Registry Cleaning?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Artreid
  • Start date Start date
A

Artreid

I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get all
messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs, old
pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
 
Artreid said:
I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get
all messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs,
old pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
Click to expand...
Been using ccleaner for two years with no problems - it lets you back up the
registry. Get it from filehippo.com
 
Artreid said:
I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get
all messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs,
old pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
Click to expand...



The anti-registry cleaner crowd are essentially non-programmers.

They do not comprehend the fact that when an application starts up and reads
entries from the registry, that this takes TIME.

They do not comprehend the fact that reading 6000 entries at application
startup will take longer than reading 20.

If you wish to be a fully-fledged signed up member of this mindless
unthinking herd of Gabardine swine, as they charge towards the cliff edge
with their corrupted registries, then follow their advice.

If you wish to part of the gang of sick doctors who deprive sick registries
of their much needed cure, then please follow their advice.

Alternatively get hold of a decent registry cleaner and start rooting out
the corruption.
 
About the only folks who will tell you that registry cleaners are necessary
to keep your computer running well are the folks who are trying to sell them
to you. Anyone with a more than a fair amount of experience maintaining or
fixing computers has plenty of horror stories about what can, and does, go
wrong when they are used indiscriminately.

Even if there are old remnants of uninstalled programs and long-gone items
from your computer in the Registry, so what? These things do not cause
performance issues, or any other problems, and can be safely ignored.
 
Artreid said:
I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get
all messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs,
old pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
Click to expand...

No need to "fix" anything.
 
Jon said:
The anti-registry cleaner crowd are essentially non-programmers.

They do not comprehend the fact that when an application starts up and
reads entries from the registry, that this takes TIME.

They do not comprehend the fact that reading 6000 entries at application
startup will take longer than reading 20.
Click to expand...

You don't understand the hiearchal nature of the registry and how
applications use the registry. Applications don't go searching for keys
and values, they look for or ask to read or write to *specific* keys or
values or to verify their presence, the number of keys or values present
makes no difference at all because none of these other keys are even
looked at. The only time it makes any difference is if you want to do
extensive searches through the registry, like using Regedit to find
strings, applications don't do this, they don't rummage through the
registry, any Windows programmer would know this.

John
 
Artreid expressed an opinion:
I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get
all messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs,
old pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
Click to expand...

By the time you finish sorting all the replies between pro-reg cleaners
and anti-reg cleaners, your head will hurt and your eyes will water.

My solution is more simple. Search for websites that give clear info and
instruction on how to manually edit the registry yourself. You must be
very careful, back up the registry first, and know what you're going to
do before you actually do anything.

In my opinion, some but not all registry cleaners are worthless, a few
are even dangerous, and trying tell them apart is a matter of trusting
the opinion of other _anonymous_strangers_ online. It's *your* computer,
*your* data at risk, so don't trust it to some program written by some
_anonymous_stranger_.
 
I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get
all messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs,
old pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
Click to expand...

I can see two rather obvious solutions:

1) reinstall
2) switch to Linux (no registry)
 
by removing orphaned keys from
the registry,

the file size of the registry will be
reduced

a reduction of file size has a number
of benefits.

--------------

ultimately, do not utilize registry
cleaners that have not been recommended
by users in this newsgroups.

many of them are not up to date
and some of them are spywares
in disguise.


--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
ray said:
I can see two rather obvious solutions:

1) reinstall
2) switch to Linux (no registry)
Click to expand...

Your number 2 is completely worthless. Why would someone ditch Windows for
that crappy Ubuntu that nobody wants? You must be an idiot.
 
db said:
by removing orphaned keys from
the registry,

the file size of the registry will be
reduced

a reduction of file size has a number
of benefits.
Click to expand...

Very few. The registry is a lookup table. Your system will not be affected
by removing a few entries in this table.
Give it a rest.
 
Artreid said:
I am reading in this NG and all over the internet that cleaning the
registry is a no, no. I am also informed that the registry can/does get
all messed up/cluttered with all sorts of stuff, from removed programs,
old pointers, etc, over time.

So what/how do you fix this if you shouldn't use a registry cleaner???
Click to expand...


There's nothing to fix. Such orphaned entries have no affect upon
performance.

Remember, the registry is an *indexed* database. The OS doesn't
have scan through each and every registry entry to find the one that
it's looking for. To use an imperfect analogy, try thinking of the
registry as a book with a very detailed table of contents. Once the OS
knows to which "page" it must turn to find the information needed, the
OS goes *directly* (much more so than you or I could do with a physical
book) to the pertinent data. The number of intervening "pages,
paragraphs, and words" is utterly irrelevant.

The only time the sheer number of registry entries matters, and can
possibly affect performance, is when one is doing something that
requires a full entry-by-entry scan of the registry. And one does this
*only* on those rare occasions when it is necessary to search the
registry for a particular value, or when using something like a registry
scanner or "cleaner." Day-to-day operations remain untouched.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
housetrained said:
Been using ccleaner for two years with no problems - it lets you back up
the registry. Get it from filehippo.com
Click to expand...


You've been lucky.

CCleaner's registry scanner seems relatively benign, as long as you
step through each detected "issue" (almost all of which will be bogus)
one at a time, to determine if it really is an "issue" or not, and then
decide whether or not to let the application "fix" it. In my testing,
though, most of the reported "issues" won't be issues, at all. I tried
the latest version on a brand-new OS installation with no additional
applications installed, and certainly none installed and then
uninstalled, and CCleaner still managed to "find" over a hundred
allegedly orphaned registry entries and dozens of purportedly
"suspicious" files. Its findings were utter nonsense, in plain terms.

CCleaner's only real strength, and the only reason I use it, lies
in its usefulness for cleaning up unused temporary files from the hard
drive; as a registry "cleaner," it's not significantly different from
any other snake oil product of the same type.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
Jon said:
The anti-registry cleaner crowd are essentially non-programmers.
Click to expand...


True. Instead, we are, for the most part, highly experienced (20+
years, in my case, going on 15 years with registry-based operating
systems) technicians, many of us professionals, who know that all too
many "programmers" are some of the most technically clueless people
extant. All a lot of them do is kludge together (copy & paste) modules
and sub-routines that others have written. I know. I've had to repair
their computers' operating systems often enough. (Yes there are good
programmers out there, but they seem to be in the minority, sadly.)

They do not comprehend the fact that when an application starts up and
reads entries from the registry, that this takes TIME.
Click to expand...


/Au contraire/, we realized perfectly well that each application will
have to take a few nanoseconds to read the few pertinent registry
entries. This time, however, is meaningless to humans, and remains
exactly the same whether or not the registry contains extraneous
entries, or whether or not a registry "cleaner" has been used.

They do not comprehend the fact that reading 6000 entries at application
startup will take longer than reading 20.
Click to expand...


But we do understand that the registry is an indexed database, and that
no application reads any significant portion of the registry on startup.
Instead, they read exactly those, and only those, entries that they
need.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
db said:
by removing orphaned keys from
the registry,

the file size of the registry will be
reduced
Click to expand...

By a few meaningless kilobytes...
a reduction of file size has a number
of benefits.
Click to expand...


Name one. Provide scientific evidence to support this assertion. (We
know you can't, because you've been asked before, and have always failed
to even make an attempt.)





--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
Your number 2 is completely worthless. Why would someone ditch Windows
for that crappy Ubuntu that nobody wants? You must be an idiot.
Click to expand...

I must be an idiot - I didn't say one word about Ubuntu - that was your
'leap of faith'.
 
ray said:
Ah - so you're telling us vista isn't?
Click to expand...

Windows 7 is a rewrite of most of the major components. The look and feel
are the same and that's about it.
 
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