[tonyvdb]

I know there are lots to choose from so I thought I would ask here, are there any free reliable registry cleaner programs for the PC. My XP machine is needing a good cleanup but I am leary of messing up my PC.

 

[brucek]

I think ccleaner has a fairly good registry fix tool. It's quite easy to use.

Download and install, click "Registry" on the left, then "scan for issues" at the bottom, and when the scan is finished "fix selected issues".

brucek

 

[Harpmaker]

I can't help you too much on this one Tony, I never used a free registry cleaner and it has been so long since I used the one I have I've forgotten it's name. :hide:

As you are well aware, the registry is the heart of a Windows PC, if it gets messed up bad things start to happen. No matter what program you use backup your registry before use.

I like to use the Clusty.com search engine and I'll give some link I got from it when searching for a registry cleaner.

The first link is http://www.free-windows-registry-cleaner.com/. Don't know anything about it, but it's free.

Second link to to Registry-Mechanic, this is a commercial program, but they have a free version that will clean up some problems, but not others. http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/

The last link I'll post is to http://www.registry-cleaner.net/. This is a commercial product but it sounds like it has some great features (like privacy issues) and is available for any version of Windows from 98 on up including Vista, Win7 and the X64 stuff. I never heard of this before, but I just might try this one myself. The download version seems to be a 15-day trial of the commercial program.

One solution I personally advise against is the all-in-one type programs like Norton Utilities. These are usually bloat-ware and want to take over your system; I HATE that. To be fair, I haven't even tried NU since version 2002 or so, but it slowed my PC down and WOULD NOT uninstall!!! I had been a true fan of NU from the DOS days, but no longer.

 

[tonyvdb]

Thanks guys, I check these out.

 

[Prof.]

I think ccleaner has a fairly good registry fix tool. It's quite easy to use.

Download and install, click "Registry" on the left, then "scan for issues" at the bottom, and when the scan is finished "fix selected issues".

brucek

I have this cleaner also, but you have to be careful what you tick to remove..It will remove all your cookies if you're not careful..
I now use Glarys Registry Repair..it's a free cleaner and does an excellent job...

 

[Harpmaker]

Thanks Prof.! That sounds like what Norton used to be like. The last version of Norton I had was basically one humongous program that buried itself so deep into the OS I was using at the time (I think it was Win 98SE) that I couldn't get rid of the blasted thing even by editing the registry by hand!

I'll give Glarys a try. :T

 

[Mika75]

Open CCleaner, go to Options/Cookies ..there u can select which ones u like to keep, such as hometheatershack.com :cunning:

softpedia.com - Jouni Vourio's RegCleaner 4.3 540 KB

I have personally used this freeware with XP for years now, Install and click on Help/read me to explain what everything does.

Or just follow the way I was taught here...

Open Regcleaner 4.3, click on 'Tools/Registry Cleanup/ Do them All' (it will now scan, be patient)

Then when it's done, click on 'Select' tab and click on 'All' ...now at the bottom click 'Remove Selected' ..then 'Done'

The next thing to do is click on the 'File Types' tab.

Then click on the 'Description' bar, this will sort all the files below in alphabetical order.

You will now scroll down and tick only the 'N/A' files, only the N/A files ok ! addle:

Now 'Remove Selected'

..... congratulations :T

ohh by the way, some dual core machines have issues running the program...u need to Open Regcleaner, then Task Manager/Processors/RegCleanr.exe right click and select Set Affinity, now untick one of the processor cores.

 

[Prof.]

Thanks for the link...
I'll download that one as well and see how it performs..

 

[lcaillo]

I have been using the Eusing registry cleaner for a while, with both XP & Vista and it has worked well. It is free.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Will any of these help with getting the message, on boot-up, "Registry Data Not Found" on my laptop? Have had this for about a year with no other apparent problems.

Kal

 

[brucek]

Will any of these help with getting the message, on boot-up, "Registry Data Not Found" on my laptop? Have had this for about a year with no other apparent problems.
Kal

I doubt if they'll find that fault, as cleaners generally look for unnecessary entries.

You can likely find the culprit by going to START->RUN and type MSCONFIG, then click the Startup Tab and laboriously uncheck each startup entry and reboot to see if that stops the error. Repeat.
When (and if) you find it, reload that application or utility.

brucek

 

[Prof.]

Open CCleaner, go to Options/Cookies ..there u can select which ones u like to keep, such as hometheatershack.com :cunning:

softpedia.com - Jouni Vourio's RegCleaner 4.3 540 KB

I have personally used this freeware with XP for years now, Install and click on Help/read me to explain what everything does.

Or just follow the way I was taught here...

Open Regcleaner 4.3, click on 'Tools/Registry Cleanup/ Do them All' (it will now scan, be patient)

Then when it's done, click on 'Select' tab and click on 'All' ...now at the bottom click 'Remove Selected' ..then 'Done'

The next thing to do is click on the 'File Types' tab.

Then click on the 'Description' bar, this will sort all the files below in alphabetical order.

You will now scroll down and tick only the 'N/A' files, only the N/A files ok ! addle:

Now 'Remove Selected'

..... congratulations :T

ohh by the way, some dual core machines have issues running the program...u need to Open Regcleaner, then Task Manager/Processors/RegCleanr.exe right click and select Set Affinity, now untick one of the processor cores.

Well I downloaded Jouni Vourio's RegCleaner 4.3 and followed your instructions on setting it up..
It ran through without any problems and it found a few more errors than Glary's did...All well and good..
But then later I went to bring up the program again, it wouldn't come up..All I got was a corrupt file error..
I checked my programs list and it wasn't even listed.!!
I then tried to re-download the program and again I got the "Corrupted file" notice..

At this point I was about to give up, when I came across another reg cleaner on Softpedia called Wise Reg Cleaner..(free)..
I downloaded that one and ran a scan again..It found another 219 errors in the registry!!!
It was a one click button operation and automatically ticks what can be safely removed..Much simpler than the other one..
So indirectly David, you've helped me find a very good reg cleaner, which I will now use regularly..
Thanks for your help..

 

[Mika75]

Hey Prof, are u using a dual/quad core machine ?

I've sometimes had issues getting it to run on those, but I've never had a rig give me the Corrupt error before :scratch:

 

[Prof.]

Hey Prof, are u using a dual/quad core machine ?

No I'm not..
What I can't work out is how is was able to do a scan, remove the errors and yet not be installed in my list of programs.:scratch:

 

[Harpmaker]

Prof., is this the Wise reg cleaner you used?
http://www.wisecleaner.com/

If so, there is a commercial version ($19.95) that purports to do even more (it optimizes stuff and lets you control startup items).
http://www.wisecleaner.com/freeandpro.html

Lots of good stuff in this thread! :T Thanks guys!

 

[Prof.]

Yes Harp..that's the one..
Being a cheapskate, I opted for the free version..:bigsmile:

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I doubt if they'll find that fault, as cleaners generally look for unnecessary entries.

You can likely find the culprit by going to START->RUN and type MSCONFIG, then click the Startup Tab and laboriously uncheck each startup entry and reboot to see if that stops the error. Repeat.
When (and if) you find it, reload that application or utility.

brucek

Thanks. Will put it off until this summer when I have the time.

Kal

 

[tonyvdb]

Update, I used Ccclean and it did the job nicely and I have no issues so far. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[8086]

You really should not clean the registry, I have seen these programs cause more problems than they claim to fix. The actual amount of registry space cleared is often trivial compared to the actual size of the registry it's self and typically there is zero perfomance gained from using such software.

In short, too much risk and too little reward to be worth using. Even The Tech Guy Leo Laporte will agree with my statements.

 

[lcaillo]

I have cleaned the registry on my machines many times and never had a problem. The point is not the space but the extra entries can slow the machine down and are not needed. I use mostly the Eusing cleaner, but have used others (on 98, XP, and Vista). They simply find entries that do not have valid references.