Windows 10: Are Registry Cleaners Still Needed on Windows 10?

Windows uninstaller is only a link to the 3rd party software's uninstaller. "If the 3rd party developers weren't so sloppy with their uninstallers", would be more correct to say.

 

Most of us re-install Windows so often, we don't need a reg cleaner! (Well..., I do, anyway!) *Wink

 

Or just install only software you really need, and not "collect" it.

 

What's the fun in that??? *Wink

 

Well you could get a bunch of software and run it in a VM, then use a prior checkpoint to get rid of it after testing. One should have enough information then to decide if you want it on your system or not then.*Biggrin

 

I just do a complete reformat once a year or so. Solves any potential issues over time software side. I was big on these cleaner, tune up, optimizer software a few years back and found they were either worthless or caused side effects to your computer. Rather save my money and do a yearly sweep.

 

Not a bad idea but if one has lots of software they use that could be an issue. But I do like the concept. *Smile

Jeff
PS, welcome to the forums.. *Wink

 

I'm an awful packrat when it comes to SW and ammo. That would never work for me.

 

I'm still using the one in Norton Utilities 16 and before that Norton SystemWorks for the last 18 years, it cleans daily automatically and has never caused problems. jv16 used to be very popular but every once in awhile, it will cause issues as it requires picking what you want removed after the scan.

 

Most things just barely work in VM, using VM to demo software is not what I would call a demo. IMHO

Again this really isn't a debate about Windows 10, though I think the article tried to make it so. Sounds more like a sales pitch to get 10 in the spotlight, than a real article. CCleaner is certainly not perfect, but for some it seems to help. Wasn't it Microsoft who, developed WindowsOne that was a cleaning tool somewhat like CCleaner, that went through and removed certain things, and clean up Windows? Why did they stop that? Could it have been that CCleaner did a better job?

Personally the more I use Windows 10, the less I like it. So for me, I will just keep using those old programs like CCleaner to keep past versions running.

 

And just how exactly has that been proved - what facts? Even if programs leave behind entiries in the registry, it doesn't matter - it will not affect performance.

 

You might have no issues since it does nothing that's important. Oh and make sure you back up the registry before you run any cleaner. The vast majority of evidence suggests that cleaners do nothing to improve a PC's performance and might cause more harm than good.

 

Simple.. users of Ccleaner and other tools have convinced themselves that it improves performance, that's why. I personally would like to see some data that shows these improvements and not just gut feeling reports.

 

That is only YOUR Opinion....which I do NOT agree with. Everytime this subject comes up, everyone has their own thoughts and opinions. This debate has been going on for years....with no end in sight it seems. I could debate this issue, but I am just tired of this age old debate. You are entitled to your opinion Jeff.....and I to mine.

 

Driver updates are a much bigger risk to an OS/system, than Registry cleaners.
I've never had a Registry cleaner destroy my system (totally unbootable) but I have had driver updates do it.

I have CCleaner and Glary Utilities installed on my "real" PC and in my Windows VMs (VMware).

I've been using both of them for years and I've only ever experienced one noteworthy issue.
I used CCleaner or Glary Utilities (not sure which now) in a W7 VM that had MS Project 2010 installed in it.
MS Project 2010 seems to create a large number of empty keys and if they aren't present you can't load existing projects.

I only needed to use Project for a couple of my TAFE subjects, so it was only a minor annoyance.

As I've stated previously (IMO) the Registry's main purpose is DRM (i.e. to prevent you from successfully copying your installation and software).

Plain text config files are superior to the Registry system.
Most software used to (effectively) use them, "before the dark times ... before the Registry".

MS reintroduced "desktop.ini" files, because storing customisation data in the Registry turned out to be unmanageable.

Agreed.

Unnecessary Registry keys may increase the "Attack Surface" on a PC (like unnecessary services).

Removing 4 GB of crap from someone's Internet cache definitely improves performance.

If no garbage accumulates in a Windows install, why do some people reinstall Windows every few months and then claim that their PC runs much better?