Hello people! Do you use Registry Cleaners? What are your pros&cons? I've tried some, just want to know your opinion... Tester

You may need to print this. I use all these cleaners for W2K/XP, each one specialises in a different area. Do not be supprised if hundreds of files are found. Files are either removed to the programs backup or the Recycle Bin ( make sure the Recycle Bin is empty, before using the cleaners, that way you know the files you have removed ) All ( except DustBuster ), allow you to restore them back into the system, either by right clicking on the reg file in the programs folder ( example Regclean & OleClean > Windows Explorer > Unzipped, click on either RegClean or OleClean ) & clicking on Merge. jv16 PowerTools, RegCleaner & RegSeeker both store in Backup on their main page. Opening Backup allows you to either Restore or Delete. EasyCleaner removes to the Recycle Bin & by opening the Recycle Bin, right clicking on the files & clicking Restore. CCleaner, the advantage of this cleaner is, when Issues is clicked & the boxes ticked, it will tell you before you fix ( doing one file at a time ) why the file is there. Configure the Windows, Applications & Issues panels to suit. RegScrub Click on Restore, click the backup to be restored, click on Restore Selected backups. DustBuster Very quick, if you want to know what it cleaned, takes about 1 min to clean ( depends on the speed of your comp ) you have about 4 seconds to read the message displayed, when it is finished. Find Junk Files I use mainly for > Find Dead Links. Backups Once you are sure they are not needed again ( about one week ) they can be deleted. ============================= jv16 PowerTools 1.3.0.195, which doesn't expire. http://spazioinwind.libero.it/puntocr/dwl/jv16pt_setup.exe http://down.hengshui.com/download.asp?downid=1&id=726 http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page7.html http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/index.html#jv16 http://www.pricelessware.org/thelist/sys.htm Click on Registry tool > Tools > Registry Cleaner > Continue > Start. When finished, Click on Select > Special select > Items that should be safe to remove > Remove. Or, the renamed later version ( dos'nt hurt to use both ) RegCleaner http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/ http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/dload/RegCleaner.zip RegCleaner 4.3.0.780 ( last freeware version ) OS: Win9x/NT/ME/2000/XP ================================== RegClean http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?http://vbnet.mvps.org/dev/updates/tools.htm Microsoft's RegClean ( freeware ) very conservative. By default it puts the 3 files into Windows Temp. I prefer them in Unzipped. Right click in an empty space in Unzipped, select Folder & name it RegClean. Now when you click unzip ( during install ) select the new folder. To use, you can either open up the folder & doubleclick on RegClean or right click & make a shortcut to your desktop & then put it anywhere you like. =========================== OleClean ( Freeware. I tick all 8 boxes in Options ) http://www.majorgeeks.com/OleClean_d452.html http://www.geocities.com/maurizioferreira/oleclean.html http://www.webgrid.co.uk/system_13.html http://www.webgrid.co.uk/index.html http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=oleclean =============================== CCleaner http://www.ccleaner.com/ CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimisation tool. That removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing it to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less that a second to run) and Free. :) Windows 95/98/NT4/ME/2000/XP/2003 Myth - "Deleting the contents of the Prefetch directory in Windows XP will speed up the boot process" http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html Warning - Recently CCleaner has added a performance slowing cleaning option, cleaning "Old Prefetch Data". ================================= RegSeeker http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm RegSeeker is a perfect companion for your Windows regsitry ! RegSeeker includes a powerful registry cleaner and can display various informations like your startup entries, several histories (even index.dat files), installed applications and much more ! With RegSeeker you can search for any item inside your registry, export/delete the results, open them in the registry. RegSeeker also includes a tweaks panel to optimize your OS ! RegSeeker is FREE for personal use only ! Click on Clean the Registry & tick ( new version 1.45 has this already ticked > Scan Drives for old exe entries in the registry. Click OK. My personal use, is to, delete only the Green entries. Click on Select All and choose > Select all Green items. Right click to delete. ========================================= EasyCleaner http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm Click on Unnecessary. I tick > Normal types, Extra types & Temp directories. Don't use Duplicate files unless you really know what your doing. If you try & remove a file that is being used, it will after about a 15 second delay, inform you so & will not delete. ================================== RegScrubXP http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048 http://www.sofotex.com/RegScrubXP-download_L7528.html Registry Cleaner for Windows XP/2000 Systems (under development is a version that will run in Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP) I have made it very easy for you to backup the registry prior to using RegScrubXP. This backup process uses Microsoft's reg.exe program. Follow these directions: Go into the folder where RegScrubXP was installed. Double-click on these two programs: HKLM.cmd and HKCU.cmd You should see two files created: HKLM.reg and HKCU.reg Copy these two files to a safe place. If you ever need to fully restore your registry back to normal, double-click on HKLM.reg and HKCU.reg to fully restore your registry as it was before you used RegScrubXP. ================================== DustBuster http://www.casperize.com/dustbuster/dust_en.htm DustBuster is a garbage file removing utility for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It searches for junk files and temp files that are of no use and are just taking space on your hard drive. Based on a "common sense" scanning technology, DustBuster now cleans over 1500 different types of useless temp files and directories in a single click, detecting and deleting all these unneeded files automatically. This will increase hard disk space on Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003. ================================== Find Junk Files http://www.iclaxton.com/findjunkfiles.html Find Junk Files is a user-friendly utility designed to free up disk space by deleting useless junk files. Each time you use your PC, unwanted files are created that increasingly use more space on your hard drive. Find Junk Files can find more than 165 types of junk files with ease. Unlike many other programs Find Junk Files will let you choose which drive or drives to clean, which file types to search for, and what folders to include or exclude. ================================== Binman http://steveseymour.0catch.com/ http://anothermirror.tripod.com/free.htm Seeks out the rubbish left behind by other programs. Use regularly it will save space. It can auto run at times set by you. Cleans automatically at boot up. Or, ( dos'nt hurt to use both ) XP Auto Delete Temporary Folder http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=2021 First go into gpedit.msc Start > Run , type in > gpedit.msc & press Enter. Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit" Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done!

As an alternative viewpoint I use Linux and have no need of ANY of these items or have any of these problems associated with Windows. That alone was worth the switch for me. Instead of constantly doing maintenance I get my work done. You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

...and Linux has what to do with Registry cleaners? Polmolive is a good dish cleaner; but not a registry cleaner. I think JohnW covered it and then some. Bryan

Registry First Eid from RoseCity Software, very safe and easy to use.

...and Linux has what to do with Registry cleaners? Polmolive is a good dish cleaner; but not a registry cleaner. I think JohnW covered it and then some.>> Bryco, I think you missed the point that the world is not destined to have registry snafus. It's fix after fix for a product flawed by design. There is an alternative to this that others may not be aware of. Maybe you. You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

That is: "Registry First Aid" An interesting free scrubber; Protected Storage Passview: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/pspv.html Best