What is THE best free registry cleaning software?

Software come and software go, but I have yet to find one that _automatically_ cleans ALL debris.

TIA.

 

I have been using this one for a while.
Seems to do a good job. If the automatic cleaner
doesn't get everything you can remove items manually.
Just be careful what you remove.
RegCleaner 4.3
http://www.pcmedixwebs.com/regclean.htm

 

I actually recommend a program by the same author of RegCleaner by jv16.org. It's called jv16 powertools. It has a registry cleaner in it, that does much better than the older RegCleaner. Go to www.majorgeeks.com and download the jv16's powertools. I believe it is either under the registry tools or the all in one category. (Make sure you download the older freeware version and not the shareware one.)

 

Registry1StAid
Here

 

Before you use ANY RegCleaner.

FIRST thing to do is to make sure you have and know how to use BACKUPS.

And make sure you have backups that can be restored from DOS if need be.

I know 98SE can restore from DOS but I am not sure about XP yet.

Otherwise leave regcleaning alone.

BillyBob

 

BEST is usually a matter of personal choice.

The registry cleaner included in Easy Cleaner from ToniArts is here

A stand alone freeware version of the registry cleaner in jv16PowerToys is here

Reg Seeker from hoverdesk is here

The old Registry Maid for Windows95 from Micro$oft still works but is difficult to find.

Nothing beats right click and delete using regedit, however knowing what to delete is next to impossible. InCtrl5 will provide an accurate list of registry changes when installing software, freeware from PCMagazine

Would you believe 1925 registry changes to update Windows Media Player (and I did not take all the options)

 

Thanks for the response.

When I said "best ", I meant one that cleans properly. The various utilities I have used do not catch them all - they still leave debris behind. After running one, when I run the next, I find entries that were not caught by the previous one.

I will consider the ones you have suggested.

 

musicollector

I sure hope you have backups made.

Also when using ANY RegCleaner it STILL depends on you as the user to know what is what.

I have not seen a RegCleaner yet that does not on ocassion make a mistake.

And as a user of RegCleaners I HAVE MADE a few mistakes. Thank goodness for backups.

I have had them tell me that some software was no longer installed. But it was installed and working fine. And just for the giggles of it I let it remove the reference and the software QUIT WORKING

The one that is " BEST " is the one that you as the user are happy with.

BillyBob

 

Mo' betta UNDERCLEAN than OVERCLEAN. About the best I've found with Windows 98, was eventually the DEAD LINKS check in the RESKIT. It went after all the dead links and found a few in the registry.

But mostly, close is good enough.

 

Now you tell me

But I do fully agree.

BB

 

Cleaning the Regisrty

"If in doubt DON'T "

I just removed Real Player.

Did some reg cleaning and found that I also disabled Media Player

A lot of things had been set to "open with " Real Player. Cleaning the reg found something like 200 keys to Real Player.

If I had half a brain I would have checked WMP setting first.

Oh BTW. I have a RP that I made just prior to cleaning.

Just in case

BB

 

Thanks all, for all the responses. I appreciate them.

Yes, as I work for Big Blue and am proficient in such things, I have been using RegCleanr and manually deleting the entries. But that has not removed everything, as I see.

I gather when you say "do a backup ", you mean backing up the user.dat and system.dat files, correct? I have been doing that. I have also been exporting the registry from within.

 

What version of windows are you using ? If you did say then I missed it.

If 98 then Scanregistry running at boot up make a backup of FOUR FILES. the RB00x.CAB files in the C:\Windows\Sysbckup folder.

System.dat
System.ini
User.dat
Win.ini

In 98 ALL four are needed to be backed up and restored at the same time.

If XP then make sure the Restore Points are made.

BillyBob

 

Hi Billy Bob,

It is Win 98 SE. Hmmm...I have not been backing up the .ini files! Time to do that, as well.

Do you think exporting it from within the registry would be just as good, or does it accomplish something different? This would not do any good unless I was into Windows, right? Or, would the .REG file work from within DOS?

My kids' PC has XP, and believe me, those Restore Points saved our neck many times. Too bad Win 98 doesn't have that wonderful feature.

TIA.

 

Do you think exporting it from within the registry

NO. That is not the same. Export is only good for export/import individual keys and does not get into the System.ini or Win.ini

would be just as good, or does it accomplish something different?

Scanregistry does some thing different.

This would not do any good unless I was into Windows, right? Or, would the .REG file work from within DOS?

OK we may need to dig a little deeper here.

If scanregisrty is loading at boot up it makes ONE reg backup per calendar day at the first boot up or restart of Windows for the day. If neither event occurs there is no backup created.

It backs up the the four files mentioned prevously into a file named RB00x.cab ( x = 1-5 ) file and stored in the C:\Windows\Sysbckup folder. Unless the user makes changes there will be only 5 made. Then they start overwriting the oldest.

These files can be ( and need to be ) restored by booting up and using the F8 to get the menu and then selecting " Command Promt only " and typing Scanreg /restore. This REPLACE/OVERWRITES in total the four files.

You can also boot to the startup disk and type

C:\Windows\Command\Scanreg /restore.

You can also run scanregistry while in Windows and make a backup but it may not be as dependable.

BillyBob

 

BillyBob,
FOUR files ?
What about protocol.ini, msdos.sys and io.sys ??
They belong to the control file set that lets Windows work.
regards

 

merlin

I will not comment on whether they need to be backed up also or not as I never bothered with them.

I believe they can be ( along with anything else that the user chooses ) added to the list if the user so chooses.

Plus I just like to make sure that the default setup is working properly first. Then go for modifications if desired.

Any modifation to the default settings of the backup program in question will need to come from someone who has made same. I have not made any and see no reason to.

BillyBob

 

Thanks to both your enlightening posts.

One last question.

I gather Scanregistry is a part of the OS? If so, does it automatically load at boot up (since you said "IF it boots up ", I gather it is an option)? Should I configure it to be invoked every time the OS loads? It would make sense for it to be.

Also, is there a printer-friendly option that would allow me to print out the entire thread from these posts for future reference?

TIA.

 

Puzzled...

Okay, after using RegSeeker, I thought it was the cat's meow! Until I ran Registry First Aid, which caught 169 entries missed by RegSeeker!! I verified the entries are still there by going in.

I am not sure why each software is not catching all entries...theoretically, each software should do the job it says it will. All subsequent passes by the same, or any other, software. should yield the same results. The aim of all these registry cleaners is _supposed_ to clean the registry.

Also, an unrelated observation. Netscape looks for this BBS link endlessly while I get here in a hurry using IE!

Go figure!