registry question

[1033ruben]

yes i just wanted to know if there is an other way to clean up your registry other than those free registry cleaner programs and actually going into the registry manually idk i read some place one time where u can just pop in your Operating disc and it will do it for u but im not sure
THANKS
RUBEN

 

[King107s]

COMODO system cleaner is not bad from my experience...

run-->regedit [Enter] to get into your registry

 

[c627627]

Clean your registry from what? If no two programs in existance erase the same things from registry then how do you know which one is right and more problematically, what do you do after they erase an entry you actually need?

There are ways to speed up your computer, but we usually don't recommend allowing programs to mess with your registry.

 

[King107s]

Clean your registry from what? If no two programs in existance erase the same things from registry then how do you know which one is right and more problematically, what do you do after they erase an entry you actually need?

There are ways to speed up your computer, but we usually don't recommend allowing programs to mess with your registry.

Well Comodo does have backups that can be restored for anything it changes in the registry if something goes wrong...

 

[c627627]

I assume you can use that backup to help you even if you use one of those reg "cleaners" and you can't boot into Windows afterwards?

If so, that is useful to have just in case.


But what is removed from the registry to "clean it" that is worth risking removal of something you need or risking a no-boot situation (we've seen that happen here over the years when people would post wondering what happened - which is why we warn not to allow programs to randomly remove registry entries, unless you know exactly what they are removing and why.)

 

[King107s]

Stuff that's left over from old drivers and old programs that have either been updated or uninstalled... That's where its needed. I have been using Comodo for about 5 years and have never had it corrupt my computer... in the off chance something catastrophic happens I have an back up image of the SSD made with Acronis True Image saved on a different drive.

 

[c627627]

Yes, and if no two programs in existence erase the same things from registry then how do you know which one is right and second and separate from that, that entries you actually need are not among the ones being erased?

 

[King107s]

Empirical evidence.... hard to argue with

Anyway the real focus of this thread was a suggestion on what to use for that purpose and I believe that has been satisfied.

 

[Automata]

Empirical evidence of what? How did you measure it ran better (more stable?) or faster? I've never heard of someone having to run a cleanup on a normal system (i.e. not infected or with a billion programs installed, etc) actually helping. I've only seen it cause problems.

If two programs remove the same thing, how do you know that should be removed? Just because they agree by doing the same thing, doesn't mean it is right. Two programs could harm the stability of the system in the same fashion by removing the same keys, does that make it correct?

 

[King107s]

Wait where did a second program get involved with this mess of a thread?

Look guys, he asked for something that did a specific task. I made a suggestion based upon that request. Then my suggestion was called into question and my defense is that my empirical evidence that the program was not damaging in anyway noticeable to the stability of the system or the operation of affected software. Now if you want to go on and on saying how bad it is to use, well then to you good sirs I say that I have not observed that with this software... I'm sure somewhere someone has, but not me. I do not know what algorithm or process is used to determine what or how the registry is cleaned but I'm sure you could write the software manufacture for a more though explanation. I'm not sure what else I can say here that will help end this thread without more follow ups but I know Im done. Maybe I'll go post in Positive vs Negative case pressure....

 

[Automata]

The two programs were brought up because no one can agree what should be removed and what should stay. You can run one cleaner program, remove a bunch of keys, then run another, and it removes more. There are none that are "right". That is what c627627 is arguing and it makes sense.

I brought up the point of speed and stability. How do you know that it is running faster and more stable? It just feels that way? Running the program didn't make it worse? Those aren't very good criteria for determining if a program is good. From what I see, these programs only get run because people think it helps when there is no hard evidence.

I'm not asking or expecting you to understand the intricacies of how these programs work, because that is ridiculous. Bottom line, these programs are a waste of time at best, and dangerous to your install at worst.

 

[King107s]

Most of the time I just use them to find the fragments left behind after an uninstall so that a new install is not corrupted. We can all attest to the fact that many if not all programs and drivers leave behind a lot of stuff in the registry that points to stuff on the hard drive that's not there anymore. Video drivers used to be notorious for this and the affects were certainly noticeable to the end user...

 

[Automata]

I'm not arguing that stuff gets left behind -- I wholly agree with that. I've never heard, seen, nor personally had an install become corrupted because the registry wasn't "cleaned". Extra keys aren't going to hurt anything as they aren't being referenced by any programs. They are like extra files on the hard drive. Do you comb through every folder on your disk deleting files you don't need? I certainly hope not. Those extra files/registry keys aren't hurting anything. Are they taking up space? Sure, but isn't appreciable.