computer question

[Doug Moon]

Anyone have a good registry cleaner?

I just used one and it said 406 items to repair.  Trial version will repair 20 items please purchase cleaner for 49.95 for the rest to be repaired.

I ran Eusing cleaner and it got 102 items.

Anyone have a freeware they like to use?

Thanks

Doug

[Larrys4227]

At the moment, I use "RegCure" here at work. There is a free version available at: http://www.regcure.com/
Seems to do pretty good, but its the full version. License will expire in 5 months, the boss will probably renew.

At home, I use whatever is most popular at the moment. There are so many out there now, it can be confusing to decide. Normaly I go to CNET (or similiar) and search for the most popular download and thats what I go with. If it doesnt do what I want, I move to the next. As always, caution should be applied when messin' with the registry .... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Your mileage may vary .... 

FlySafe!  Larry (Larrys4227)

[Eric Viglione]

Hard to put this in a short note... but I find most registry cleaners to be spyware more often than not. Use the un-install program that came with the software to do un-installs. If you are trying to clean a spyware infection, look up the manual removal instructions or download a specific removal tool for that spyware to remove it. For a registry cleaner to really be effective, it needed to be running BEFORE the programs were installed, so it could track the changes and undo them.

I know a lot of people have lots of opinions but the only automated removal tools I trust are:

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5.2
CWS Shredder
Smitfaudfix

Otherwise I do most repairs manually in safe mode at the command prompt.

PS:BitDefender is an awesome alternative to Symantec's currently bloated products.

EricV

[Larrys4227]

... but I find most registry cleaners to be spyware more often than not.

Very good point I should have mentioned.

SpyBot Search & Destroy ....  been using that for years with good results.

FlySafe!  Larry (Larrys4227)

[Lee Thiel]

Doug, CCCleaner works good for me.  Free and fast.
http://www.ccleaner.com
Lee TGD

[frank carlisle]

I had a problem a couple days ago. A program called PCcleaner got ahold of my computer. It locked me out of the control panel. It would interrupt me at inconvenient times to show me a ballon that told me my pc had a virus. I tried running the program but it was the short version and it wanted 50 bucks to go away.
I tried resetting my computer to how it was working a couple weeks ago. It didn't budge PCcleaner. I tried a system recovery with no good result. Finally I copied all my files and ran a destructive recovery. That got rid of ole PCcleaner. I lost all me email addresses but my directory was due for a culling anyway.

[RC Storick]

I use Girtsoft's AVG its free and the best! Will do it all.

[wmiii]

 I use AVG, Skybot and CCcleaner, those 3 have kept my computer free of nasty stuff for 3+ years.

 Walter

[Randy Powell]

Sorry, I use Linux and don't have these issues. There are other things that you have to be aware of, but they managed to stay away from the registry mess.

[don Burke]

There was a column in the local paper recently that talked about registry cleaning.  Pros and cons of doing it with downloaded software vs. with utility included with Windows.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/17/science/edrington/23_42_232_15_08.txt

[11290]

Dittoes on CCleaner.  Used to be called Crap Cleaner a few years ago.  Does a good job with the registry especially after removing a program.

[Randy Powell]

One of the problems is, even using the uninstall function for a program (or Add/Remove program control panel applet), registry items often are not removed. This ends up being a lot of overhead for the system. Programs like CCCleaner and RegEdit are needed to remove this stuff. Problem is, you can destroy your OS installation by getting too aggressive with such programs, removing stuff you need. Unfortunately, the structure of Windows is such that they really don't have any choice. It was an early architecture decision in Win95 that they are now stuck with unless they go back and rework pretty much everything.

Just be careful of those shareware programs that install all kinds of spy stuff unless you pay up. Makes me glad every time I boot Linux.