# 26 Windows XP Speed Tweaks



## kyle101 (Jan 31, 2008)

Some excellent tips all on one page to make your pc load faster, use fewer resources and improve efficiency. My fps in games has increased, overall boot time reduced and application performance increased. Contains some useful direct links to recommended software.

Found it at digg.com

http://digg.com/software/26_Windows_XP_Speed_Tweaks

The direct link is

http://www.pccallouts.co.uk/freexpspeedtweaks.html


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

8. Cleaning the Windows Registry

The Windows registry contains important application data and which grows alot as more software is installed. However, software uninstalled, orphaned registry entries and other settings usually remain. *Reducing the size of the registry makes Windows faster.*
I dont agree with that one


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I have to agree with BM on the registry cleaning!

Don't fix stuff that ain't broke!©


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

JohnWill said:


> Don't fix stuff that ain't broke!©


I love it when you say that John


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

20. Remove junk files with Crap Cleaner

Dont agree with that one either

*One of the most quick and effective ways to remove alot of junk files is to run Crap Cleaner on your system.*

Download and install Crap Cleaner 2.04 (2.6mb).

Select the 'Run Cleaner' button for 'Cleaner' tab.

Select the 'Scan for Issues' button and for 'Registry' tab.

*Now Select the 'Fix selected issues' button and for 'Registry' tab.*

Kiss your pc goodbye


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## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Blackmirror said:


> 20. Remove junk files with Crap Cleaner
> 
> Dont agree with that one either
> 
> ...


Hello,

I thought of PMing you, BM, but decided against it. Why? Because I hope many others might benefit from a response here.

I am convinced that your responses to posts on a technical level leave much to be desired. I'll go further since I have personal experience of seeking help (and receiving it from you). Help which I ultimately found can best be described as flippant, even foolish. For example see *here*.

In your response above clearly demonstrated is a carelessness which, all too often, disgraces your writing and thinking.

You make no attempt to differentiate between your comment and quoted comment. And your summation of the outcome resulting from using CCleaner Registry clean "_*Kiss your pc goodbye*_" is dramatic, in error and therefore misleading to the TSG membership. This a freeware I have seen recommended by some of our most knowlegable members who work in the security and other fields of technical-help response.

You have the edit function and I suggest you use it. And in the case to which I link above please notice my response to your apparent offer of help - an offer which I now see was flippant and one to which you had no intention of returning.

What say you, Blackmirror?

aarhus2004.


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## jbm1991 (Sep 1, 2007)

aarhus2004 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I thought of PMing you, BM, but decided against it. Why? Because I hope many others might benefit from a response here.
> 
> ...


never mind what she says aarhus, i'll chip in my 2 pennys worth now. i have seen BM offer good and constructive help on many an occasion, and was certainly not flippant. she has a point as messing around with registry etc does in general cause more damage than its worth, and as for you quoting her post in that link. would you care to post the thread it came from as that is a perfectly valid response to many problems. also, how the hell is cleaning out internet temporary files foolish? you also cannot complain about her comments on crap cleaner and other such programs as it is down to personal preference more than anything.

*What say you, aarhus2004?*


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Hi Ben.

IMO......all registry cleaners have the potential to do damage.
I've used reg cleaners in the distant past and had my L&H voice recognition broken ....and so badly that undoing the action still left L&H broken with a reinstall of L&H not fixing the problem.
That required re-imaging the drive.

My sister used CCleaner registry cleaner and experienced the same on her work laptop, but with more than one of her scientific applications.
That also required reinstalling her saved drive image.

CCleaner file cleaner is good and I use it often......but the reg cleaner app is just too dangerous to use, imo and my experience with other cleaners.


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Im so sorry . have i upset you ?
That was not my intention 

I can remove my posts if you so wish but it will not change the fact that CCleaner does more harm than good ..
Now if i injected a little humour at the same time please forgive me .

I offer my help here freely . and if you have a problem with any of my posts kindly use the pm feature..or the big red triangle 

what more can i say ?


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

aarhus2004,
Your comments are a bit personal and out of place on a public forum, and while you allude to BM help being ineffective from a technical level, and I think as an Admin of another forum she posts on quite frequently, as well as what I have observed here, I find your opinion offensive and unfounded.
Now as for reg cleaners I agree 100% that use of a reg cleaner is totally unnecessary as there is nothing to clean frankly in your registry and while it can do no good at all, it can cause a great deal of harm.
I personally have "hosed" quite a few systems running "Ccleaner" and find it destructive software with no real positive purpose. Why, because most people have a minimum 150 gb hard drive today on which they probably use 8 gb with XP or 25 gb with Vista and have absolutely no need to clean anything off it as space is totally unimportant to them, yet the possible damage by using a "freebie" program for which there is no hope to hold the developer responsible for "trashing" their system as it is a valueless and more importantly no retail priced product. When you use free products, not only do you trust your system to a possibly unsupported program with little updating because of lack of funding, but also no developer responsibility for problems the program might cause.


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## emoric (Jul 28, 2006)

Pardon me, but I use CCleaner's registry cleaner weekly. No problems so far. Maybe I should just pull my feet out of the water before I fall all the way in. :/

Honestly, no problems! I've been using it for about 1 and a half.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

The vast majority of people that use CCleaner experience no significant issues. However, there are many examples of folks not so lucky, and in extreme cases it will render the machine unbootable. I've seen it screw up applications like Microsoft Office and Visual Studio. As I understand, some of those issue have been resolved in recent versions.

The basic premise of "cleaning" the registry just to be "tidy" is a bad idea.

Don't fix stuff that ain't broke!©


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

IMO, _anything_ that cleanses the registry and isn't trained to do so is a danger to the pc. If you personally do not know how to navigate through the hives and clean up after yourself, do NOT let an automated app do it, as they frequently cannot delineate between what is necessary, what is not necessary, and where the most damage is incurred, what is shared.

If you want to 'fix' your registry, the best freeware app I can recommend is ntregopt, and all that does is compress the registry; it does not touch any keys. If you want to go around manipulating keys, it's best that you learn how to do so yourself and then do it manually.

Very, very rarely have I had to manipulate my registry on my home rig; maybe once a year, if that. However, doing malware removal I'll frequently need to manipulate it to remove/rename/replace a certain key that has been adjusted by a bad app; in these instances, I've seen many cases (well over 2 dozen) where CCleaner had rendered the computer completely inoperable, requiring a repair install/re-install of the OS.

A good little app to have laying around is ATF for All Temp Files; it does pretty much the same thing that CCleaner does, except it doeesn't go anywhere near the registry.

hth,

v


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

also, to reiterate what John said, the idea of the registry needing cleaning is a bit outdated; the only time it needs manipulating is when something has incurred a failure that will affect higher up applications, and that is frequently malware. 

As the registry is the bottom level of a fairly tall house of cards (windows) you want to be rather careful as to what card you move around, or the entire shebang will come down around your ears.

I've got a 98 box that serves as a server in my house, and I think I've been in the registry 3 times since I bought it, back in 98. The registry just doesn't need that sort of maintenance.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Actually if you are such a "neatnik" I can recommend "Advanced Disk Cleaner" which is strictly a hard drive cleaner and does not screw with the registry...I have never had issues with this one though as I said, it isn't something I even believe is in anyway necessary to use.
http://www.innovative-sol.com/cleaner/


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

I am sorry i didnt mean to offend or upset anyone ...
Its not me ..
It was just my opinion .. i shall refrain from giving any opinions from now on and resume my household duties and chain myself to the kitchen sink


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Blackmirror said:


> I am sorry i didnt mean to offend or upset anyone ...
> Its not me ..
> It was just my opinion .. i shall refrain from giving any opinions from now on and resume my household duties and chain myself to the kitchen sink


That would be our profound Loss Donna....


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

I have been around the forums Rich.
I have seen the damage that people do with reg cleaners.
Now for an experienced user maybe ...those who know what they are doing and can put any mistakes right again ..

We seem to be back on this topic again ..... A cause for concern


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

Blackmirror said:


> i shall refrain from giving any opinions from now on and resume my household duties and chain myself to the kitchen sink


ha!

and if I buy that one, you've got some land of the coast of Derby for sale for me, eh?


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

valis said:


> ha!
> 
> and if I buy that one, you've got some land of the coast of Derby for sale for me, eh?


Well i might have . you interested Valis ???


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## franca (Aug 26, 2002)

Blackmirror said:


> Well i might have . you interested Valis ???










.........


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Please Note:
Competent users should only attempt these tweaks after backing up all data. We do not take responsiblity for any problems that may arise.


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## Harry07 (Jun 22, 2007)

May I ask your opinion/experiences about Registry Mechanic? (bought it).


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

my views on ANY registry cleaner are pretty much expressed in post 14.....it's not that I dislike them, it's more along the lines that automated processes can quite easily accidentally delete keys or modify strings that are not meant to be modified/deleted. 

That's just my opinion, though....I have had to fix quite a few pc's that were cratered due to registry 'cleaners', so I have a pretty heathly distrust of them.

As the registry is a fairly sensitive place, and it doesn't really matter if you have dead keys in there (as I mentioned, I've got a 10 year old box that has had more apps loaded onto it than I care to remember, and I've never even cleaned out the crap out of there that has been removed), I've found the best practice is to use something like ntregopt, which just compresses the registry (sort of like defragging your hd), and thereby decreases the boot time.

Again, just my nickel's worth.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Harry07 said:


> May I ask your opinion/experiences about Registry Mechanic? (bought it).


A good read: *Ed Bott:* "Why I dont use registry cleaners"


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## Harry07 (Jun 22, 2007)

Thanks to you both 
I possibly will not renew my subscription.


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Harry07 said:


> Thanks to you both
> I possibly will not renew my subscription.


I would be very carefull please with the reg 
I look on it as the fuel tank in a car
You wouldnt put sugar in your tank would you ???


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## Davec (Jan 27, 2001)

Rich-M said:


> I personally have "hosed" *quite a few systems* running "Ccleaner" and find it destructive software with no real positive purpose.


Slow learner?


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

Davec said:


> Slow learner?





Davec said:


> Try to remember that humans are people too.


/me walks away humming 'one of these things is not like the other'.......


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Hi "i shall refrain from giving any opinions from now on and resume my household duties "
I question the word Resume???????? 
You stay where you are..that was good advice as always. 
Now where is my chocolate bar I was promised two days ago.


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

blues_harp28 said:


> Hi "i shall refrain from giving any opinions from now on and resume my household duties "
> I question the word Resume????????
> You stay where you are..that was good advice as always.
> Now where is my chocolate bar I was promised two days ago.


 um i ate it 

sorry


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

aarhus2004 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I thought of PMing you, BM, but decided against it. Why? Because I hope many others might benefit from a response here.
> 
> ...


What say me? I'd say you should stop trying to play moderator wannabe and if you have a problem with a post, do as everyone else is instructed to do...use the report post triangle


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Harry07 said:


> May I ask your opinion/experiences about Registry Mechanic? (bought it).


In a nutshell, this is the worst most destructive software of the bunch, in my opinion!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

So Rich, you really like Registry Mechanic, right?


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## SpiritDragon110 (Feb 2, 2008)

ive used Eusing Free Registry Cleaner for my registry and noticed a difference the first time i used it. ive used it many times and suffered no problems because of it. just adding on to what has been said =)

i would also like to add to 7. Applications Autorunning on Startup. theres a website i like to visit to check what a program or enty in the starup does to decided whether or not to disable it. it tells you what the entry is, does, and if its nessisary, optional, or not required/malware/virus/worm

http://www.ypl.info/startups/startups_all.htm


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

JohnWill said:


> So Rich, you really like Registry Mechanic, right?


Careful or I'll tell you what I really think!


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Rich-M said:


> Careful or I'll tell you what I really think!


Tell me Rich please


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Blackmirror said:


> Tell me Rich please


You already know....


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