Clean Registry

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How do I clean my windows XP registry
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Don't!

I strongly recommend *against* the use of registry cleaners. Cleaning
of the registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry
alone and don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what many people
think, and what vendors of registry cleaning software try to
convince you of, having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt
you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.
 
Arnie said:
How do I clean my windows XP registry


Arnie
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Why do you think you 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 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 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.

The only thing needed to safely clean your registry is knowledge
and Regedit.exe. 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.

Further, and most 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.

I always use Regedit.exe. I trust my own experience and judgment
far more than I would any automated registry cleaner. I strongly
encourage others to acquire the knowledge, as well.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell
 
Wed, 4 Jul 2007 10:54:02 -0700 from Arnie
How do I clean my windows XP registry
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Do that right after you use Comet to clean your eyeglasses.

Seriously -- if you had read this group before posting, you would see
that the experts recommend very strongly against any so-called
registry cleaner. If you know what you're doing, you don't need it,
and if you don't know what you're doing, you're likely to muck things
up pretty badly.
 
Arnie

I cannot echo more strongly than it was posted by others. Do NOT use a Registry Cleaner tool. Even with back up if it happens to remove a string that is needed by Windows to boot what are you going to do with the backup if you cannot boot to Windows to get to your backup.

Using a Registry Cleaner is similar to Russian Roulette. Also it does nothing and does not save much space as most believe
 
I ordered SpeedUpMyPC3, also Registry Booster2 because I was told that it
would help speed up my computer. Paid a lot of money for something I don`t
need? What do I do now, I can`t get a refund for being stupid.
 
Arnie, though I agree in principle with the opinions echoed here, the
hysterics make me laugh. I have used Easy Cleaner on
my Win2k and WinXP registries for a few years now and never had a
problem. Russian Roulette, LOL.
 
missnewbie said:
I ordered SpeedUpMyPC3, also Registry Booster2 because I was told that it
would help speed up my computer. Paid a lot of money for something I don`t
need? What do I do now, I can`t get a refund for being stupid.
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All you can do now is chalk it up as an unnecessarily expensive lesson.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell
 
Wed, 4 Jul 2007 16:10:01 -0700 from missnewbie
I ordered SpeedUpMyPC3, also Registry Booster2 because I was told that it
would help speed up my computer. Paid a lot of money for something I don`t
need? What do I do now, I can`t get a refund for being stupid.
Click to expand...

Take this as a lesson: next time, read reviews before you buy.
"Reviews" is maybe not the right word -- read experts' comments
before you buy. Do some research (e.g. Google) before you post a
query on the newsgroup.

Three years ago I bought an HP All-in-One that was nothing but
trouble. The driver was over a hundred megabytes, it slowed my
computer way down, and the scanner wouldn't scan -- to name just a
few of the problems. Then I googled for that model and found the many
warnings against it, naming exactly the problems I had been having. I
took it as a lesson and since then I do my research before making a
purchase.

If you haven't opened the software, you can probably return it for a
full refund. At least it won't hurt to ask.

If you have opened it, according to Cem Kaner in /Bad Software/ the
Uniform Commercial Code still gives you the right to return it as
unsatisfactory. But it might be more trouble than it's worth to argue
that point.
 
I ordered SpeedUpMyPC3, also Registry Booster2 because I was told that it
would help speed up my computer. Paid a lot of money for something I don`t
need? What do I do now, I can`t get a refund for being stupid.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear that, but not only do I not believe in Registry
Cleaners, but I also don't believe in snake oil products like "Speed
Up My PC."
 
Arnie, though I agree in principle with the opinions echoed here, the
hysterics make me laugh. I have used Easy Cleaner on
my Win2k and WinXP registries for a few years now and never had a
problem. Russian Roulette, LOL.
Click to expand...



Peter's point, when he says "Russian Roulette," is that when you play
Russian Roulette, most of the time, you *don't* get killed.

But if you play it often enough, you will get killed. Registry
Cleaners, although they don't burn you every time you use them, are a
bad risk.
 
Arnie, along with Easy Cleaner which is free, I have used System
Mechanic 7 many times for a 30 day free trial.
Never had a problem with that either.
 
Thanks for the good advise, will do research next time. This was bought
online so probably won`t be able to get refund. Oh well, lesson learned.
Thanks again.
 
Arnie said:
How do I clean my windows XP registry


Arnie
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If you're smart you don't. Registry cleaners do more harm than good and
they do not speed up the machine.
 
Wed said:
Arnie, along with Easy Cleaner which is free, I have used System
Mechanic 7 many times for a 30 day free trial.
Click to expand...

You were doubly lucky -- once that your registry wasn't screwed up
(as far as you know), and once that you weren't caught stealing
software. "Many times for a 30-day free trial"??
 
Have you tried contacting the venders and see if they do honour a Money Back
satisfaction guarantee? Some venders will refund your money however I don't
know if these particular programs have that option.
 
I've tried a significant number of different registry cleaners over time.
Only a small number of them were truly dangerous. But as a whole none of
them made a noticeable positive change in performance. I've found that the
basic built in cleaners that come with XP do an adequate job.
 
I support a lot of customers with everything from Win95 to WinXP.No Vista
yet but it is coming.
In most cases I have little or no control over what software they install so
problems happen.
My first try at fixing either performance or stability problems is to run a
cleaner.
I prefer "Registry Mechanic".from pctools.com
More times than I can count it finds a lot of problems. When corrected the
system is faster and more stable.
I have never needed it but the fact that it automatically creates a restore
point before cleaning make me feel safe in using it.

Bill

FYI
Most of my customers have 24X7 DSL.
I will not use Norton or MacAfee Virus or Firewall.
I use a hardware firewall and eset Nod32 anti virus.
None of my customers who use this setup have had any virus, adware, or
spyware problems since I settled on this setup.
 
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