Free Windows registry cleaner
 

Is there freeware out there to clean both Windows Vista and XP registry? I've found a couple but all they allow is a free scan and you then have to pay to repair/clean.

If there isn't a free one, can someone suggest a good shareware product?

Thanks.

Hi there Crosswind, I use "Wise Registry Cleaner" its freeware and has a "1 click" function. It sorted out my problems.
Hope it helps

JSP

CCcleaner, cleans up unwanted crap files and also has a built in registry cleaner all for free.: CCleaner Download | C Cleaner Review, Testimonials | Free CCleaner

Not that I use it often, but I have Tweaknow Registry Cleaner which seems to do a good job.

CCleaner. Does the job.

Yep. another vote for CCleaner.

Thank you people - appreciate the input! :ok:

The registry doesn't need to be cleaned. It takes up hardly any space on the system and one normally never looks at it, anyway.

I second that opinion.

If you :
- Don't know what the registry is or does.
- Don't know where the registry stores its data.
- Don't know how much space the registry takes up.
- Despite a multitude of other quicker, easier and faster means to find one, still find the need to ask on PPRuNe where to find a "free Windows registry cleaner"

You'll probably end up doing more harm than good tinkering with the registry.

Leave it alone.

There are many hundreds of other tweaks, hacks and clean-ups you can/should do to Windows before you even start contemplating messing with the registry.

But...but...isn't this where us dopey bu@@ers can find things out from the intellectual elite? :}

another big vote for ccleaner.. keeping the accumulated junk down is a plus for housekeeping.

Ccleaner
 

Yep, I agree Ccleaner does the job, however as pointed out there is no need to do it, won't speed up anything (but if it feeds the tidy bug within you fair enough).

are you saying you don't think it necessary to get rid of temp files, cookies etc? I did my monthly clean up yesterday and got rid of 1.5 gigs of crap.

Temp files, cookies, and the like are not stored in the registry, so "cleaning" the registry will not remove them. Conversely, cleaning up temp files and cookies typically requires no changes to the registry. The only time the two are correlated are when files or other objects that are taking up too much space are pointed to by registry entries for active applications, and that's actually pretty rare—and can be fixed by simply deinstalling the applications in question.

I hesitate to put my toe in this water....... But it is not unknown for entries to be left in the registry after a programme is uninstalled that interfere with remaining programmes. I had this problem after removing Google Chrome from my win7 computer. The registry needed a little titivating to enable my browser to work properly.

AnthonyGA nowhere in my reply did I even infer that that stuff was in the registry, the question was asked of Mr Optimistic because of his rather ambiguous post not making it clear what he was talking about. Especially following stuckgear's post

How can you know whether or not the OP's registry needs cleaning?

Mine did this afternoon. MySQL 5.0 installer doesn't seem to understand how to upgrade a previous version, and the 4.1 uninstaller left some registry entries behind. Regclean didn't get all of them, disappointingly, so I had to delete the rest by hand before 5.0 would run properly.

(It would be soooo much more straightforward if people who didn't understand how to write Windows installers and uninstallers would simply refrain from providing half-arsed versions, so that you would know from the outset that you were in for a tedious manual process.)

ambiguous, moi ?
 

Sorry about that. Over the years I have used a few utility suites (system suite 10 for one). Sometimes they broke a few links but mostly were OK. Have got out of the habit now as I have read a number of articles debunking the advantages. Latest issue of UK computer magazine (Computer Buyer or Shopper, whichever still exists) has an article on this and other 'tuning' ploys, general view is don't bother. I have Ccleaner on my machine but don't use it now. It does what it says and seems safe, but as I say the benefit is more satisfaction at tidying up than benefit to machine efficiency.

On another point, yes I clean out all the temporary files under documents and settings and the Windows folder, but manually. I also check out all the registry entries in the run and runonce keys.

Haven't lost all unnecessary habits though, still can't resist messing about with TCPoptimiser.

The registry never needs cleaning. It's very small and doesn't take up much space on the system. And changes to registry entries should be limited to the programs that created those entries in the first place, otherwise bad things can happen. So using a "registry cleaner" is far more dangerous than just leaving the registry alone.

These days, I find that standalone software often works better if it doesn't use the registry at all. Putting the software in its own folder with its own configuration or .INI file can work very well, despite the alleged obsolescence of the technique.

Will Recovery fully restore the registry from a specific poor install?

Mixture said..
I have a seven year old HP laptop which isn't too fast these days. Apart from upping the RAM to 2GB from 1GB what are some of the best tweaks to enhance performance? I've already removed the clutter and uwanted programs. What else?

Flying Serpent
 

Ubuntu ? Try it with a live CD first perhaps. If you are not connecting to the internet then maybe ditch the AV ?

Treat yourself to a solid-state HDD and a clean re-install of Windows.

I assume you are using XP - Vista or Win7 would certainly cause most 2003 laptops to run slowly!

Remove all the crap from Adobe, Sun (java), Apple (quicktime) etc. from startup.

Ensure that you have installed the latest firmware and drivers, particularly for chipset and graphics chip.

There may be some power management features you can tune for performance rather than battery life - and check they are set correctly for mains power.

You might even be able to upgrade the CPU, if you are brave.

SD

CCleaner
 

Just by way of elucidation on CCleaner: It is most often used to get rid of clutter (temporary files, cookies, histories, Recent Document list, empties the rubbish bin etc). I run it about once a week and it usually gets rid of between 100Mb and 200Mb of crap that I don't need.
It also has a (separate) tool that checks Registry Integrity - before you run this, it offers to back up the registry. I don't run this as often but it usually picks up an appreciable number of inconsistencies (it calls them "Issues") and will then fix them for you.
Thirdly, it shows you what gets cranked up during Startup and allows you to Disable them (and you can "Re-Enable" them if you have any problems).

A very useful piece of software - and it's Free :ok: (although they don't mind if you bung them a couple of bucks as a donation!).

That is simply nonsense. It is completely and utterly wrong.

In an ideal world, maybe. But in real life when you upgrade things or uninstall things the upgrade or uninstall software might be crap in which case it can leave stuff behind in the registry which can stop other things working.

Going through and finding the dangling entries and deleting them by hand is one approach, but using a tool which claims to be able to do this automatically is another. Manually it is fairly straightforward to find keys or values that point directlyto files you've uninstalled, but few people want to chase through the indirect chains of GUID references by hand, so the tools have their place.

Cleaning the registry for the first time has speeded up my 3 year old laptop - fact! :ok:

Disk cleaning, defragging etc all helped but I noticed a big jump in speed after the registry was cleaned for the first time and it is more stable now too!:)

Try Glary Utilities. It's free and has several functions that are very useful.

[Glary Utilities]

Thanks for that! It's the first one of that type that actually found broken entries and would then fix them. Usually, they ask for $30 at that point.

Even more impressive, the broken links it found were ones that I could verify were broken (for example from an updated software package where it left the links to the old version which it had deleted).

I think registry cleaning and defragging are way overused. I think it's a bit of "Everything looks like a nail because I only have a hammer."

I think I defragged my personal machine like once. It didn't help much so I got a SSD. I don't know when I defragged a server last - but I don't use toy operating systems on them either. :O

Hi,

+1
Suffice peruse tech forums .. for read how many had boot problems after a "registry cleaning" :)

When you have a problem with the registry base .. you will know immediately ... when you boot your PC :uhoh:
Usually the error message is explicit :O

If you want absolutely use a reg cleaner .. CCleaner is a good choice as it is not too much intrusive.

Can you give a (solid) example ?

Placebo effect :)
How much 1/1000 sec you gained at boot ? as it's only there you can gain some 1/100 sec if your registry base was few MB's before cleaning .. LOL.

- Norton, Avg, AOL - how many do you want? If you have ever 'uninstalled' one of these, have a trawl through your registry and see.

Hi,

The question was not directed to you .. but ...

And wich software(s) will stop running ?? cause those traces stay behind ?

Can I call your attention to a reply I made earlier?

Chrome vs IE 8

'Scuse me fer butting in:)

'Residual' Norton is known to cause conflict with other AV/security products. In any case, those who write crap un-installs should be shot.

bit harsh perhaps
 

The problem with AV suites is that they have to protect themselves (and you) against an illicit attempt to disable/uninstall them. Norton do have a custom uninstaller which needs to be used to hoover up the traces. From what I have seen, a manual trawl through the registry deleting keys doesn't get half of them.

Hi,

You are right.

I've uninstalled all of them and have never had a problem. They are part of the often-preinstalled junk that I routinely throw away when setting up a new PC.

I've also installed Microsoft Security Essentials after removing the above products, with no problems. You have to use the official uninstall programs.

Looking through the registry doesn't tell me much, since the ways in which the registry is used are proprietary to each software product. If I didn't write the code, it can be hard to figure out what the product changed. Therefore it is best left alone. Conflicts are theoretically possible, but I don't recall having any, although sometimes one version of a product will conflict with another version of that product (but if the product can't even stay clean within itself, why would you trust a third-party registry "cleaner" to do it?).

Maybe I'm being a bit naive here, but I use Ccleaner once every month or two in the belief that this will keep the whole machine as fast as possible. This of course isn't just about the registry, but deals with quite a bit of other crap.

I know that there are others who advocate saving all docs and reinstalling Windoze and all software every so often. Undoubtedly does the trick, and reminds one of how fast a machine could be, but boring in the extreme, and loses half a day each time.