# Solved: registry cleaning good or bad?????????



## animalbones (Jul 17, 2009)

howzit peoples, i have read pages and pages on this trying to find a definitve answer but to no avail there have been slightly more saying to leave well alone but i am still not totally convinced have recently done a clean install and since then have not touched the registry for cleaning although i have a few cleaners available to me i.e. tune up utilities, uniblue registry cleaner, advanced system care, and of course ccleaner and although some if not most have entries the same they do vary so any views from more experienced computer users (which is 99.999% of the planet) would be appreciated also is there anywhere to look for definate deletables that would do no harm.(yes i was a kid that had to poke and squeeze his spots and scabs which is why i feel the need to ask about this). thanks in advance for any forthcoming help animal.


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## hulkinator (May 4, 2009)

You will get a lot of replies very quickly here. The responses will hopefully all agree:

_Don't under ANY circumstances use a registry cleaner._

The damage they do can require an OS reinstall. They help they provide... well there just isn't any. The following thread addresses your issue very nicely, with some contributions from some very respected TSG members including flavallee, and some humor thrown in from Rich-M.
http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-software/840181-solved-regseeker-registry-cleaner.html

Hope this helps!


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Agreed....avoid registry cleaners.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Bad. 

A good read: *Ed Bott:* "Why I don't use registry cleaners"

Another opinion from a Microsoft MVP: Thoughts about Registry Cleaners and System Tweaking Tools


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## buffoon (Jul 16, 2008)

I only use them when Easter and Xmas fall on the same day. Stick to that and you'll be ok.


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## animalbones (Jul 17, 2009)

thanks folks i feel a lot more secure in not using them now i feel like a bit of a leech only being able ask questions without giving any help back so i would like to thank you all for your time in replying to my questions (there are bound to be more) but you have helped me sort this one out so again thanks.


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## buffoon (Jul 16, 2008)

animalbones said:


> thanks folks i feel a lot more secure in not using them now i feel like a bit of a leech only being able ask questions without giving any help back so i would like to thank you all for your time in replying to my questions (there are bound to be more) but you have helped me sort this one out so again thanks.


No worries, if I get amnesia about my take on registry cleaners I'll give you a buzz and you can remind me.


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## hulkinator (May 4, 2009)

Believe it or not this question comes up rather often in the forums. So now you can keep your eye out for the next time it appears and you can just be like me and post links to other threads that answer the question, like this one. 

Take care!


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## Gr3iz (Mar 9, 2009)

Slightly off topic, Animal, but if you could use a little punctuation in your posts, it would really help these old eyes a lot! ;-)


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## animalbones (Jul 17, 2009)

Gr3iz said:


> Slightly off topic, Animal, but if you could use a little punctuation in your posts, it would really help these old eyes a lot! ;-)


i will try to remember, although i don´t do capitals except for names ( quirky i know ). on another note i was glad to see my post helped the uniblue question, also do i mark this as sorted/solved as i found my question/post ( i will get the hang of the terms one day ) answered most helpfully and again i thank all who answered. so Gr3iz i shall do my best to remember to punctuate, as i would not like to lose potential help for the lack of a few commas etc. ( was this any better? )


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## Gr3iz (Mar 9, 2009)

I hope I didn't offend you. It's kinda like reading a message in all caps. It just makes it harder to read. If people can read your message without working at it, they may be more likely to help. Personal opinion. ;-)

You can mark it "Solved" with the button near your original post.


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## animalbones (Jul 17, 2009)

Gr3iz said:


> I hope I didn't offend you. It's kinda like reading a message in all caps. It just makes it harder to read. If people can read your message without working at it, they may be more likely to help. Personal opinion. ;-)
> 
> You can mark it "Solved" with the button near your original post.


nah no worries i blame the perishers ( old cartoon strip ).


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## istandalonefy (Oct 10, 2009)

hulkinator said:


> You will get a lot of replies very quickly here. The responses will hopefully all agree:
> 
> _Don't under ANY circumstances use a registry cleaner._
> 
> ...


wow, glad I read this! So since I have reg. cleaners (didn't know any better) should I uninstall them of just leave them be?


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## buffoon (Jul 16, 2008)

istandalonefy said:


> wow, glad I read this! So since I have reg. cleaners (didn't know any better) should I uninstall them of just leave them be?


Not much point in having them if you're not going to use them (which you really should NOT).
On the other hand things like CCleaner come with registry cleaner but if you just leave that item alone you'll be ok.
Being on your PC won't affect you PC's performance but you'll just need to condition yourself to shrink away from their use.


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## animalbones (Jul 17, 2009)

howzit folks i was thinking about this thread the other day and have been meaning to post a Thank you to all who answered, i thought as i was getting into my account via the welcome screen ( no password) in 35 seconds i thought to myself thanks dudes i should post a thank you so thanks! i might not know anything about cpus but i can now say with confidence that registry cleaners are not needed and should have a bit of tape covering the button.thanks again animal


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## ozziebeanie (Jun 24, 2009)

I use the reg clean part of ccleander only on one computer now, I was convinced by someone on here to stop using it. 

I mainly use it (just on one computer) after un-installing a program and even after checks to delete all I could find that it did not uninstall ccleander still found registry entries (usually avoided cleaning the registry out manually, easy to make a mistake in there)

But then again there is a group on line I help out and test out programs they want to use (actual programs not anything illegal) and make user-documents on how to use it, so I am installing and un-installing programs all the time and only use the one computer for that.

And considering the crap I down load sometimes and the dodgy links I clicked on when doing my voluntary work, I could not really do any more harm, in fact I probably did more harm to my computer than any reg cleaner could. 

But that is what I had that computer for so I could do all this on one computer, of which I have images off because I am lazy and so quick to set back up again.

So my friend Phantom010 was right I did not really need to use it on the other computers (on which they had normal use that most people use it for), the reg clean side of it that is. 

But I made the choice that the computer I take the most risks with, to do reg cleans, (I did stop using it on that one computer and it slowed,) used it again and the computer sped up, but then I don't think most on here would put any of their computers through what I put that one through.

My motto is - always have one main computer, one backup computer and one that you can take all the risks on, and you can not go far wrong. Hehehe


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

My motto is: Have plenty of backups in case you do something stupid.


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## ozziebeanie (Jun 24, 2009)

JohnWill said:


> My motto is: Have plenty of backups in case you do something stupid.


Good motto


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## Ottolipshetz (Oct 12, 2009)

*Someone help me! Like a dope, I was stubborn and fell for the pretty "optimization charts" and the pretty lights, spent 50 bucks I didn't need and now my files are dumped out all over the place and all of my folders are blank!*


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## ozziebeanie (Jun 24, 2009)

This thread has been marked solved, you might get a response by posting a new thread, with more info so that those in the know of what you are talking about, might be able to help


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## Ottolipshetz (Oct 12, 2009)

Thanks for your responses,  I tried running a restore again and it somehow was fixed. :up: Reg. Registry Clnr was doing its thing (automtcly):down: at the same time Ms was installing a new service pack. I never had such a scare of this magnitude!  Every window I was opening was empty and would have to do a search every time I opened a folder.  My files were all dumped out of my folders and mixed up, filling each window to the max, after searching. It would have taken me a week to organize it all again! 

I only had one restore point, I tried it once and it was still the same. Somehow when I did it again I was back to normal.  I've been wrestling with this since 4pm Pac. and it's almost 2am!  Anyway, I removed Registry clnr and shredded the files, not taking any more chances. Its better then ever now, (Thank God.)  Thanks anyway, this time I did it myself. (Maybe not?) I am very glad I found this site though, you people out there have helped me greatly several times already, and it was never the tweakui prg and twk mangr programs I heard about here, they have worked great. So I'm a happy camper right now. :up:


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## ozziebeanie (Jun 24, 2009)

Glad to hear you have sorted it, bet you are relieved. Personally I do MS updates once a month, manually, but that is just a personal preference, I don't like other stuff interfering with what I am doing if busy and it wants to reboot and lord knows what else, while you are in the middle of something.

The only program I have updating automatically is the antivirus, personal preference again, (not everyone's cup of tea) and when I create images every week I do other program updates well not all of them only the ones I want to.

Most have updates of the OS, MS or other program updates on auto so they don't have think about it, and if you don't want to think about it then its handy to have.

but you have to be a bit like me and have a routine you stick to to make sure you are up to date or it wont work if you stick to updating manually like I do, and that can cause other problems if you don't keep up to date with it.

I also make a fresh image of my hard drive every week after giving it a clean out and tidy up, so if something goes wrong or the hard drive crashes etc at most I have lost a weeks data, but then real important stuff I back up daily on to a flash drive, 

If i get a real nasty, I just lay a clean image back on to a hard drive and you are up and away, no mucking about going into every program and re-setting your settings its all as it was when you make the image, I just love it.

I also make a fresh image from scratch about every six months to a year

The little routine I stick to for my computers works for me, (as i know i stick to it) and you need to work out one that you know will work for you. it sure saves a lot of frustration and panic if its real important stuff.

Glad you found this site also, good people here that are very helpful


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