After reading the post (46701) about registry cleaners (some subjects never die, do they?) I decided to update the two freebies I already had -- EasyCleaner and RegSeeker.

* First I ran (MS) RegClean.

* Then I used the new EasyCleaner. Got the same few stray entries I always get. It was hard to notice any difference.

* Finally I used RegSeeker 1.45. It found 37 ActiveX items labeled as "Invalid Entry." It also listed ALL my TrueType fonts, saying "File or path does not exist." Of course I checked, and lo and behold, all my fonts are exactly where they belong. Since I didn't delete the prior version of RegSeeker (1.35) I ran it, and it didn't find the the ActiveX or font entries. This sounds crazy to me. I also have 2 other cleaners that don't report ActiveX or Font entries in the registry as being invalid.

Any idea what's going on with RegSeeker 1.45?

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Expect nothing; live frugally on surprise. (Alice Walker)

Take great care with RegSeeker. Those who say it never gives any problems probably don't realise that RegSeeker was the culprit when at some later date they need to re-install something or search the Web for registry entries.
RegSeeker managed to kill off a key memoriser program on my machine (repeatable). It also removed my IE entry and CP/Add-Remove (again repeatable).

It says all manner of well known file types such as .cpl .swp and .dat are invalid, even though there are plenty of valid files on the machine with those extensions.

To my mind it is the worlds most worrying registry cleaner. It has only one good thing going for it. When you undo what it has done it actually gets it right (it restores the entries in reverse order).

Look at the screen when registry entries show up on many other cleaners. Note the order in which they are listed, then look at the undo. If they are in the same order then this is what can happen if they remove Keys:

Registry cleaner removes a Value. Later on it decides to remove the Key too (folder). When you run the undo it first puts the Value back. Later it puts the key back which overwrites the entry, with one that has no Value. Whizz bang and your undo has lost a Value.

You sure have to be darned careful with registry cleaners and to heck with what anyone says to the contrary.

DerekW

Sorry folks, that last line in #1 was a bit "over the top". I do feel strongly about this but everyone to his/her own I suppose.

There's no point arguing against opinion or experience but I would emphasise that the meat of my #1 is based on proven facts.

I do use registry cleaners but I watch them like a hawk these days.

DerekW

I use RegSeeker and delete the green entries and leave the red. Green entries are mainly invalid path items such as when I've uninstalled a Norton product which doesn't clean up after itself. Set a restore point first if you want to be really sure of a backup.