Windows registry and system cleaner applications?

Question

I was looking for some good applications that can help me to keep my registry and system clean. It should..

• Clean up and maintain neat registry
• Remove historical data from browsers and all other applications
• clear all temp. file locations
• and do all that can keep my Windows system as clean as possible.

Any recommendations?

Answer 1

CCleaner is the best I have used. It used to be called "Crap Cleaner", but they re-branded themselves to have a more acceptable name. It will clean up history for many, many applications, and temporary files older then a specified threshold. It also seems to do a good job cleaning the registry (although I have heard that this is a fruitless effort). I've never had it cause any troubles for me though, and I use it regularly on more then one machine (I rarely use the Registry Cleaner feature, but I regularly use the System Cleaner feature, even on Windows 8)

It is 100% free and regularly updated.

Warning about usage: CCleaner cleans settings for a lot of programs and by default cleans up settings. So if you install a new program, or update to a new version of CCleaner then it may by default start cleaning the settings for a program you don't realize. So always check the applications tab before running, especially if you find yourself loosing history or settings on a specific program.

Answer 2

There are many free registry cleaning tools out there, however you are probably better off not using them. Start by reading the Wikipedia page on registry editors' disadvantages. Among the various valid points the article makes:

• Removing certain registry data can prevent the system from starting, or cause errors and crashes.
• There is no reliable way for a third party program to know whether any particular key is invalid or redundant. Poorly designed registry cleaners may not know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have.
• Because of how the registry works on newer versions of windows, on Windows XP and later, the difference in speed due to the use of a registry cleaner is negligible: rarely do they remove more than a few kilobytes from the total size of the registry.

Basically, registry cleaners are not only useless on modern versions of Windows, they can actually be dangerous. There is no performance gain, and the risk of potentially removing necessary registry entries makes it not worthwhile. I would highly recommend not using a registry cleaner. If you want to speed up performance related to the registry, you are better of defragging the registry (Microsoft's SysInternals has a tool which can do this) than trying to reduce its size.

Answer 3

There is another question that you might want to look at,
Is it worth cleaning the registry.

Answer 4

I use Windows' default Regedit. Places to look are:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects

and sometimes, more on public computers all kinds of users work on, a nasty bugger adds itself to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify

Answer 5

Cleaning the registry is not the best way to speed up your computer! you may apply some other techniques to improve your system performance such as:uninstalling the apps you don't really need,disabling the services in windows that you don't need or defragmenting your disk.such ways help you more than registry clean up!

Answer 6

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner together with Eusing Free Registry Defrag.

However, registry cleaning is dangerous without good geeky knowledge and taking the right precautions.

Answer 7

I use Auslogics Registry Cleaner and have never had any problems.