I had Registry Mechanic and it deleted bunch of****** i was missing alot of program shortcuts in Start and All Programs....

The latest version of CCleaner does some (limited) registry cleaning as usual. It can't remove a few ActiveX/COM Issues, but I guess it'll support proper Windows 7 registry cleaning in a future update. At least it doesn't screw up your registry like your tool did. ;-x

HiRegistry cleaners or any other system utilities are definitely NOT recommended for a beta OS. Wait until the maker of the utility releases a compatible version.Hope this helps. Ronnie Vernon MVP

Isn't one of the purposes of the beta that we actually test software? We're already fully aware of all the risks and whatnot of running a beta. How else are we going to get Windows 7 feedback out to the developers of said applications?

Frop said: Isn't one of the purposes of the beta that we actually test software? We're already fully aware of all the risks and whatnot of running a beta. How else are we going to get Windows 7 feedback out to the developers of said applications? Obviously if you want to you can, but as you see with Joey, they tend to mess things up in beta systems. So you might just want to email the maker of whatever registry cleaner and just ask them when they are planning in supporting Windows 7.

Frop said: Isn't one of the purposes of the beta that we actually test software? We're already fully aware of all the risks and whatnot of running a beta. How else are we going to get Windows 7 feedback out to the developers of said applications?Hi FropOf course, and we hope that you do test as many applications as youpossibly can.My message was to make sure that everyone understands the possible consequences, such as those that the thread starter experienced.Always use a structured, well thought out process for testing any software on a beta OS.Make sure that you have a solid, complete system backupplan in place.Always check with the manufacturer of the software /hardware you are testing for updates first,before beginning the test.Be sure to ask if they plan on supporting thissoftware / hardware on Win7, in case your testing fails.Hope this helps. Ronnie Vernon MVP

Agree. I have tested a few Reg Cleaners. I ALWAYS run a HD clone before any OS tinkering. (W7 Backup not working correctly now??)CCleaner does OK it worked and did not trash the reg.I ran GLARY - which worked well in XP and VISTA.. It did not trash W7. I saw no problems.Since I do many program add/delete, I want to clean up the junk left over by the remove program.I have used the W7 ADD/DELETE program as well as the free REVO. It works great, does a good job of REG cleanup of left over junk and assorted application files.Been testing for 2 weeks now. I have pages of logs I need to publish.W7 is working so well - I am doing business with it. I use it for all my business apps with no problems.RR

Does Windows itself provide any tool for checking (as opposed to repairing) the integrity of the registry?

In my opinion the best registry cleaner is NO registry cleaner. They tend to cause problems with no real benefit. The registry does not need cleaning.

Right, that's why I asked about checking as opposed to repair.

You are right, I never have needed to clean a registry afterremoving anything. I guess I must be lucky.

I've been using "Revo Uninstaller" for quite a bit now... Efficient and reliable ... You can choose what entries and folders to remove, so use your heads, gentlement... MS uninstaller will obviously never clean all the registry for an application... Ccleaner does an OK safe job, but leaves a lot of entries... "Reg Seeker" is also a very good Registry Cleaner as well... Still have to test it on W7, but works flawlessly in both XP and Vista... Remember to always back up your registry when asked, and eveything is gonna be OK... I personnaly never had to come back after a deep uninstall with Revo or a deep registry scan with Reg Seeker...

egadsI appreciate your comments and I understand your rationale. My comments were really aimed at people who would blindly let these cleanersoperate on their systems.

Superbee said:I've been using "Revo Uninstaller" for quite a bit now... Efficient and reliable ... You can choose what entries and folders to remove, so use your heads, gentlement... MS uninstaller will obviously never clean all the registry for an application... Ccleaner does an OK safe job, but leaves a lot of entries... "Reg Seeker" is also a very good Registry Cleaner as well... Still have to test it on W7, but works flawlessly in both XP and Vista... Remember to always back up your registry when asked, and eveything is gonna be OK... I personnaly never had to come back after a deep uninstall with Revo or a deep registry scan with Reg Seeker...Fully agree. I believe the MS Uninstaller will only remove what was installed originally, and any patches that were installed correctly. Any other files, add-ins...etc will be left behind, as will any registry entries that were created via a thrid party patch. I find Revo is a great package for this purpose. As for Reg cleaners, every time I have used one, I lose some system functionality. They find too many "errors" for any human being to scan individually, so the only choice is to either do nothing or accept all of the fixes. Best leave well enough below, and use Revo for all uninstalls to assure that you are removing everything connected with the app, and nothing more. When in doubt, leave it alone.Windows 7 beta dual booting with VISTA Home Premium 2 GB memory 160 HD Gateway Laptop HP Officejet 6310 All-in One inkjet printer Verizon FIOS Internet Connection

I was missing a lot of shortcuts in my start menu myself. It was not from using any reg cleaner. For some reason W7 had not assigned ownership to me - I am the only owner/user It may have had something to do with me rearranging the shortcuts between ALL USERS and my user folder. I highlighted each START MENU folder in WE, right clicked , and clicked TAKE OWNERSHIP everything came back.

interesting........... I just loaded and ran Registry Mechanic 8. It came up with lots of errors - I sort of expected that. BUT in reviewing them I noticed that RM does not understand "%....%" locations. All the locations it flagged with any "%...%" designations were NOT missing in the folders. It was also apparently reading another copy of the registry as many of the entries it flagged were NOT in the copy I accessed using REGEDIT, though if they were they would have been missing files. Anybody know about another copy RM is seeing - and why it would be different than the one REGEDIT shows.

The problem with all registry cleaners is that the results have so many false positive. Install 3 registry cleaners and run each one individually. The result 3 completely different reading. Now allow the resgitry cleaner to 'clean up' the files and run them individually again; once again 3 different opinions, so in the end which one do you trust? Software companies earn a massive amount of revenue out of Registry cleaners, simply because they 'fighten' people into believing that if they don't clean there registry, then their PC will come to a halt - forget the hype, it won't come to a halt. Using registry cleaners will, however, prevent an application from running as it should, simply because the over enthusiastic registry cleaner had 'removed' an important link from the registry.Whenever anyone asks about registry cleaners I always say 'if you are not competent enough to manually edit the registry using regedit, then leave well alone.'John Barnett MVP: Windows XP Associate Expert: Windows Desktop Experience: Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk; Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org; Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org;

My opinion: Registry "boosters" are BS. Registry "cleaners" are certainly debatable. If programs, like those provided by Adobe, would clean up after themselves, I agree that cleaners are unnecessary. Problems with machines are as much the fault of programs who are not concerned with cleaning up after themselves as are the registry cleaners that attempt to do it for them. I am certain that we have all encountered programs that fail to uninstall properly and leave their entry in "add/remove programs".All that being said, there was a questionable survey done against the "31 The Most Popular Registry Cleaner Products". Questionable, because the product that came out on top was produced by the company that did the survey.Here is the link, and a grain of salt:www.macecraft.com/registry_cleaner_comparison2/DocPS: For those from Microsoft who say "cleaning the registry" is unnecessary, let's take a look at Microsoft's own offering and their explanation for why it should be done:http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/article/registry_cleaner_why.htmLink to the cleaner for Vista (which never came out of beta in more than two years): http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htmLink to the cleaner for XP: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htmNow, I know that some will say that this product is going away. No debate there. But, if it is "unnecessary" [to clean the registry periodically], then why go through the trouble of having the cleaner in the first place?Not for registry cleaning (necessarily), but certainly confused by the respones and Microsoft's cleaner.Doc

When a product uninstall leaves crud behind, my approach has always been to search the registry to find the corruption, and edit it out. I do the same for shortcuts.Also, if you are using 64 bit Windows,and the product you are using is actually 32 bit, it is only seeing the wow64 image of the registry. Actual results may be different than expected.

Microsoft is seriously trying to discourage registry editing. It is harder to find information.There used to be a registry reference in the TechNet Library, but now I can't find it. There were also such references in some of the Resource Kits for previous Windows versions. You could try searching the TechNet Library, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx, The MSDN Library, or all of Microsoft.If you have an idea of what you are looking for, searching can yield results.Later, I followed my own advice and found http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc778196.aspx.

The problem with all registry cleaners is that the results have so many false positive. Install 3 registry cleaners and run each one individually. The result 3 completely different reading. Now allow the resgitry cleaner to 'clean up' the files and run them individually again; once again 3 different opinions, so in the end which one do you trust? Software companies earn a massive amount of revenue out of Registry cleaners, simply because they 'fighten' people into believing that if they don't clean there registry, then their PC will come to a halt - forget the hype, it won't come to a halt. Using registry cleaners will, however, prevent an application from running as it should, simply because the over enthusiastic registry cleaner had 'removed' an important link from the registry. Whenever anyone asks about registry cleaners I always say 'if you are not competent enough to manually edit the registry using regedit, then leave well alone.' John Barnett MVP: Windows XP Associate Expert: Windows Desktop Experience: Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk; Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org; Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org; Amen, brother. I have never noticed any improvement from running one of these programs, but I have lost app functionality. User REVO Uninstaller to remove apps and leave the rest alone.Windows 7 beta dual booting with VISTA Home Premium 2 GB memory 160 HD Gateway Laptop HP Officejet 6310 All-in One inkjet printer Verizon FIOS Internet Connection

frankly the registry is so huge that pruning even 100 keys will have negligible impact on performance. pruning a few wrong ones will have noticeable impact on functionality. sure, do it because it feels good, but realize the claims of registry cleaners are way overstated. what probably does help is to clean up the items in the run at startup key, but you don't need a registry cleaner for that.

Hi Ron, I'd have to agree there... after the fact :-) I tried something (Eusing... delete name if you want, just for background info)... and I also re-installed the Bta, just once, I'll give you no guesses as to *when* I had to do that ;-) Also I had a few usefull scripts (*.cmd files) to add little gimmicks in Windows XP Pro... these don't work (or not as "advertised"?) in Seven either. Did not give it too much thought until now but I would hazard a guess: 32-bits & 64-bits stuff DON'T MIX when it comes to registries?! Cheers, Kuya-F

tried that one... also tried a different one.... re-installed the Bta from scratch afterwards; Registry Cleaners thrash your registry (FUBAR :-) !!) Let's wait 'till Microsoft gives the nod to something like RegClean eh? Or you can buy now, cry later?

Hmmm.... I tend to agree that I never saw much real-live benefits... when things become unbearably slow it could be time to either upgrade hardware or operating system. :-) Doing a clean install every 3 to 6 months will keep the clutter from your disks as well as the registry (you'll think twice before re-installing every last bit of application you've used only once or so) <tongue-in-cheek> Another advantage of being a Bta-tester? ;-)

Also keep your data files on a separate partition. I even have my Outlook PST file on a separate data partition, which I can access from either Vista or Win 7. This way, if you need to reinstall an O/S, your data is safe. Of course, you should still back up the data partition, just in case....Windows 7 beta dual booting with VISTA Home Premium 2 GB memory 160 HD Gateway Laptop HP Officejet 6310 All-in One inkjet printer Verizon FIOS Internet Connection

BTW, DO NOT, Under any circumstances use JV Power Tools to compress the registry size in windows 7. It is a guaranteed system failure every time. I've done it twice now and had to reinstall.

In my opinion the best registry cleaner is NO registry cleaner. They tend to cause problems with no real benefit. The registry does not need cleaning. I don't believe in registry cleaners, they pray on the uninformed.

In my opinion the best registry cleaner is NO registry cleaner. They tend to cause problems with no real benefit. The registry does not need cleaning. I don't believe in registry cleaners, they pray on the uninformed. I totally agree, i would never trust them ,i used to download those garbage in old times when i was 12 years(not trying tobe ignorant)old and they never brought me benefits and actually the oposite happened everytime i have performed that clean stuff,they would clean things that you dont want to remove from your system including essential dependencies...So i dont really recommend downloading those but ur free to choose whatever you want ^^Kind regards,RR

I always tell clients, "Do not play in the registry, stay out of it." That includes the use of so called Reg Cleaners. Clean junk, unnecessary files and address malware, that's fine, needed & proper but, there is no need or call for messing in or w/ the Registry. Techs may go there for a specific reasons but, End Users, even 'enthusiasts' should not care about Registry Tools.I will give clients CCleaner, SpywareBlaster, Spybot, Ad-Aware & Windows Defender, Malwarebytes, Disc Clean-up, Internet Options (Delete),that sort of thing, depending... However, they are told, just what (tools) I have put in or told them to use/do and nothing else (additional). No matter what (garbage) they see advertised/offered on the Net in websites, don't touch them, especially including Reg Cleaners.Reason... unnecessary & dangerous.I've had clients w/ buggered machines or thier IP has cut them off, all because they had grabbed some reg cleaner. Many are themselves bad (spyware, malware of somesort) or simply do more harm than whatever value they were supposed to hold. Drew - MS Partner / MS Beta Tester / Pres. Computer Issues

Techs may go there for a specific reasons but, End Users, even 'enthusiasts' should not care about Registry Tools. I will give clients CCleaner, SpywareBlaster, Spybot, Ad-Aware & Windows Defender, Malwarebytes, Disc Clean-up, Internet Options (Delete),that sort of thing, depending... However, they are told, just what (tools) I have put in or told them to use/do and nothing else (additional). No matter what (garbage) they see advertised/offered on the Net in websites, don't touch them, especially including Reg Cleaners . Reason... unnecessary & dangerous. Drew - MS Partner / MS Beta Tester / Pres. Computer Issues I have to disagree. I would use a registry cleaner basically daily, especially if I'm installing or uninstalling software. Face it, programmers are lazy and hardly every get everything out when you uninstall. I've also noticed faster boot up times after cleaning. And I never really knew how it worked, but jv power tools had a registry compressor that works to shrine it down to almost half the size every few weeks. Note: DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE ON WIN 7 as I mentioned above.

Drew:Imay delete this post after you've respond, because I don't want to blemish this page with what appears to be trolling. But I do want to communicate my feelings to you. They are somewhat complicated.I am really quite touchy and frustrated with this subject. I have definitely had need to fix my Registry at times, and I really am at a total loss as to who/what to trust. My post above really says just that. Did you even bother to click the link I posted? Noticethe most legitimateauthority I tactfully leftunnamedwas Microsoft.I really wanted my post to stick for awhile. Even generate some, say, scientific, instructiional, alternative, at least thoughtfulconversation.Your post, which immediately follows mine totally ignores my concern, diminishes it in visibility, and in fact, with your self-Proposed Answer, seems to sneeringly discredit mine by disacknowledgementwhile drowning it out altogether.I really feel slighted, deliberately so. Ihave the urge to repost mine down here.Have you even ever tried the Microsoft Registry Cleaner tools?

I will honestly say I feel uncertain about this subject, as even the most legitimate vendors seem to be giving mixed messages.See http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/article/registry_cleaner_why.htm(Credit to Doc S. posted above) derosnec: Danke!Doc

Drew:Imay delete this post after you've respond, because I don't want to blemish this page with what appears to be trolling. But I do want to communicate my feelings to you. They are somewhat complicated.I am really quite touchy and frustrated with this subject. I have definitely had need to fix my Registry at times, and I really am at a total loss as to who/what to trust. My post above really says just that. Did you even bother to click the link I posted? Noticethe most legitimateauthority I tactfully leftunnamedwas Microsoft.I really wanted my post to stick for awhile. Even generate some, say, scientific, instructiional, alternative, at least thoughtfulconversation.Your post, which immediately follows mine totally ignores my concern, diminishes it in visibility, and in fact, with your self-Proposed Answer, seems to sneeringly discredit mine by disacknowledgementwhile drowning it out altogether.I really feel slighted, deliberately so. Ihave the urge to repost mine down here.Have you even ever tried the Microsoft Registry Cleaner tools? please man go for easy talking, thats is too much for my tiny brain,guys like me who knows at most 10 words cant get the point as a whole =/plz rub my skin to see if i get a bit of that intelectual thing ^^anyways i got 30% of what you said lol what a shame,anyways useless post but i was kinda excited to post my fraustrations here :DKind regards,RR

please man go for easy talking, thats is too much for my tiny brain,guys like me who knows at most 10 words cant get the point as a whole =/plz rub my skin to see if i get a bit of that intelectual thing ^^anyways i got 30% of what you said lol what a shame,anyways useless post but i was kinda excited to post my fraustrations here :DKind regards,RR Curious kat: Here, simplified just for you.I think I just got trolled. Again.Nobody has a great answer. Definitely not you.Your wise-guy post is blocking mine.You did it on purpose.I'll bet you haven't tried http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/article/registry_cleaner_why.htm either.

yeah you got it i havent tried yet,but even without read that i can 100% assure you that registry cleaners are not a good option,they might give you false positives which they can be fatal or some applications or even your windows may not function anymore due to an improper clean,i used to have those long time ago and even though they improved its "smartness" it will never be perfect which means can make mistakes and expose your pc,and you might have to go through win7 cd boot up and restore your system however depending on the damage caused by those little things results may be inreversible!!!!answered now?my opinion and your choice!!!!but just in case ima read that and see whats the deal with reg cleaners!PS: the best way to clean your garbage is manually(if you know exactly what you doing"dont try this in home lol)like i do and i might as well give you an advice:Most of the problems ithey arethe users fault so i would recommend you not start installing everything you see andif none of them worked as desired then you decide uninstall all of them or some of them,try to choose bettertheapplications before installing them , after you found something which you would like to test look then for ppl comments about the software andthen before installing go throughMy Computer>>Properties>>Advance system settings>System protection> and click on the button <Create> and create a restore point, finally install the software !if you dont like it or the software didnt behave as you wished just go to the system restore again choose the point you create and Bullseye!!!!just revert back to where it was!!The safest ,the easiest THE best way!PS: relevate the redundancy of words and typo things english not my first language also i write all at once with no check backKind regards,RR

Just read and heres a highlight for ya nothing much different from what i said: What if I accidentally remove something I need in my registry? Not to worry. Just like Microsoft Word, your PC has an "undo" option. In this case, it's called System Restore. Once it's finished scanning, the Windows Live Safety scanner creates a System Restore point on your PC. This allows you to revert your system to its original state, before you performed the scan, in case you inadvertently remove any valid registry items. see even microsoft is assuming it can commit mistakes so guess the rest of it is answeredRegards,RR

Hi, try Win7Zilla. I know it supports 64 bit windows 7 and clean the Registry quite well. Www.win7zilla.com hope it helps

I know everybody here really know what is a registry cleaner and many usually functions of these tools have. Here I want to give you a advice for Wondershare registry optimizer. For computer system, I am a beginner in this aspect. So my boyfriend just help me installed a this registry optimizer. As he said it can help me clean up the registry automatically, and make my PC runes steadily and healthily and speed up my PC at the same time. I don't this one is really work or not. But after clean the history of my PC. My computer runs faster than before. You may have a try of this registry optimizer , maybe my opinin is not very professional, and you can also give me some advice.

please man go for easy talking, thats is too much for my tiny brain,guys like me who knows at most 10 words cant get the point as a whole =/plz rub my skin to see if i get a bit of that intelectual thing ^^anyways i got 30% of what you said lol what a shame,anyways useless post but i was kinda excited to post my fraustrations here :DKind regards,RR Curious kat: Here, simplified just for you.I think I just got trolled. Again.Nobody has a great answer. Definitely not you.Your wise-guy post is blocking mine.You did it on purpose.I'll bet you haven't tried http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/article/registry_cleaner_why.htm either. Interestingly the http://oneIdon'tcare.live.com/etc. is not reallythe traditional registry cleaner/destroyer that you see on numerous websitesbegging and screaming forpeople to download. That's whyI don't have a problem with http://oneIdon'tcare.live.com/etc, just the shady utility downloadable types as seen on non-Microsoft websites. Doy.

http://www.cnet.com/topic-software/registry-cleaner.htmlExactly what they clean, "I don't know". Funny things happen I've heard, so use them at your own risk and if things don't work out for the bestI'm not to blame. May I confide in you that they are of no value althoughit's your$29.99 not mine. "In my opinion the best registry cleaner is NO registry cleaner. They tend to cause problems with no real benefit. The registry does not need cleaning."Lead3

In the old days, I tried those registry cleaner things - did more harm and never noticed an improvement. Now, I end up fixing machines that others have tried fixing. If you want to experiment, clone the drive before trashing it, or do what someone else said about keeping data on another drive/partition. It really helps knowing how to look at your registry to delete keys or modify them when necessary. Save your money and your time, leave the so call cleaners alone. Or use it and learn how to fix your own mistakes ;-) You can't convince those too stubborn to listen until they get tired of dorking it up. It's also why where I work, if you install any software not pre-approved by the IT dept, you are terminated.MCSE, MCSA, MCDST