registry cleaner and defrager

W

Will

Joined
Jan 4, 2003
Messages
659
I want to try cleaning up and defragging my registry in a attempt to speed up and improve the performance of my machine, without reinstalling everything or buying more RAM. I have been suggested the two following freeware programs:

http://www.registry-clean.net/free-registry-defrag.htm

and

http://www.ccleaner.com/

I tried them out on a old computer I rarely use, and they seem to have helped speed things up without any ill effects. Does anyone here use similar programs or have any words of caution before I try using them on my primary work computer?
 
Be careful with registry cleaners.
I think the general rule of thumb with registry cleaner , mechanic so forth is if it not broke do not fix it.
If you do use those make sure you create a restore point and that the program itself does make a backup copy of the registry in case you hose your system, which is always quite possible when editing the registry.
 
I have used Ccleaner for a long time and have never had any problems with it. It works.

I like RegScrubXP, also. It works very well.

You would not believe the amount of crap left in your registry when you uninstall progams.
 
I've never found any registry tool to be worth it, even if free. A complete wipe and reinstall is the best way.

There are tools that make this process faster and I think those are worth it. I don't know of any freeware for this.

Back up your data. Then wipe the disk. Do a clean install. Update all the programs and drivers. Now make an image of this install. Norton Ghost is one good tool for this. In the future when the machine is all crufty with the junk that builds up, back up the new data, wipe the disk and install your image.

Phil
 
phatch said:
Then wipe the disk.
Phil
Click to expand...

Wiping is always good! Especially with the Eraser program from http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/. I've used it...works especially well while running Windows. You can right click with the option in the context menu to erase instead of just delete to the Recycle Bin. You can also do an "Erase Secure Move" and move data from one place to another and it will overwrite the original disk space used for that data, not just make it available to be written over. You can also create a Nuke disk from within the program to erase an entire drive to meet D.O.D. standards.

Works to remove all that extra junk MS creates on a HDD when you do a dual boot also...you usually have to delete/create partitions twice and format twice to make that stuff disappear.

John
 
I use CCleaner exclusively. At times I also use RegCleaner 4.3 by Jouni Vuorio. Both programs allow you to make a backup before you delete anything.
 
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