Welcome, Digg visitors. Wow, twice in three days an old post of mine gets picked up and Dugg like crazy. Just to be clear: If you have a specific problem with removing a specific program, a registry cleaning utility might be able to identify keys that will help you solve that specific problem. But that’s a rare scenario. Most people I know use registry cleaners as part of their magic cleanup routine, and I see very little upside and a lot of potential downside in this sort of routine use. Specifically, as I write below, I have never seen any evidence that routine “cleaning” of the registry has any positive effect. I stand behind that statement.
Via Matt Goyer, John Hoole offers this cautionary tale:
just a note to say if you have Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (probably all versions actually) steer clear of registry clean programs such as Reg Mechanic they go through your registry and delete unnecessary keys….. sounds good but it didn’t count on Media Center I ran it a few days back and when I came to use Media Center it loaded then produced a crash report and died, took me ages to figure it out until I came to run Reg Mechanic again and realized This program deletes DLL files too so….. I restored the first backup and rebooted and media center worked fine so if you have that error on startup that’s your problem right there. Just restore the backup from Reg Mechanic. So you have been warned.
I’d go a step further: Don’t run registry cleaner programs, period. I won’t go so far as to call them snake oil, but what possible performance benefits can you get from “cleaning up” unneeded registry entries and eliminating a few stray DLL files? Even in the best-case scenario the impact should be trivial at best. Maybe a second or two here and there, maybe a few kilobytes of freed-up RAM, and I’m being generous. How can you balance those against the risk that the utility will “clean” (in other words, delete) something you really need, causing a program or feature to fail?
If anyone has done any serious performance testing on this class of software, I’d be interested in seeing it. In the absence of really rigorous testing and fail-safe design, I say: Stay far away from this sort of utility.
If you have a counter-argument to make, leave a comment. But simply saying, “I use Reg-o-matic Deluxe and my computer is way faster than ever!” isn’t good enough. Show me the data!
Update: I did a Google search for “registry cleaner” performance tests, and got more than 25,000 hits. In the first 15 pages, however, there wasn’t a single example of an actual performance test. Virtually all the results were from companies that make and sell this sort of utility, or from download sites that have affiliate agreements with these developers. I found one recent how-to article from Ed Tittel on TechWeb. Ed asserts that “Most Windows experts recommend a Registry clean-up on all systems at least once every six months.” He didn’t link to any of those experts, however.
Later in the same article, Ed advises: “I urge you to check comparative reviews, ratings, and rankings of Registry Clean-up Tools before you invest hard-earned dollars on these products.” Sadly, there are no links here either. I suspect that’s because detailed comparative reviews of this class of software don’t exist. Ironically, the article inadvertently documents the case against this sort of utility. Early on, it states: “The typical Windows system has literally hundreds of thousands of Registry entries.” The screen shot from the free utility he spotlights shows a grand total of 19 “errors,” most of which are simply pointers to CLSIDs that don’t exist. Is it really worth spending hours on this task? I don’t think so.
The best bit of reading I found in my search was this rant from a poster named Jabarnut on a thread at DSL Reports’ Software Forum:
The Registry is an enormous database and all this “Cleaning” really doesn’t amount to much…I’ve said this before, but I liken it to “sweeping out one parking space in a parking lot the size of Montana” … a registry “tweak” here and there is desirable or even necessary sometimes, but random “cleaning”, especially for the novice, is inviting disaster.
I also would like someone to show me any hard evidence that registry cleaning actually improves performance. (Unless there is a specific problem that has to be addressed by making changes to the registry).
Sorry to go on like this, but I feel there is way to much Registry “Cleaning” going on these days just for the sake of “cleaning”.
Amen.
Update 11-Sep: Several commenters have made a good case for a handful of utilities that include registry repair and cleaning options. They make the point that these are useful when used intelligently, not indiscriminately. My colleague George Ou from ZDNet passed along these comments:
I do like the free CCleaner. I’ve cleaned out 1 GB or more of junk on friends computers and it does make the system a little more responsive. You don’t get as many unexplained pauses. This is a problem with the lack of multithreading in Windows Explorer most of the time when it times out on dead resources like a detached network drive. I thought I remember reading something on the Vista features that fixes this by supporting multiple threads.
Other than that, I’ve made sure that I don’t have any dead links the system is trying to access on the desktop that are sure to cause a 30 second lockup even if I drag an icon across the dead link icon. Ccleaner also does a nice job removing a lot of that junk. The combination of MSCONFIG and Ccleaner works wonders.
OK, I’ll give it a try.
I have just read the post re TuneUp Utilities and One Click Maintenance: I have been using it for three years and it has never given me any trouble (unlike, I agree, Registry Mechanic!). After reading the above, however, I certainly wouldn’t run OneClick every day, but rather every few weeks. Other features of TuneUp have proved invaluable, such as controlling start-up programs, removing short-cut arrows, restoring cascading menus, etc. No doubt could do these things from inside Windows, but for me TuneUp works simply and effectively.
I don’t know if I entirely agree. I have been using StompSoft’s Registry Repair for a while now and after the first use I did notice a considerable change in the amount of time that it took for my computer to boot up. Now this may be due to invalid entries that were trying to start programs that were no longer installed, but I tend to think that over time you do collect a lot of clutter that can impact the performance of your computer. So on one hand if you have only been using your computer for a few years cleaning the registry may not make much of a difference, however if you have been using it for several years or more I think that there is a benefit to cleaning it via the use of a registry cleaner because of the accumulation of entries that are present.
I got JV-16 power tools, and I now have way more problems then I could ever invent.
My 2nd DvD player, (when I put in a dvd to read) completely fails the system. I don’t even get the ‘blue screen of death’. It goes into a warm boot, just like as if you just reached down and hit the reset switch.
I have soooo many issues now, I’m gonna have to totally wipe the entire drive. Fdisk the whole freaking thing (4 partitions) and all of them now have bad tables, and chkdsk won’t fix it anymore.
I had found soo many sites promoting registry programs, and of course nobody said all the issues you will get.
Do yourself a favor – Don’t use a registry cleaner. You’re just asking for a rebuild. start with a clean drive, setup os, run chkdsk, run updates, run chkdsk…
and leave it at that.
You guys should have a look at this article it helped me out lots!
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171203805
Ed,
I have a problem with Antivirus. I suddenly got a message that my protection was poor. I uninstalled the program at fault and installed AOL’s protection package.the problem is I can’t COMPLETELY install antivirus since it says I have multiple antivirus programs on my computer. I have tried uninstalling repeatedely and have no luck at all. How can I completely uninstall all traces of the program I originally wanted to get rid of?
Bill S.
I have found that running a reg cleaner increases the responsiveness of navigating windows (IE: Bringing up context menus, etc) but as far as overall processor performance and mem usage, I would have to agree that while there will be gains, the gains will be minor.
I wrote an earlier comment about JV-16 power tools. I’ve got a ton of issues now. I talked to an ‘old duffer’ who has been in the IT world for just as long as it’s been around. He told me you can still use the old MS program – regclean.exe that came with win 98 (??)
that actually fixed alot of the problems that JV-16 power tools created. I have a paid for, full program of JV-16 power tools. I’ll never use it again.
Ok. There is no data to support whether Registry Cleaners actually create a performance gain, or degrade it. I saw how you posted someones comment about CCleaner and that it actually DOES seem to do something for the system, run it once a month on the average users computer and you can easily gain over 500MB (Yes, MegaBytes) of space. THAT is data that can be backed, though there is still no way to tell whether running “Issues” portion of the program will actually do any good in relation to performance.
I suppose if you were hit with Zango or Tango or WildTangent and any other form of Malware — after getting them removed — and then running something like CCleaner’s “Issues” option might just get rid of the crap that shouldnt have been there in the first place.
Why would you want a Registry Entry for Malware????
That’s my .002 dollars.
Well after reading all these comments I realize I really am a complete novice although I have had this computer for 4 years. I went without any virus protection for months.I just now signed on with comcast and have a three month trial with Mcafee. But prior to signing on I have been getting this pop up that says my computer could be damaged and I need to sign on with registry cleaner gold or something like that. I cannot get rid of it so I keep clicking it off. My computer seems to be alright. How can I get rid of this?
Has anyone bothered to tally up the total for and against for Registry Cleaners? It seems there are many issues that make sense on both sides. However, being a firm believer in Murphy’s Law, you have to believe one of his versions is sure to come up! Bottom line, I’ll stay away from Reg Cleaners and just do a defrag once a week and if things get bad, I’ll just format drive and re-install my original OS image and it’ll be back to square one.
Thanks all.
Registry cleaners are VERY benificial. If you think you are pro user, you should still read how each cleaner works and what it does and doesn’t do before you dive into clicking “Start”
The number of entries that are left behind from installations, removals, driver, moved files or folders, cache for Java and Explorer are immense. After a long time of use, the entries make Windows search more strings to access the programs and thrash the hard drive unnessessarily for objects that are not there.
Ever get a Trojan, virus, Malware/Spyware? Few virus programs remove all the entries and files that were associated with those malware. Leaving them still causes conflicts with Windows. Well these come in handy to identify the strings, entries, hidden installation that Windows does not identify as an installation package and even give you the programs executable, dll, .bak files and locations that remain and still link themselves to Windows files that make your system run slow or not as fast as it did and keep the hard drive from searching sectors for files that have been removed.
If you have no self education on these programs, then no wonder it messed up yor systems.
I have used RegCleaner and Jv 16 Powertools for years on every computer I built and installed it to help my friends overcome slow performance, complete malware removal and program removal cleanup and never ever had a problem nor a need to load a previous restore or registry backup. In fact they have helped in the TOTAL removal of Spyware and Trojans 100 fold.
The comment from Ed “I’d go a step further: Don’t run registry cleaner programs, period” should have been preceeded with ” In my opinion” since there is obviously no valid edjucation behind the blog.
I bought my first Computer in Apr.1998, it had Windows 95 and Crashes were the norm. During the first two weeks it would only boot up by hitting the F1 key so a fifty dollar trip to the computer shop that only charged but didn’t fix the problem Prompted me to get some knowledge fast. I reformatted and reinstalled by the end of April and started buying parts. I built my first one that fall and and will never again buy a computer.All these Win 95 problems led me to Try microsoft’s regclean, every time the computer would Bog down and slow up I would use it. It very definately freed it back up. This has worked on every Windows up through Win 2000 Pro and allthough I never owned XP it works on it also. Now I use the perfect solution to The Windows Registry. Linux!
Okay, I’ve read all the comments and it seems that cleaning the registry might not be such a good idea. That aside, I have found no mention of the highly touted RegCure. The free download found 2162 problems on my machine (mostly in the Empty Reg Keys and File/Path Refs). Help! I am tempted to do it.
GRRR! I learnt the hardway too. I don’t both using registry cleaners since it wiped important registries and I had to do a clean rebuild of my PC what a waste of time.
I only know that my 3 year old Dell Dimension now takes about 8 minutes to boot and everything else has slowed commensurately. I haven’t tried a reg. cleaner, but was about to try when I came across this web site.
Now what do I do?
LOL
Hi,
Read through a lot of the comments, and yes it’s true, stay away from reg cleaners.
I went through a phase of about two months with a collection of reg cleaners. Reg Cure, Winoptimizer, Registry Mechanic, and Crap Cleaner.
XP gradually got slower loading until it was taking about 15 minutes to load.
I was happily running the software and finding regularly up to 200 “problems”, I was thinking wow what a boost for my PC getting rid of all this rubbish, but how wrong I was.
I think a software is needed that is ultimately intelligent in it’s deletion of files.
However in real terms it’s down to the user to clue up about what can be deleted and what can’t.
If you are unsure dont dabble with any of them.
I have totally reinstalled XP from scratch and i’ve still got start up problems!
Tom Dombrosky —
Your best bet is probably a virus and spyware scan. I’d bet decent money your issues lies there.
If those don’t clear up your issues, your next best bet is probably to reinstall windows (there are other options, but those are beyond what I can get into here).
Beware the snake oil, there’s a lot of it out there. If they are trying to sell you someting and promising to solve all your troubles, 90% chance they’re full of kaka.
I was having probs getting a certain driver to start, having tried to cure it myself unsuccesfully, i got the pc. man in costing a fair amount of money. It worked, but later prob occured again.After reading your comments, i began to wonder and realised the probs occured after i had installed the enemy.I recovered all what i had cleaned from the registry back-up and hey presto.If only i had read your comments before wasting money.So i would just like to say a big thankyou to you, your comments have helped no end…..Thankyou again, take care….Steve
I too used Registry Mechanic to fix my files because Halo PC wouldn’t work in the first place. This was recommended so I tried it. What happened was the opposite of what I wanted. Things like GameGuard.des processes were not working properly and other such problems surfaced. I definitely wouldn’t try something like this again.
Today I did a complete restoration of my laptop and everything is back to normal.
Ok. I’ve read all the comments and it seems that use a registry cleaner might not be such a good idea.
But if the registry is a data base that keep al that we install and all what We do. need to be a way to clean the registry whit out reinstall windows