# is regestry cleaners r effective



## achtani_jeetu (Jun 20, 2008)

actually the thing is i have read somewhere that applications like ccleaner are not effective because if we doesnt know anythng then we cant change our registry entries so i wish to know that if we r not using these programs then what is the solution to avoid the unwanted entries in registry. i will appreciate if ur responce. regards allll...


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Theres no need to use a reg cleaner

They can leave your system inoperable
Its not worth the risk
IMO


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## achtani_jeetu (Jun 20, 2008)

if we dont use these cleaners then what we need to do avoid the incoming of threats say suppose if enter in our system thennnnn....


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

achtani_jeetu said:


> if we dont use these cleaners then what we need to do avoid the incoming of threats say suppose if enter in our system thennnnn....


Well you need to have a frontline attack
Stop them from entering
Use an Antivirus and spyware program

Firewall as well

What do you use at the moment?


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Well worth a read.
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=643


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## achtani_jeetu (Jun 20, 2008)

the thing is right now i m using quick heal total security and some anti spywares like spyware blaster, spybot s&d, and ccleaner,


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

You might want to add.
http://www.superantispyware.com
Winpatrol keeps an eye on changes in the registry.
http://www.winpatrol.com

I haven't heard of Quick Heal Total Security but in includes an Anti-virus and Spyware protection.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

blues_harp28 said:


> You might want to add.
> http://www.superantispyware.com
> Winpatrol keeps an eye on changes in the registry.
> http://www.winpatrol.com
> ...


Winpatrol is great and a must have program and well let you know when new programs are added but it will not tell you of changes to the registry. It can stop something getting added if it is some new program and you get the alert and say no to it then guess it would stop anything it would add to the registry. 
But other wise it will not tell you of changes to the registry.

I got Winpatrol Plus and no where do I know of does it tell you of changes to the registry.



> Features: WinPatrol FREE and WinPatrol PLUS
> 
> As a MULTI PURPOSE SUPPORT UTILITY WinPatrol replaces multiple system utilities with its enhanced functionality. WinPatrol PLUS provides easy to understand descriptions of over 18,000 programs.
> 
> ...


Features: WinPatrol FREE and WinPatrol PLUS

Detect newly created Undocumented or HIDDEN Registry Startup Keys
This use to be only on the Plus version but now is on the free version starting with v14.0


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## Bliv (May 19, 2008)

be aware that registry cleaners can be a bit shady if you don't understand them... i had to do system restore after using RegCure because it messed my system right up.. be careful


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## rameam (Mar 15, 2003)

I always allow ccleaner to clean my registry. I've never had a problem doing so. Knock on wood!


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## paulrw (Jun 9, 2008)

rameam,
I also use ccleaner and have never had a problem. It seems to just work. I've also used other programs to remove specific entries. I work as an IT person in an imaging/Corporate Records department of a large company. Our scanning software is very fussy when it comes to reloading it. And having reg entries left over can be a real problem. Not only do I use cclean, plus the one that is used for the scanning app, but I also manual clean the registry, looking for specific entries.


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## Txnnok (Jul 1, 2008)

I help out on the Lavasoft forums and I found alot people using ccleaner somehow end up deleting their uninstallers. Somehow ccleaner see's it as an unnecessary file or a zero byte file and deletes it. I'm not positive, I have never used it. I am just going off their responses.

They ended up going through a bunch of trouble having to find, download, and reinstall old software to replace the old uninstaller, just to reuninstall it again. Fortunatly, in these cases you could find old copies to install, I don't know if this would apply to adaware se. I don't think the download sites offer it anymore.

I have been using an unintaller lately called Revo. It goes through and finds all the old files and registry files and deletes them after an uninstall, but becareful with it to. I uninstalled a tool it had called web guard that shared an uninstaller with a tool called ct toolbar. I had to reinstall it over to uninstall it. 
The bonus of this kind of software is it helps keep the extra trash off your system. Which builds up if you like testing software.


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

What any of us may use to clean out temp files,clean the registry and other Pc cleaning tasks is one thing.
My question is always this, are registry cleaners safe enough to recommend on a Pc help forum?
Reading the many posts of the damage that can be done using registry cleaners on this forum alone, suggests the answer to be no.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I have to agree with the previous post. I use a registry cleaner occasionally, but not in the "fire-and-forget" mode. I review every entry before I let it remove them. Basically, I use it for an "automated manual cleanup", because it's faster than finding all the entries with regedit. I would never consider blindly letting it run, because there are too many pitfalls.


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## Luc-ee (Jul 1, 2008)

My recent log of HJT shows a number of registry entries like "O23 - Service: @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)".

Can these entries be removed or is it best just to leave well alone.

Cheers! Lucee


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Hi Lucee as you have posted a Hjt log best to wait for a log expert to check it.
Removing any entry [wrongly] could damage your system.
You may think you have solved your problem but there may be other problems showing in your log.
Wait for a reply here.
http://forums.techguy.org/malware-r...26332-need-help-permanently-remove-win32.html


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## Luc-ee (Jul 1, 2008)

Hi Blues - Sound advice, thank you.


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## Larry Johnson (Jun 28, 2008)

totally not needed just defrag your computer once a week and clean your browsing history and you should be ok.


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## Jam3s121 (Jul 8, 2008)

im gonna say no, becuase ive used one after having a nasty virus and it ended up deleting a critical file for winxp, that caused my pc to not be able to boot past loading screen of xp


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