registry cleaner for 64 bit

Such software does not exist, and it makes me angry. When I upgrade to
Vista it will be to make the leap to 64 bit. But I will not do so if what I
consider essential software does not exist to support the operating system.

[Gary Goldblum]

Hi Mister Scary-
No reason to get angry.
Ccleaner will work for 32 and 64 bit, and it's free!
www.ccleaner.com

Most experts would say that registry cleaners are entirely unnecessary, and
often harmful.

SteveT

not only experts.
Having worked in tech support for two major companies, I suggest only one
use for so-called programs.
They *might* help stabilize a system for a short time, while recovering from
serious problems, before a complete OS installation.
(which would also remove the offending "cleaner", which should not be
re-installed)

The risk of damage to a critical OS tool is far greater than savings of a
few bytes in the registry.
Although many techs still use them, the company policy even 7 years ago, was
to never use these things.
I've had many a disagreement with all sorts of company policies, management,
and authority in general.
This one, from both direct and indirect experience, I agree with.

It's more essential that you not use any registry cleaner - they are
probably the number one cause of problems in Windows machines. They
frequently misidentify and remove essential entries, later leaving the user
clueless as to why something isn't working.

The only time one should use a tool of this type is when it is specific to
removing the remnants of a program and is provided by the software vendor.
Never, ever use a general registry cleaning tool - period.

Why do you even think you'd ever 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 only thing needed to safely clean
your registry is knowledge and Regedit.exe.

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 repeatedly 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. 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.

More 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. Given the potential for harm, it's just not
worth the risk.

Granted, most registry "cleaners" won't cause problems each and
every time they're used, but the potential for harm is always there.
And, since no registry "cleaner" has ever been demonstrated to do any
good (think of them like treating the flu with chicken soup - there's no
real medicinal value, but it sometimes provides a warming placebo
effect), I always tell people that the risks far out-weigh the
non-existent benefits.

I will concede that a good registry *scanning* tool, in the hands
of an experienced and knowledgeable technician or hobbyist can be a
useful time-saving diagnostic tool, as long as it's not allowed to make
any changes automatically. But I really don't think that there are any
registry "cleaners" that are truly safe for the general public to use.
Experience has proven just the opposite: such tools simply are not safe
in the hands of the inexperienced user.

IMO the only registry cleaner that's worth using is one that makes you choose
each and every item to "clean" - if it automates the process there's a chance
of error. And I've experienced my share of errors with them - that's why I
don't use or recommend them to anyone.

You don't need a registry cleaner; in fact registry cleaners cause more
problems than they actually cure. I don't use a registry cleaner and haven't
done so since Windows XP. My philosophy is 'if you can't edit the registry
manually, then leave well alone.'

Why would a lack of harmful software make you angry? For most people, it's
the other way around.

They are useful when uninstalls don't go smoothly. The technique I used in
the past was to go through the registry and edit it
by hand when I had problems.

There are two registry cleaners from Microsoft Gold Certified Partners.
Uniblue Registry Booster and Systweak Advanced
System Optimizer. I have used Registry Booster many times and not had any
problems with it.

And like all registry cleaners is snake oil and a waste of time and disk
space.

Registry cleaners do more harm than good. There isn't one that is consistent
They are best left well alone.

I recently was asked to look at Wise Registry Cleaner and Regcure. Both
produced so many false positives it was unbelievable. On the first run Wise
informed me that 450 registry items needed deleting. After deleting these
(without checking, because that's what most people do (and this was a test
machine)), Luckily the PC restarted. The next step was to try Regcure which
came up with a whopping 1800 entries to delete. Quite a big difference, you
will agree.

My motto is 'if you are not competent to edit the registry manually, then
leave well alone.'

Never heard of him. Who is Mark Russinovich? Does he post here as MVP? Not
that I've seen......
And IMHO they are STILL snake oil. Yes I've tried them from 95 up to XP and
had NO appreciable increase in performance....

Who is Mark Russinovich? Google is your friend. If Mark says it, it's
true. The important thing here is that most knowledgeable people will
say to stay away from cleaners. An important point is that Mark, in his
blog, was fixing a definite problem not just general cleaning. Another
point is that Mark knows what the hell he's doing. Most of us don't. The
only reason I can think of for not using cleaners (I don't) is that if
you don't know what you're doing you will destroy your OS, so I agree
with you that they shouldn't be used unless you need to solve a problem.

hey gordon,

The post regarding mark's link was meant for you. I didn't know you were being sarcastic ;). Have a good one.

andy

I won't consider it because of the gimmicky ad pop-ups telling me that it is
my last chance to get an immediate
price discount or some such. Similarly, I can't stand Advanced System
Optimizer because it won't let you leave the
web page.

Everyone has bashed registry cleaners but no one has told about a bad
experience with my own choice,
Uniblue Registry Booster.

To say that, in general, registry cleaners are junk is to say nothing at
all. Of course they are junk in general, I've known
that for a long time.

[mondero]

I bought Ms-errors very good software, fixed many errors i had.