[jpmack32]

Hi people,

I keep getting emails offering free registry clean up to speed up my pc, once i've downloaded and done the free scan which finds many faults, they want to charge me £29.95 to repair. Do I need this or are their any links where I can get this free? I would appreciate your advise.

[WhitPhil]

Emails or pop-ups?

If they are emails, treat them as you would any other spam and delete them.

Popups is another issue.

Bottom line: ignore anything related to registry cleaners/optimizers. (and uninstall whichever ones you installed)

[JohnWill]

Don't fix stuff that ain't broke!©

[blues_harp28]

Hi check.
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=643

[bats]

Does anyone have a negative opinion of using MS Live cleaning tool? If you should decide to use it be aware it takes a very long time to run.
Here is the Link: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm

bats

[JohnWill]

I have a negative opinion on all cleaning tools of that nature, including MS Onecare.

[bats]

Thank You for your honest opinion.
Is there ever a reason that anyone would need to clean the registry? Is there actualy an perceptable improvement over an untouched registry, or is this a "do I leave the computer on or turn it off at night" "egg or chicken first" argument.
wondering out loud thanks for listening

[JohnWill]

I won't say there's "never" a reason for cleaning the registry, but I can say that if a computer is working properly, IMO cleaning the registry is not warranted. The small (if any) speed increase would be totally unnoticeable by anything but a very good benchmark.

[ryfry]

Though I don't think you'll notice any real increase in speed, (I didn't) I am aware of one reg. cleaner that is in fact totally free. Try downloading ccleaner @ ccleaner.com. Good luck.

[Blackmirror]

The only time i use something to help is for those programs that will not uninstall or reinstall properly

then this is very handy
http://www.revouninstaller.com/

With its advanced and fast algorithm, Revo Uninstaller analyzes an application's data before uninstall and scans after you uninstall an application. After the program's regular uninstaller runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys that are usually left over on your computer. Even if you have a broken installation, Revo Uninstaller scans for an application's data on your hard disk drives and in the Windows registry and shows all found files, folders and registry keys so you can delete them

.


Its been very useful

[JohnWill]

Don't fix stuff that ain't broke!©





A good read: Ed Bott: "Why I don’t use registry cleaners"

[CTPhil]

There are 100's of free apps that scan your registry for unneeded or out of place entries. For finding such stuff, any one of them is useful. The real problem is when you trust the app to "fix" your registry on it's own. Bad idea.

[srtools1980y]

create a RESTORE POINT before cleaning, because in case, after cleaning if your system starts wobbling......................

[WhitPhil]

Originally Posted by srtools1980y

create a RESTORE POINT before cleaning, because in case, after cleaning if your system starts wobbling......................

And then, when your PC no longer boots as a result of something corrupted in the registry, how do you plan on gettng to this Restore Point.\

Or, better still. The keys that were cleaned affect an application that only runs infrequently. Thus, when you run it, IT goes wobbly. Unfortunately, it is now months later.

Everyone "assumes" that when a Registry Cleaner is done running, if there is anything wrong, it will be immediately obvious. This is far, far, far from reality.

Cleaning does nada to help your system.

Don't fix stuff that ain't broke!©

[srtools1980y]

yes u are correct.

truth is all reg. cleaners & defrag. softwares are only bells & whistles.
but nobody listens.

reg. cleaners are notorious in removing burner soft. & auto cad keys.

before 8 years I used them & suffered (when I was a novice), but now I edit manually.

Nowadays I am using pen(flash) drives for rebooting.

In safe mode offcourse

Regarding defrag. xp defrag itself is sufficient.