Which Registry Repair/System Maintainance software???

goorambatman wrote:
> There are a lot of System Fixers/Maintainers/Registry Repairers out there,
> which one is the best and what do you recommend?
>


None of them. They're all virtually useless, and potentially
dangerous, as well. Any so-called registry "cleaner" is nothing more
than a worthless snake oil remedy whose sole purpose is to separate you
from some of your money.


> I've had good results with Registry Mechanic ....


What "results" did you have? About the best that can be expected is
that the OS remained usable.

Snipped....

> ...and noticed that they are Certified Microsoft Partners.

Which means only that they've paid a licensing fee to Microsoft so they
can use Microsoft logos in their advertising material. It *doesn't*
mean that Microsoft endorses/recommends them or the use of their products.


Why do you think you'd ever need to clean your registry? What
specific *problems* are you actually experiencing (not some program's
bogus listing of imaginary problems) that you think can be fixed by
using a registry "cleaner?"

If you do have a problem that is rooted in the registry, it would
be far better to simply edit (after backing up, of course) only the
specific key(s) and/or value(s) that are causing the problem. After
all, why use a chainsaw when a scalpel will do the job? Additionally,
the manually changing of one or two registry entries is far less likely
to have the dire consequences of allowing an automated product to make
multiple changes simultaneously. The only thing needed to safely clean
your registry is knowledge and Regedit.exe.

The registry contains all of the operating system's "knowledge" of
the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the location of the
device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A misstep in the
registry can have severe consequences. One should not even turning
loose a poorly understood automated "cleaner," unless he is fully
confident that he knows *exactly* what is going to happen as a result of
each and every change.

Having repeatedly seen the results of inexperienced people using
automated registry "cleaners," I can only advise all but the most
experienced computer technicians (and/or hobbyists) to avoid them all.
Experience has shown me that such tools simply are not safe in the hands
of the inexperienced user. If you lack the knowledge and experience to
maintain your registry by yourself, then you also lack the knowledge and
experience to safely configure and use any automated registry cleaner,
no matter how safe they claim to be.

More importantly, no one has ever demonstrated that the use of an
automated registry "cleaner," particularly by an untrained,
inexperienced computer user, does any real good, whatsoever. There's
certainly been no empirical evidence offered to demonstrate that the use
of such products to "clean" WinXP's registry improves a computer's
performance or stability. Given the potential for harm, it's just not
worth the risk.

Granted, most registry "cleaners" won't cause problems each and
every time they're used, but the potential for harm is always there.
And, since no registry "cleaner" has ever been demonstrated to do any
good (think of them like treating the flu with chicken soup - there's no
real medicinal value, but it sometimes provides a warming placebo
effect), I always tell people that the risks far out-weigh the
non-existent benefits.

I will concede that a good registry *scanning* tool, in the hands
of an experienced and knowledgeable technician or hobbyist can be a
useful time-saving diagnostic tool, as long as it's not allowed to make
any changes automatically. But I really don't think that there are any
registry "cleaners" that are truly safe for the general public to use.
Experience has proven just the opposite: such tools simply are not safe
in the hands of the inexperienced user.

A little light reading on the subject:

Why I don't use registry cleaners | Ed Bott's Windows Expertise |
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html


--

Bruce Chambers

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"John Barnett MVP" <freelance.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote in
news:eNM9Nrv#IHA.4816@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:

> I too use CCleaner but I don't use the 'Registry' button
>

Well, the registry is where the Windows history is stored so it can have
it's uses too. I don't like progs that leave behind a history of their
installation so use CCleaner's reg cleaner to delete those too.