Poll Do You Use 3rd Party Software to Clean Windows Registry?

[Trident]

I wouldn't trust system restore to actually work. It has failed many times for me. Full System Image Backup FTW

I always turn if off for performance and for faster installations. I am not afraid of reinstalling Windows at any point

 

[Jonny Quest]

I wouldn't trust system restore to actually work. It has failed many times for me. Full System Image Backup FTW

Well, so much for that, my idea

 

[flaubert1971]

My answer is yes. Always used, in addition to total uninstall professional, software to clean the registry. For this reason, over the years, I have always used Vit Software's paid software: first "Vit registry Fix" and then the more powerful "JCleaner". In daily use these software have never affected the stability of my Windows operating systems.

VITSOFT.NET - JCleaner

VITSOFT.NET - Vit Registry Fix

 

[brambedkar59]

I always turn if off for performance and for faster installations.

Same.

I am not afraid of reinstalling Windows at any point

Oooh, but I am It takes way too long to setup the PC just the way I like it, sometimes almost a week.

Well, so much for that, my idea

Idea wasn't bad just MS didn't do their homework.

 

[Marko :)]

I had already voted no, but then I saw Mako post and remembered that I also use Revo Uninstaller, so I changed my vote to yes. But outside removing some software, I do not clean the registry with a third party software. I deactivated everything related to registry I could in PrivaZer.

This one is new... Mako.

Revo Uninstaller made a lot of problems for me, last one, was when I want to remove Lenovo Vantage app, and it broke all Microsoft Store apps, even Microsoft Store itself won't open, so I want a safer uninstaller than Revo.
Isn't PrivaZer registry cleaner light? I didn't hear it makes problems, even CCleaner find more registries than PrivaZer when you run it after PrivaZer.

I think this is a bit too long procedure, what about using Registry Finder? It shows all the entries in one view with the ability to delete them all at once, here is a screenshot from my system searching for McAfee entries:

View attachment 284245

This is why Revo Uninstaller offers few mods for uninstallation; from safest to the advanced. And why you should always check the list of what it wants to delete. If you have two installations of the same software, similarly named software or just two pieces of software from the same developer, uninstallers tend to get confused what belongs to uninstalled software and what not.

If you check the list after every uninstallation, you won't have any issues. Clicking delete-next-delete-finish is never the answer.

Btw I recommend using Lenovo Legion Toolkit for Lenovo laptops. I never used Vantage; when I got my Legion, I installed Toolkit immediately. It's lightweight, has everything Vantage has and it's completely open source.

I wouldn't trust system restore to actually work. It has failed many times for me. Full System Image Backup FTW

This.

But that's just how it's designed to work. System Image Backup takes time to be made, but it's complete backup. System Restore, on the other hand, is quick and was created with the idea of quick help in case something goes bad. It won't create full backup, just most important files and things, nothing else.

 

[brambedkar59]

Btw I recommend using Lenovo Legion Toolkit for Lenovo laptops. I never used Vantage; when I got my Legion, I installed Toolkit immediately. It's lightweight, has everything Vantage has and it's completely open source.

And G-helper for ASUS, highly recommended as official Armoury Crate is just bloatware that keeps crashing for no reason.

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[Morro]

Revo Uninstaller made a lot of problems for me, last one, was when I want to remove Lenovo Vantage app, and it broke all Microsoft Store apps, even Microsoft Store itself won't open, so I want a safer uninstaller than Revo.
Isn't PrivaZer registry cleaner light? I didn't hear it makes problems, even CCleaner find more registries than PrivaZer when you run it after PrivaZer.

Somewhere in February this year, I installed Wise Registry cleaner and used it. It found around 60 entries if I remember correctly, and I then let PrivaZer scan, and it found around 270 if remember correctly. So distance may vary from PC to PC, from person to person. And this is why cleaning your registry can be very dangerous, things might get removed too aggressively.

That is why I never use PrivaZers reg cleaning ability. And when I uninstall a program with Revo I always check the registry entries it shows. Also I only remove a program once in a while, like maybe one or two in 3 or 4 months, so that does limit the change for a problem quite a lot. (And I have Hasleo make Daily incremental backups, just in case something does go wrong.)

 

[lokamoka820]

Btw I recommend using Lenovo Legion Toolkit for Lenovo laptops. I never used Vantage; when I got my Legion, I installed Toolkit immediately. It's lightweight, has everything Vantage has and it's completely open source.

What a wonderful piece of software, thanks for the recommendation.

Somewhere in February this year, I installed Wise Registry cleaner and used it. It found around 60 entries if I remember correctly, and I then let PrivaZer scan, and it found around 270 if remember correctly. So distance may vary from PC to PC, from person to person. And this is why cleaning your registry can be very dangerous, things might get removed too aggressively.

I never get the same results from two different registry cleaners too, what make me confusing about them.

 

[Morro]

What a wonderful piece of software, thanks for the recommendation.

I never get the same results from two different registry cleaners too, what make me confusing about them.

View attachment 284250 View attachment 284249 View attachment 284251

Exactly, and allowing those programs to remove them could cause trouble.

 

[Jonny Quest]

Exactly, and allowing those programs to remove them could cause trouble.

And especially since they're only showing number in the 20s, I'd leave them, registry keys alone. If AVG VPN was previously uninstalled (CCleaner window) that could be safe to delete on a individual basis.

 

[lokamoka820]

Exactly, and allowing those programs to remove them could cause trouble.

In the past I was comparing the result for each category of all the registry cleaners, and if it detects the same keys I delete them, for example both CCleaner and Wise Care 365 found 10 entries in firewall settings category.

 

[MartyC]

ASC Pro has been working fine so far. I have a trial license. I will not use the deep scan reg although they recommend it. Maybe AI is smarter than us. Only reg cleaner that I have had issues with was Registry First Aid years ago.

 

[lokamoka820]

ASC Pro has been working fine so far. I have a trial license. I will not use the deep scan reg although they recommend it. Maybe AI is smarter than us. Only reg cleaner that I have had issues with was Registry First Aid years ago.

The only cleaner that I used the deep scan feature without problems was Reg Organizer, it founds thousands of McAfee remnants that others didn't find.

 

[Behold Eck]

Don`t really feel any pressing need to use a reg cleaner anymore or want to try and fix something that isn`t broke.

System restore btw has worked fine for me since windows 7, XP was a totally different story.

Not bothered anyway if my registry swells to a massive 3mb plus

Regards Eck

 

[lokamoka820]

Don`t really feel any pressing need to use a reg cleaner anymore or want to try and fix something that isn`t broke.

System restore btw has worked fine for me since windows 7, XP was a totally different story.

Not bothered anyway if my registry swells to a massive 3mb plus

Regards Eck

I didn't feel the need to use a registry cleaner for years until I started using 3td party antiviruses, I start to find too many remnants in the system which lead me to use them, I guess as members mentioned before the best to do is a clean install, and not change security software in a regular basis.

 

[Behold Eck]

I didn't feel the need to use a registry cleaner for years until I started using 3td party antiviruses, I start to find too many remnants in the system which lead me to use them, I guess as members mentioned before the best to do is a clean install, and not change security software in a regular basis.

When ever you can maybe get yourself a test pc then you can try out all the softs you want and keep your main machine clean ?

Regards Eck

 

[MartyC]

The only cleaner that I used the deep scan feature without problems was Reg Organizer, it founds thousands of McAfee remnants that others didn'

 

[AtlBo]

I just run CCleaner on boot to get rid of temp files and temp internet files. No registry cleaning or any other type, except some custom files. CC checks for Memory.dmp and some installer files from Nvidia, etc.

 

[vtqhtr413]

Remember that the US owns NATO (32 countries)

The US government has weight within the NATO community, to be sure, the US foot the bill for much of their needs for decades because we could afford it more than others, but "own" is a flight of imagination.

Just use the Reset your PC option if you want a clean system and registry.

I agree, I can reset my laptop completely in under 2 hours but I don't use more than a dozen apps that most others don't and some of those are reinstalled by windows during the reset process, installing many business apps is time consuming so a reset becomes a last resort for many.

I was wondering how viable the System Restore option was. Thanks, it just seemed like a less "intrusive" option, but sounds like it's also a less effective one

I still use SR but I have found that each restore point is only reliable for one day at most, that said, if you use it within that limit, which I do, I haven't had any trouble restoring with it in years.

Isn't PrivaZer registry cleaner light? I didn't hear it makes problems, even CCleaner find more registries than PrivaZer when you run it after PrivaZer.

Don't forget most of these app vendors are in it for the money, I used PrivaZer for a decade, I trusted them thoroughly but i'm sure they made money from my use and I would expect no less, I handed that type of maintenance over to windows with the release of 10 as I read they had pretty well figured it out, for example, the main problem with a disorderly registry was read and write speeds from the hard drive slowed down considerably but with the advances in drive tech, not to mention ram and CPU tech, it's one less issue to have to worry about, life's too short.

 

[lokamoka820]

I just run CCleaner on boot to get rid of temp files and temp internet files. No registry cleaning or any other type, except some custom files. CC checks for Memory.dmp and some installer files from Nvidia, etc.

Although too many people don't like CCleaner after Avast acquisition, it is still used more than other products.