Registry cleaner

[cedwards]

What is the best registry cleaner? I am looking online and all the reviews seem to only be advertisements for one particular package. I tried a couple of free trials that were far from worth keeping.

I have computers that run Windows 7, XP, and Vista 32bit

 

[Mark Blue]

I use Registry Mechanic made by PC Tools found here: http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/. I've never cleaned the registry and then my computer wouldn't boot or something catastrophic such as that. It seems to do a thorough job and even stores a copy of any changes should you need to restore the previous copy.

iolo also makes System Mechanic which includes a registry cleaner amongst many other tools. I've had good luck with this software package as well. If you mainly want a stand along package for cleaning the registry, Registry Mechanic is definitely a solid tool in my estimation.

 

[cedwards]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

 

[James Hilger]

Ccleaner is pretty good also.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Ccleaner is pretty good also.

I've been using that freeware product for a couple of years now.
Truly xlnt!
Recommended . . .

 

[Wes Carter]

I use Glary Utilities. It has several other tools that are also helpful. I found it at Download.com and tried it because it was free and rated very high and have been using it 3-4 years now.

 

[ericjkelly]

Glary Utilities and Advanced System Care Free and the two I use and they are free at download.com

 

[Jason Foster]

Something I've never done (well not since windows 3.1...LOL).

I don't even remember what a registry cleaner is suppose to do? What is it exactly?

 

[Mark Blue]

They clean the Windows Registry of invalid entries, supposedly to stabilize or repair your Windows install if it is old and you've uninstalled several programs over the years. Most uninstallers are not very thorough and leave behind invalid registry entries which can clog up your system and cause it to become unstable. Removing invalid links from the registry will hopefully stabilize your OS and ensure your system operates as efficiently as possible. The older Windows 9x versions were more susceptible to the registry becoming bloated as compared to the newer NT based versions of Windows operating systems.

As far as performance gains are concerned, you will probably realize a more noticeable improvement from running a stand alone defragmention program such as Perfect Disk, O&O Defrag, or Diskkeeper. However, some folks also prefer to keep their registry as clean as possible, thus the need for registry cleaners. Some programs also compact and optimize the registry, so depending on your needs the aforementioned features can also be found with some software programs whose primary function is to clean the registry.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I've been a fan of cccleaner myself