CCleaner - "feel good" questions

[matsonusa]

I'd prefer to prevent problems from occuring. At the least I run Comodo Firewall and Defender+ on my recent HP "Entertainment" laptop (Vista-flavored,) which sees little if any "entertainment" usage.

I have CCleaner v 2.15 and use it for temp-file and MRU cleaning, all except the Registry section.  That scares me.  It shows "issues" on Scan Only in several categories, probably from programs I installed and removed.  I do an "export" with Regedit a few times a month and notice the size increases a few hundred-K each time (currently about 200MB.)

I'm preparing to install a code development system that I know will bloat the Reg significantly so I'd like to "clean it" first.  Is CCleaner the tool I need to do this regularly?  Are there Registry categories I should avoid with CCleaner?

Thanks!
Matt

[patio]

Yes.
You will do fine with CCleaner..
It makes a registry backup by default however if you like redundancy as i do DLoad and install ERUNT before you make any changes to the  system...

[matsonusa]

Thanks patio -- ERUNT appears to be exactly what I need.  Redundancy is good sometimes

Matt

[Geek-9pm]

Redundancy is good sometimes

Sure is. You could also install another HDD in you Desktop and put a copy of you favorite OS there. So you cold o your development on the other system and not risk the entertainment setup.
Redundant?  Yes - but worth it!

[matsonusa]

Redundancy is good sometimes

Sure is. You could also install another HDD in you Desktop and put a copy of you favorite OS there. So you cold o your development on the other system and not risk the entertainment setup.
Redundant?  Yes - but worth it!

Ummm - now you've got my attention.  The LT came (new HP) with a D: partition where recovery files are stored (no separate CD,) but haven't had to "test the recovery process" yet 

Would your suggestion be like a Dual Boot system with separate OS files and separate Regy?  When you say "copy my favorite OS there", I'm not sure Bill's Policies allow for that in my configuration.  I have several HDDs lying around as "work" archives but they're USB-attached to the LT at my discretion (file servers.)

Do I understand what you're suggesting?

[BC_Programmer]

As I understand the license terms, you could install two copies of one OS on the same machine, if necessary. But I'm not a lawyer. And if I ever become one shoot me. 

[matsonusa]

As I understand the license terms, you could install two copies of one OS on the same machine, if necessary. But I'm not a lawyer. And if I ever become one shoot me. 

My "concern" came from a failed attempt on an earlier LT to use an HP Recovery CD to recover the OS onto an ext-HDD, something I could at least boot from.  The spirit of doing that was pure but "Policies" disallowed it.

Thanks for bringing this up, though, because I never would have thought of it... I've never considered a dual-OS machine, even if both are the same OS!

Matt

[friedemann]

I have used the CCleaner registry cleaner and have had no problems with it causing problems in my machine.  I also use RegistryFirstAid which is a reg. cleaner(just the trial version which cleans a portion but allows for multiple scans and multiple cleanings while still on the free trial)  I also use EusingFreeRegistryCleaner and it finds different ones.  And ToniArts Easy Cleaner registry cleaner that finds even a few more.   (Seems there is no one cleaner that does it all.)  And while each give a similar warning about (are you sure?)...all of them have not harmed my system in the least.   Sure, I may have to reenter passwords to the sites but that is part of the registry cleaning process.
   As for improvements....beats the heck out of disk defragging(I have never seen an improvement from that) and what is noticeable - there is less hangups or glitches occurring-no blue screens or hiccups or stalls and computer speed picks up.
    Just my own experience, using them since Windows95.   Crapcleaner was the latest to be used so its history is not as long.

[matsonusa]

Thanks friedemann, I'll keep the others in mind since they find "additional issues".

Matt

[Geek-9pm]

prevent problems from occuring.

How does one know that the cleaner is not part of the problem?
If some program makes and error in the registry, why is it that another program can spot it? Why not sell the cleaner to the people who write the programs? Or does the registry just get dirty with use, kind of like motor oil?

[BC_Programmer]

It's mostly uninstalls that don't remove registry entries or standalone programs (without installer/uninstaller) that clutter the registry.

It merely wastes a small fraction of disk space; Nothing more.

a single program could not interpret what a registry value means- for example, if a program stores a filename to create in the registry- a cleaner would come along and delete it, since the file doesn't exist. So next time the program that uses the key starts- who knows what it'll do.

[Geek-9pm]

Thanks for bringing this up, though, because I never would have thought of it... I've never considered a dual-OS machine, even if both are the same OS!

I understand the EULA to say that the OS is for use on one computer. Only one instance would be in use a a time. Using a separate hard drive reduces the chance of a program error damaging some system information.

I have installed two instances of XP  one PC using two HDDs. I used IDE (PATA) drives, the second drive can be a slave on the same cable, or a master on the second channel. Either way, when you do an install from the XP CD it will recognize that you already have an installation and a drive with free space. It will ask you want you want to do and you will tell it to create a partition on the second drive and install there.

Another way is to have  a mobile ranck and swap the drives before power up.

I understand VISTA has a better, so they say, boot manager. If so, that would nice to go back and forth from VISTA to XP.

Then there is the Virtual Machine. But I have yet to try that. 

[BC_Programmer]

I understand VISTA has a better, so they say, boot manager. If so, that would nice to go back and forth from VISTA to XP.

I've got XP 32-bit, XP 64-bit, and Vista Ultimate 64-bit Triple-booting from my laptop. Works great; except XP seems to have  problems when the CPU clocks down to sleep- it won't clock back up!

[matsonusa]

How does one know that the cleaner is not part of the problem?

If the cleaner makes a mistake it IS part of the problem and can't be relied upon to function properly.  Tools that don't work aren't tools at all.

Or does the registry just get dirty with use, kind of like motor oil?

You could view it that way.  Each time you dbl-click a program icon, an MP3, a document, a video, whatever... an entry is added to the Regy.  Bloat.  A little ridiculous but it is what it is.  CC attempts to remove much of that bloat if it knows where to look.

a single program could not interpret what a registry value means- for example, if a program stores a filename to create in the registry- a cleaner would come along and delete it, since the file doesn't exist. So next time the program that uses the key starts- who knows what it'll do.

App creators are SUPPOSED to put program value items in the appropriate hive key: "Software/MyCompany/MyApp/SectionName/KeyItem=(value)", similar to the old INI file.  They don't always follow that rule. Take the "SharedDLLs" key for instance... it's a dumping ground for all sorts of trash.  MS, Lightscribe, Adobe put all kinds of non-DLL files there: TXT, DAT, EXE, BIN, SCR, HTML, CHM, CNV, OLB, AX, TTF... and that's just in the first ten pages (mine has 4500 entries.)  A program like CCleaner "verifies" these entries are where they say they are.  If they aren't, CC will indict the Regy entry as invalid and recommend entry deletion.

One mistake in 4500 and CC earns the label of "unreliable".  I found two errors (two files identified as missing that were exactly where they belonged.) Given that level of quality I wonder if I should turn CC loose on the rest of my Regy... which explains the nature of my "feel good" post.

Matt

[BC_Programmer]

How does one know that the cleaner is not part of the problem?

If the cleaner makes a mistake it IS part of the problem and can't be relied upon to function properly.  Tools that don't work aren't tools at all.

Or does the registry just get dirty with use, kind of like motor oil?

You could view it that way.  Each time you dbl-click a program icon, an MP3, a document, a video, whatever... an entry is added to the Regy.  Bloat.  A little ridiculous but it is what it is.  CC attempts to remove much of that bloat if it knows where to look.

a single program could not interpret what a registry value means- for example, if a program stores a filename to create in the registry- a cleaner would come along and delete it, since the file doesn't exist. So next time the program that uses the key starts- who knows what it'll do.

App creators are SUPPOSED to put program value items in the appropriate hive key: "Software/MyCompany/MyApp/SectionName/KeyItem=(value)", similar to the old INI file.  They don't always follow that rule.

it is in no way similar to the old ini file. ini files had sections and values. they didn't have data types. binary blobs, or most importantly, a recursive definition.

Or does the registry just get dirty with use, kind of like motor oil?

You could view it that way.  Each time you dbl-click a program icon, an MP3, a document, a video, whatever... an entry is added to the Regy.  Bloat.  A little ridiculous but it is what it is.  CC attempts to remove much of that bloat if it knows where to look.

Completely wrong. when determining the type of file windows READS from the registry- the program being run will access the registry, which it would do regardless of how the app started.

One mistake in 4500 and CC earns the label of "unreliable".  I found two errors (two files identified as missing that were exactly where they belonged.) Given that level of quality I wonder if I should turn CC loose on the rest of my Regy... which explains the nature of my "feel good" post.

Then don't use the registry cleaning portion of the program. But be warned that every single registry cleaning program is junk. The only positive thing that can be done with the registry is compacting it.