CCleaner Registry Cleaner: Safe?

[LOUISSSSS]

Do you guys run the CCleaner Registry Cleaner option? People say its unsafe, but i've been doing it for 2 years + now on an everyday basis in XP & W7 and haven't had any problems. What do you guys do?

 

[Fardringle]

There is no legitimate reason to use any registry cleaner. Some people do it just so they can say that they did, but it has absolutely no effect on Windows performance or functionality. There is, however, a risk that the cleaner will remove entries that are needed, which could cause an application - or Windows itself - to stop working properly.

Having said that, it seems like CCleaner is one of the best at only removing entries that are no longer used. I wouldn't say that it is "safe" since there is always a risk that it will remove something that you need, but maybe just "less risky" than some of the other options.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

theres no need to remove the old registry files from programs that you've uninstalled that you no longer near? is it better to leave them there, from lets say... an old video driver

with the ccleaner registry cleaner, i have yet to corrupt any windows OS

 

[AFurryReptile]

theres no need to remove the old registry files from programs that you've uninstalled that you no longer near? is it better to leave them there, from lets say... an old video driver

with the ccleaner registry cleaner, i have yet to corrupt any windows OS

Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Just because you've "yet" to corrupt an OS, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

There is no legitimate reason to defrag or remove old registry files; your whole registry is loaded into memory on boot, and a performance increase, if any at all, is negligible.

 

[dguy6789]

I've used the ccleaner registry cleaner on numerous machines at least once a week for more than 5 years and it has never caused a problem on any of them.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

I've used the ccleaner registry cleaner on numerous machines at least once a week for more than 5 years and it has never caused a problem on any of them.

those people above cryin scared obviously never used CCleaner registry cleaner.

so are you guys saying that the registry files are wiped upon boot every time?

 

[Fardringle]

No the Registry is not "wiped" every time you boot. If it was, then none of your programs would work after a reboot.

There just isn't any reason at all to remove old registry entries unless you simply can't stand to have something in the registry that isn't needed, even if leaving the entries there does not hurt anything or cause any problems, while removing them has the potential to cause a problem. It has absolutely no effect on the performance of the computer whether there are 1000 or 1 million entries in the registry.

And as I said before, CCleaner seems to be the least potentially destructive of the various registry cleaners, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. I wouldn't use it simply because there is no reason to do so.

 

[MadScientist]

This has recently been discussed in this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2052462

 

[CaptainGoodnight]

There is no need to run it. What purpose does it serve?

IMHO, only people with OCD run the CCleaner Registry Cleaner.

I don't mean that to be offensive.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

so the nvidia registry files are supposed to be there after the uninstall? or are they supposed to be deleted off the PC?

 

[lxskllr]

so the nvidia registry files are supposed to be there after the uninstall? or are they supposed to be deleted off the PC?

They're supposed to be deleted, but it doesn't matter if they're left. I've not run Ccleaner every single day since I installed, and my machine runs as good as the day I installed it(going on 3 years now).

 

[Fardringle]

Yes, the uninstaller should remove those old entries when a program is removed from the computer, but it doesn't matter in any way if they are removed or not. Windows simply ignores registry entries that are not directly referenced by an active process. If they aren't being used, then they aren't being used; it's as simple as that.

 

[dguy6789]

There is no need to run it. What purpose does it serve?

IMHO, only people with OCD run the CCleaner Registry Cleaner.

I don't mean that to be offensive.

I admit to doing it more for OCD purposes than anything else

 

[pcnerd37]

I have been using the CCleaner Registry Cleaner for years now on XP, Vista and Windows 7 and it has never caused any problems and has actually fixed some on occasion. I try to remember to run it every time I run CCleaner. It gets two thumbs up from me!

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Just make sure to backup the registry before you actually start to change the registry. The good thing about CCleaner is that it lets you do that before it changes anything.

 

[Blazer]

i use it to clean up trial/crapware on new systems, and anytime i uninstall heavy applications, also after i uninstall trial software from vendor downloads, i also use it to clean up startup items, i have never had any problems when using CC going on years now !

for those that state it makes no diff / to each his own, but i fell it keeps my system cleaner and leaner.

 

[CurseTheSky]

I've run it numerous times and I've never had a problem. With that said, I wouldn't run it on a critically important system, though.

On several occasions I've found that CCleaner's registry portion will eliminate problems an uninstall that didn't get everything, causing problems with future reinstalls. While Nvidia's and some other hardware vendor's drivers have gotten much better about this, there are many programs from small / independent companies that can't seem to cope. It's a godsend in those cases.

 

[hypn05]

I use it at least once a month, because I always want to try a new software and then uninstall it.
I never have a problem with it.
I use it my Windows 7 notebook and PC

 

[Rottie]

l trust ccleaner it doesnt mess up my pc notebook netbook

 

[corkyg]

The backup of the Registry is important. Does not CC Cleaner do that as part of the process? Does it not have a Restore function? The top rated ones do.

 

[bigi]

The backup of the Registry is important. Does not CC Cleaner do that as part of the process? Does it not have a Restore function? The top rated ones do.

Just merge your backup. This is the restore.

 

[George P Burdell]

The registry is probably loaded into RAM when Windows starts. It may have millions of entries. I doubt removing a few extra lines from among millions will make any performance difference. Not worth the risk of FUBARing your computer.

 

[stag3]

I've used the ccleaner registry cleaner on numerous machines at least once a week for more than 5 years and it has never caused a problem on any of them.

same but for longer than 5 years
never had an issue

 

[Modelworks]

The registry is probably loaded into RAM when Windows starts. It may have millions of entries. I doubt removing a few extra lines from among millions will make any performance difference. Not worth the risk of FUBARing your computer.

It isn't loaded into RAM , it is read off the hard drive. The registry is located in:
Windows\System32\Config

That location is the same for 32 bit and 64 bit OS.
The size can be anywhere from 25MB to several hundred MB.