beware of the updates you install

Ditto! First there was CPM, then DOS, then Windows. Never had to re- install Windows in any iteration, although I did avoid a couple of versions that people complained about. Currently at Win 7/64. All good.

Steve King

I used to have to do the annual reinstall to clean up the registry.

There are far easier ways to clean the registry.

Trevor.

Yep, I never had any problems with the ones they did complain about either, like ME. Wish I could say the same about all the faulty motherboards and power supplies I've had to replace in my own and other computers over the years :-(

Trevor.

On 22 Nov 2013, "Trevor" wrote in rec.audio.pro:

Windows registry rarely if ever needs "cleaning". Unless you have some specific problem, trying to do so is at best a waste of time and at worst catastrophically destructive. There is a shady industry that sells so-called "registry cleaning" software but what they're really selling is snake oil.

Not strictly true. Perhaps what you mean is cleaning the registry is often pointless even though it can and usually does fill up with lots of unnecessary crap over time. For those who know what they are doing, no need to pay any money at all to clean the registry. For those who don't, probably best to leave it alone. In any case reinstalling Windows just to clean the registry is even more pointless IMO.

Trevor.

On 22 Nov 2013, "Trevor" wrote in rec.audio.pro:

That's almost what I mean, but not quite. Windows registry is an optimized database, and the unnecessary crap that accumulates there impacts performance so little as to be irrelevant. "Cleaning" it out doesn't improve anything except one's urge to be neat. At the same time, you can easily screw the registry up royally. There's great risk and little or no benefit.

Agreed.

If you use the right tools to uninstall crap programs, you don't have problems with the registry. Revo Uninstaller lets you use the program's built in uninstaller, then will clean the remainder of the registry entries and leftover folders. Prior to this, I edited the registry by hand. The pro version is supposed to clean ot trash left from sloppy uninstalls.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I've edited the Registry many times by hand, once to remove all references to a piece of software I didn't want hanging around. "It's perfectly safe" if you pay attention to what you're doing. I've never damaged anything.

I've never used a Registry cleaner. If I were going to use one, it would be the one in Piriform's CCleaner (nee, Crap Cleaner). Piriforms makes good free software (which is underwritten by the fancier versions other people pay for).

Not necessarily so. However, I have yet to see a truly "hands-off" registry cleaner that can address all of the potential quirks without screwing something up. IMO, the better ones generate a list of anomalies and allow the user to review and override those that should be left alone. Time consuming, but quicker than a reinstall of the OS.

I'm convinced. You guys have talked me out of ever using Windows again.

Then it was done to clean up whatever. All I know is that unless I rebuilt the machine once a year, it would degrade slowly in performance. I also know that this wasn't due to malware.

I also know that once I started using a registry cleaner, that was no longer necessary.

Make all the statements you want; I know what I saw.

That's the main thing I use; yes.

So does the free version.

The Registry is a fairly hateful thing. It's a poor design choice. Having used a cleaner for some time now, I've had *zero* problems with it.

I use both Eusing Registry Cleaner and Revo Uninstaller. I started using both at the same time, so either or both could be what it is that worked.

I don't really know very much about Windows systems. Part of the problem with Windows systems is that you can't see inside the box, so conventional diagnostics become impossible. This means most diagnosis is performed by having a matrix of individual symptoms and solutions in your head, or on google. People who work on Windows systems day in and day out develop that.

So, when I have Windows issues, I go to someone whom I know is an expert and who has a large matrix like that in his head. And when I mentioned trying to help someone with a problem, he said the following:

"If you don't know what is going on, tell them that they have registry corruption. Because they always do, and it sounds good, and for all you know it might actually have some bearing on the problem."

--scott

On 23 Nov 2013, Les Cargill wrote in rec.audio.pro:

I've owned and taken care of hundreds of Windows systems. That used to sometimes happen in the bad old days of Windows 95 and earlier. Not since Windows XP in my experience. If the system slows down, it's due to some specific problems. Not from general "dirty registry" problems. Leftover registry entries and disk files don't impact performance to any significant degree unless there are other issues.

To some extent I agree. I see things from a slightly skewed angle I guess. Having manually gotten rid of the $$%*%$ Webshots I know it can be a pain i n the ass. I have cured problems using regedit though. Recently I got "zaru mba.exe" or whatever. I fixed that with a system restore and probably would never have caught it if my Java was up to date. It nagged me every minute, something it never used to do. My Java is still not updated and I cannot f ind one single thong that won't work because of it. That supports my claim as well as all those who agree.

It ain't broke. What do you do ?

The registry is a tricky place, it saves on the fly. That's right, delete t he wrong key and IF you can weven get into safemode MAYBE a system restore will get it running again. It's like the service menu in some TVs. Damn, th ink of the RCAs in the satores you could just walk in a f*ck up. Lower the H freq until it shuts down and see what happens. Good old Mut-1-8-2 and tel l the thing something like it is in Malasia or something or disable things. ROFF or something. It is just like that, you CAN f*ck it up royal.

And there is no "Save" button. It is done immediately but if you f***ed it up you won't know until your next reboot. That's why everyone says to stay out of it. Well, that and the fact that most of it is gibberish. When you g o in there you do a search for the right string, usually a program name or something. When it hits, it should also give you the full path to it. Half the time a virus exe will be in your "App Data" under your username, but th ey sometimes hide in other places. Unless you have f***ed with explorer set tings, the directory might not show up for you.

the way I put it to people who want to edit their registry manually is this - I can do this. I know how to do this. there are tools to do this, like c ontrol panel for one. Every setting almost, is in that registry and program s do it cleanly and nicely without error most of the time. I do not WANT to use regedit.exe, it is a last resort.

But then again, at one time I got almost DSL speed on wire. I used the wron g modem drivers, told it I was in Brazil, changed the MTU in the registry. OK it wasn't as fast as DSL but it was faster than all the other people wit h the 56K back in the day.

So I am not afraid of it, but I know to stay away from it unless there is g ood reason. Think of it as exploratory surgery.

That's about right.

In general, I would tend to agree with you.

However, the entire registry concept has, over the past 20+ years, morphed into something a little more "grand" than perhaps originally intended. Lazy or inexperienced programmers tend to put a lot of crap in there from their app that might arguably be put somewhere else better. (Things like making the reg a place for stuff that really ought to be in a temp file -- and we know how well apps clean up after themselves in terms of temp usage.)

So the concept of a reg cleaner might not be bad, but there is indeed a LOT of snake oil junk floating around out there (and dangerous junk at that -- both malware and system breaking).

I am curious if anyone has used a reg cleaner that made a positive improvement and didn't break anything.

Frank Mobile Audio

the way I put it to people who want to edit their registry manually is this - I can do this. I know how to do this. there are tools to do this, like control panel for one. Every setting almost, is in that registry and programs do it cleanly and nicely without error most of the time. I do not WANT to use regedit.exe, it is a last resort.

So I am not afraid of it, but I know to stay away from it unless there is good reason. Think of it as exploratory surgery.

Generally true.

You're usually safe yanking out stuff clearly related to a specific piece of software. Other than that, you might be taking a chance.