases, overloaded OEM PC, I say many, not all are, it could just be the OS) seems to remember a “snappier” time. Remembering the big install day, drivers and programs en masse; AV, anti-spyware, perhaps a third-party firewall, Office suites, graphic suites, more anti-spyware, extra tools (file management, backup etc.), CD/DVD burning, perhaps messaging and VoIP programs, more anti-spyware, perhaps games, and on it goes. Then late comes; “oh, perhaps a program to run every now and then to check that everything else is up to date, I need .NET for that? Well add that too”.
But during the big install day, or over a longer time, since several of the above probably were added later in the life cycle, they notice that the PC is slower.
Well, since almost everything of the above (games and driver programs included) can come with programs running at start and running in the background during the day that is no wonder.
It is, as we all know, in most cases not an individual program, but the sheer volume of software thrown at the PC.
Has anyone tested with uninstalling everything (and I mean everything) back to the bare OS? I have. (It wasn’t part of an optimizing session though.) I can tell you one thing; it gets “snappier” (even if my main PC isn’t overloaded, it can’t be with 22 processes at idle 
).
What is the lesson of that? To get back the speed, if it has decreased significantly, those registry programs would need to do a lot that they don’t. That is: uninstall some software, perhaps replacing it with a less demanding version.
A modern OS is quite capable of handling the increase of the registry as things are added or removed; a modern OS is also in some sense self-tuning.
If I would use a registry cleaner, that means I would have to trust that the developer of that program knows everything about Windows and how all other programs use Windows’ registry (the trust, as we all know, must be big since the registry is vital, to say the least, to Windows). A short example: there have been cases were “cleaners” removed MSFT Office keys or values. With “install on demand” Office could add some odd keys in the registry, that some programs thought were not needed. I also have to assume that the developer knows something about the registry and Windows’ use of it that no one else knows.
It can happen that I use an old version of jv16 (for its search) but that is only in the rare case when something needs to be removed to solve an install problem etc. Not maintenance.
But I do not install/uninstall 100-200 different programs per year, so what do I know.
I don’t clean MRU lists and don’t consider it part of the “registry cleaning issue”, more a privacy concern for some. And mentioning CCleaner in this context, well, then we mix file cleaning with registry cleaning, a different matter. If someone has 2 GB temp and TIFs and hasn’t defragged since Christmas 2001, I guess it will get snappier.
Donations from Plus members keep this site going. You can identify the people who support AskWoody by the Plus badge on their avatars.
AskWoody Plus members not only get access to all of the contents of this site -- including Susan Bradley's frequently updated Patch Watch listing -- they also receive weekly AskWoody Plus Newsletters (formerly Windows Secrets Newsletter) and AskWoody Plus Alerts, emails when there are important breaking developments.
Notifications
