Registry Cleaners

[TheSavageBeast]

I've been informed time and time again that it is useful to keep the registry cleaned out from old and useless data. What I've noticed though is no matter what program I use it effects my operating system and causes lock ups and freezing. For a long time I just thought it was the computer and/or the system and would zero out the hard drives and reinstall the operating system. After awhile though you get tired of re-doing your system everytime you turn around. So I started to give the problem some serious consideration and that's when I realized that the process of cleaning and defragmenting the registry was what was causing the problem.
So I thought I'd make this a topic and see if there are others that have ran into the same problems on their computers. I've decided just to leave the registry alone here on out and see how things go without the maintenance on the registry, include your thoughts please.

[The Dude]

The best reg cleaner i have found (And i use daily) is REGSEEKER.

1st time i ran a scan it removed over 800 keys!!!! -- I was very happy and gave it a home straight away

[matofthemint]

I use Ccleaner which does a lot more than the registry. Have had no problems. And it has a backup feature in case something does go wrong.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Also, Advanced Windows Care, which also backs up.
http://www.iobit.com/

[AnnMarie]

Mark Russinovich (Author of the "Bible", Windows Internals, co-founder of Winternals and Sysinternals, and since both companies were bought by Microsoft and is now a senior Microsoft employee) was asked:

Quote: "Hi Mark, do you really think that Registry junk left by uninstalled programs could severely slow down the computer? I would like to 'hear' your opinion. "

Quote: "No, even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches (ed. of the registry itself).

"On Win2K Terminal Server systems, however, there is a limit on the total amount of Registry data that can be loaded and so large profile hives can limit the number of users that can be logged on simultaneously.

"I haven't and never will implement a Registry cleaner since it's of little practical use on anything other than Win2K terminal servers and developing one that's both safe and effective requires a huge amount of application-specific knowledge."

[The Dude]

Thats his opinion and i think he is wrong Annmarie!

Of course it helps to clean up your registry

[Miz]

Since Russovich is a recognized expert in the field...and some consider him and his computer knowledge the "industry standard"...I figure he knows what he's talking about.

I've never used a registry cleaner...Win95, 98, 98SE, XP Home, XP Pro and now Vista...and I've never encountered a peformance problem that could be in any way traced to "registry bloat." (I did do an annual reformat/reinstall of 95 and 98, though...backintheday when I thought that was fun!)

I have, on the other hand, made some money fixing systems on which various registry cleaners have been used.

[The Dude]

Well it certainly doesnt hurt to keep your reg clean