Windows 10: Which Registry Cleaner to Use?

I have Windows 10 on a laptop that is now one year old. I use CCleaner and several malware removal programs. Each has the option to remove registry entries. I have taken the approach not to remove registry entries that they identify. I want to be sure it won't harm the operating system or programs. What would be a good, hopefully free, registry cleaner that will not harm my computer?

:)

 

Registry Cleaner

best to do in this case if you can is reinstall those programs and then unistall them see if that helps... if you do not have them do a system restroe to when you did then try to unistall them ..

also do some reasearch on the errors or just go linux either both os do have their issues ...

reasearch in this case will be your most valuable tool if you dont want to do a fresh install ..

ccleaner i do trust but not the latest version as their server was hacked and the latest version contains malware ...

hope this gives you some insight ...

if you need help i can try to assist you best i can

email me on *** Email address is removed for privacy ***

thanks

 

Registry Cleaner

You're welcome.

 

Well......if you are dead set on using one use the one within CCleaner........probably one that will do the least harm.

Best if you do Image your system prior.....just in case.

 

There is no such thing as a completely safe registry cleaner. In my view, and I am not alone, a registry cleaner is a solution looking for a problem. A registry cleaner is more likely to cause problems than solve them. There are many stories that go like this:

"I cleaned the registry and now xxx doesn't work."

While the dangers of registry cleaning are well known the benefits remain as elusive as ever.

CCleaner is less likely to cause harm than most but I wouldn't use it.

 

Despite what the 'snake oil' sellers of registry 'cleaners' would have you believe, 'cleaning' the registry does nothing to improve the performance. CCleaner is one of the 'safer' ones, but I only ever use it to clean out junk files. I leave the registry well alone.

 

I have CCleaner but only delete registry entries for 'issues' it finds for programs I know I've uninstalled.

 

There is a place for registry cleaners when used by an expert to solve a specific problem. Such an individual will have a solid understanding of what the registry is, how it is used, and the limitations of a registry cleaner. But that is not how they are typically used. Most users of registry cleaners have limited knowledge and have only vague ideas of what the registry is. That is a dangerous combination.

In principle there is nothing wrong with "cleaning" the registry, if it could be done safely. The problem is it can't. Because of the nature of the registry there is usually no way to determine with complete accuracy if a specific registry entry is unneeded or in error. Even an expert would often have difficulty. A registry cleaner is following an automated procedure with no real intelligence. It will be required to make frequent guesses. Most often they will be correct, but not always. When it makes a mistake you have a potentially serious problem. If you are lucky the problem is immediately apparent and can be corrected by restoring the registry. But in other cases the issue may not be apparent until long after the registry cleaning and there is no clear connection between them. That can mean hours of difficult troubleshooting.

 

I clean mine manually.

 

I use Deep Cleaning in Wise Registry Cleaner, it never cleaned anything it should not have.
Besides, it creates a full registry backup before the first run and a backup before each cleaning.

 

Thanks to all who replied. I read the suggested threads as well. I had read the advice not to use registry cleaners in the past on this forum and in the year since I bought this laptop with Windows 10 I have never cleaned the registry. Thanks for reconfirming the advice and the reasons for taking it. The reason for my question at this time is that I installed Spybot and it identified about 20 registry entries with the description of tracking. I did not delete them. Thanks again.

 

Don't confuse a registry cleaner with a malware removal tool such as Spybot. Their mode of operation and functions are quite different. I have no problem with good malware removal tools. Whether SpyBot is a good tool is another matter. It isn't generally well regarded on this forum and I haven't used it in years. Most experienced members would recommend Malwarebytes.

A malware removal tool examines the file system, the registry, and system memory for the signs of malware and offers to remove then is found. Registry entries are considered malware because they have been explicitly recognized as such after consulting a database. This is much safer than a registry cleaner but you should still exercise reasonable care.

The purpose of a registry cleaner is to remove obsolete registry entries that supposedly slow down the computer and cause other errors. But as mentioned this operation is not as reliable as would be desired. And the benefits are primarily found in registry cleaner ads and have not been confirmed by any reliable tests. Many registry cleaners will find "errors" immediately following a clean install of the OS and continue to report the same errors after repeated scanning and cleaning cycles. And they do not remove malware. The database that would be required to enable a registry cleaner to be both safe and effective does not exist. It would be huge, take an enormous effort to create, and be forever incomplete and out of date.

 

Thanks LMiller7. That adds some more to my understanding. I used Malwarebytes for a few years but it was missing some things that other programs found, whether that was a good or bad thing. I can't say what was correct in each case but one time malware shut down my search engine in Firefox and it took Spyhunter to find and remove it. Superantispyware did not detect it. Now I find that Spybot finds about 20 registry entries that track and Superantispyware finds none. A false positive is not a good thing.

 

Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation.
PageDefrag uses advanced techniques to provide you what commercial defragmenters cannot: the ability for you to see how fragmented your paging files and Registry hives are, and to defragment them. Quicksys RegDefrag can also defragment Registry hives.

 

Hi,

Same here and for many, many years. But then I think we both fall into a category of well trained users who know what they're doing.
In al honesty I wouldn't advise a less seasoned person to do the same as they'll likely won't have a clue as to what they're doing.

That said I think Wise is pretty good at it. Never ran into any problems really. CCleaner is a bit of a joke really. I consider it pretty useless for that particular task.

To those convinced it does not make a difference. Sorry but it does. I hardly ever run into a problem updating Windows or whatever unless the problem is at MS's side.
Snake oil that's free isn't really snake oil is it ? To my mind those considering it snake oil do not understand how the registry works.
MS just wants you not to touch it because it causes them a ton of problems. Besides that, ever read the online support by MS ? What a joke that is....

No, if you've got sufficient PC knowledge, registry cleaning, disk cleaning etc. should be one of the tasks you should run regularly besides backing up of course.

So many urban myths floating around....





Cheers, *Wink