Hi all

As a continuation from my last thread, I have removed the blasted .dll files from the start up error list, she now boots good.

I went to Programs and Features and found 3 entries for Registry Cleaners, these are:

RegCure
Reg Fix 7
Free Registry Cleaner for Vista

As I took the recommendation to install CCleaner, I now have 4 Reg Cleaners on the system. My question's are:

Are these programs working with each other?
What Reg Cleaner, if any out of these, do you recommend?

The world is full of willing people, some are willing to work, others are willing to let them; just a thought!

Only the registry cleaner thats part of CCleaner and then with caution ,
registry cleaners are the biggest cause of reinstalls !

I agree -- albeit partially -- with Jack Frost46 that some registry "cleaners" are disasters waiting for an opportunity to unravel & should be avoided period! But I wouldn't go as far as stating categorically that they are the biggest cause of reinstalls ... I think that's a marked exaggeration - LOL

Personally, I don't really have a dedicated registry cleaner for the Vista part of this machine, I do have CCleaner & TuneUp Utilities 2008 installed & tend to use the registry tools from those every once in awhile: usually after a program uninstall & that's about it. For me, Vista has been pretty much problem-free & a registry chore is not ranked that high in my order of priority ... maybe other Vista users might disagree.

On the XP part though, I have RegSeeker & have also used EasyCleaner in the past too. But, I am not familiar with the three you've listed in your OP.

Jabbering Idiots: Everywhere You Look!

I use TuneUp Utilities 2008 reg cleaner too. I find it to be pretty good at doing its jobs. Never had a problem with it.

well...perhaps a slight exaggeration :-)
The truth is nobody knows how many people have to reinstall because of registry cleaners , I mean it's not something that people Fess-up to " it just went wrong when I booted up..honest .
Registry cleaners ,If you have to ask the question.........
I also check after an uninstall ,good practice ,Registry Mechanic PC-tools full version definitely not a " free down-load ", It will cure all your problems job! .
In the event of a failure to reinstall I find Runscanner a useful tool ,
Sort of Auto-runs on steroids I like to think

PS only tick and fix reference's to progs you no longer have

Registry Cleaners can wreck systems in the hands of the uninitiated, the obvious solution is to run M$ LiveOneCare Free Safety Scanner:

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-gb/...

I use good old regcleaner Great program. It’s free, but you have to know what you are doing to use it because it's more of a manual method of getting rid of empty registry keys. It's not for novice pc users that's for sure.

Registry Mechanic is also good and I would say solid for a quick and easy way to clean-up old registry keys.

CCleaners registry cleaner does a pretty good job as well.

I'd say the biggest reason for people having to reformat their system is due to viruses and Trojans, because a lot of people don't take the precautions to check an unknown file out before opening them like running a virus scanner or spyware scanner let alone updating them on a regular basis.

If it's broke, then blow that sucka up!

You should also back up the registry and know how to restore it should something go wrong with any registry cleaner. Even better is to habe an image that can be restored. I use a registry cleaner that comes with System Suite, by Avanquest. Thta's not a feee program, though with rebates you can usually get it for free. It provides different levels of items to be removed: Safe, cautious, and stop, meaning "you better be careful".

Oh cripes, I suppose it must have been almost expected for me to break my (relative) silence on this particular post.

To my mind registry cleaners should be judged more on what "valid entries" they keep rather than how many invalid ones they remove. Babies can go out with the bath water.

RegSeeker definitely and repeatedly removed valid entries for a program I installed. EasyCleaner I've now almost got to fully believing in (the early versions removed too much).

Very useful tools but not to be believed implicitly. I monitor like a hawk what they suggest is invalid. If you are unsure then leave the entries there.

It is often claimed that you can always restore the entries but some of those I tested some time ago didn't even restore "last first" thereby losing valid keys because the sub-keys were missing due to earlier deletions.

Ironically there is some doubt about whether unused entries really matter anyhow. The safest registry cleaners are ones which simply list programs and their authors, that way you just pick off stuff that you know should no longer be present.

Get a copy of ERUNT. That will restore registries properly whether your cleaner has got it wrong or some other problem has arisen in the registry. Just keep it regularly updated "when things are going well" and before running cleaners.

some other bloke...

There are some great registry cleaners out there, and some bad. As there is in any software market to be honest. But I think as others have stated, the most important thing is how you use the cleaner.

Some can cause some serious destruction by trying to remove entries that are perfectly fine and indeed integral to Windows. Others are great for patching up most common registry problems, and they certainly save time as opposed to going in manually.

Most importantly of all - always, always always remember to keep backups. No self respecting registry cleaner should come without the option to make them automatically!

http://www.pcfixreview.com

Two others to consider are:

Glary Utilities
Innovative Solutions SysPack

I have had good luck with these as well as Ccleaner. Ccleaner has a backup and restore and is the fastest.

Windows regedit has an export build in if you don't trust the other backup features.

The only one I gave up on was Symantec 360. Previous Symantec products, like System Works, were OK, but 360 is dog slow and misses a lot.

Web Developer

The downside to regedit "import" is that it is not a "restore". What it does is "merge back" the exported registry. This means that although it puts back deleted entries, it can still leave any dud entries (changes) there as well.

That is why I favour ERUNT because it actually "replaces" the registry with an exact copy of the one saved before running cleaners. Unlike some cleaners it never gets it wrong!

ERUNT has many other uses too - particularly getting you out of trouble. You can save good registries regularly when all is going well, especially after changes. The trick is to always try to match the registry to the install situation as best you can when restoring. Keep a notes file in with the saved registries giving a brief summary of dates/situations when saving.

Very handy if you want to try some dubious registry tricks (as long as they are not vicious ones which might prevent booting).

some other bloke...