I have read articles that suggests using registry cleaners to restore a system’s performance. However, I have also read a article in a Windows XP forum that says cleaning the registry will essentially degrade system’s performance rather than restoring it. How true is this? Dedicated for IT experts.
Tagged with: cleaning the registry • Registry Cleaners • windows xp • windows xp forum
Filed under: Windows Repair Software
Cleaning the registry makes a definite improvement on the way your computer performs.Although.if you do not know what you are doing,do not try to do it manually!I use "Advanced Windows Care V2 personal. It finds errors and repairs them for you! There is a new version just out May 25th. It’s free for personal use.
http://www.download.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086-10407614.html?part=dl-AdvancedW&subj=dl&tag=button
Ofcourse you need registry cleaner, everybody using a computer under the sun needs it. it cleans the traces left by the removed programs, correct custom controls, and cleans invalid shortcuts, activex and lots other unnecessary junk from the registry to make it compact. It can’t be true at all that registry cleaners degrade the system performance.
Yes, your computer will run better if you occasionally clean your Windows system registry. But first, let’s define exactly what the registry is. The registry is a database in which Windows keeps track of relationships between hardware and software. It stores all the settings and options for the operating system, hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. The registry manages your system start up options, and keeps track of all software that’s installed.
Prior to the introduction of the Registry in Windows 95, each software package had it’s own INI files to store configuration settings. These files tended to be scattered all over the hard drive, which made them difficult to keep track of. The centralized registry does consolidate all that information, but it has its own problems. Since it is a single point of failure, damage to the Registry can render a Windows system unbootable, and in extreme cases can only be fixed by reinstalling the operating system. (That’s why backups are important!)
I have never heard anything about registry cleaners degrading the systems performance. You don’t have to use them everyday or anything like that just occasionally.
If done properly, cleaning your registry will improve the speed of your computer’s performance, however if you don’t know what you’re doing, You can cause so much damage to it that it will not boot up.
I use CCleaner to get rid of obsolete registry files for me, Then I can’t get rid of essential stuff.
Most of the performance claims made by companies that sell registry cleaners are pure fantasy. Removing the wrong key can leave you with a computer that will not run or a program that will not work. Using Windows Live OneCare "full scan"
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm is probably the safest and good enough for all users.
Registry Cleaners
Myth – "Registry Cleaners improve performance."
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html
Reality – "A few hundred kilobytes of unused keys and values causes no noticeable performance impact on system operation. Even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches."
Notes – "Registry Cleaners can fix problems associated with traces of applications left behind due to incomplete uninstalls. So it seems that Registry junk is a Windows fact of life and that Registry cleaners will continue to have a place in the anal-sysadmin’s tool chest."
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Free Registry Cleaners
Windows Live OneCare (free)
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm
Full scan: Backs up registry and then cleans registry, virus and spyware scan, disk cleanup, disk fragmentation (if needed), updates windows, and checks for open firewall ports.
Clean up scan: Backs up registry and then cleans registry, updates windows.
RegScrubXP (free)
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/RegScrubXP/1040020223/1
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048
RegSupreme Pro 1.4.0.48 (30 day free/ $16.96)
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/RegSupreme_Pro/1122042238/1
Finds an amazing amount of entries in aggressive search mode (a thousand plus entries) after using all other cleaners listed here. I always worry if my computer or programs will not run after I delete the thousand plus entries.
CCleaner: Do not install toolbar option
"Scan for Issues" function is the registry cleaner.
Clean function deletes unused files, history, and tracking cookies.
In options:
Set to run (does not registry) when computer starts.
Place cookies you want to save in the save list.
http://www.ccleaner.com/
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How to back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756
Safekeeping the Windows XP Registry
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/honeycutt_03march17.mspx
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545