While you computer whizzes are already in the mood...

[Uncle Cracker]

I need suggestions on a reliable registry cleaner and driver cleaner for an XP box. Freeware is not a requirement, but cheapware would be nice...

Thanks in advance.

[BobSch]

Be very careful using a registry cleaner. I've seen more than one PC trashed due to letting a reg cleaner do its thing. If you use one, backup the registry first and have the registry cleaner give you a report of what it wants to do. Most cleaners take out too much.

[woodturner]

I need suggestions on a reliable registry cleaner and driver cleaner for an XP box. Freeware is not a requirement, but cheapware would be nice...

Thanks in advance.

GiveawayOfTheDay.com periodically runs the Glary utilies for free. I have used their registry cleaner and other utilities for several years with good success and no problems.

[crokett]

Some folks say CCleaner. I tried a few registry cleaners/optimizers several years ago and they all caused more problems than they fixed so my solution has always been to plan on a reinstall every 18 mos or so.

[headhunter636]

I used to try to clean up my computer every few weeks or so, depending on how much downloading and installs were taking place. After attempting that a few times, I switched to a different process for keeping my computer running fast with a lot less bogging down. First, I installed everything from scratch, to include OS, applications that I want to use and drivers and then updated all drivers and software to the most current version. Then I installed a drive image program to make an exact duplicate of the entire drive and placed that image onto an external drive. After that, I would only save my files (images, docs, PDFs, etc) to the external drive and never save anything I wanted to keep to the main system driv (Usually C. Now, if I feel my system is ever slowing down, I am able to run the drive image software and restore everything to when it was first installed without having to go through and backup files that are stored on the C drive. After the restoration is complete, I then update with the latest versions and I am back on track. The whole process usually takes about 30 minutes and I usually have Adobe Master Collection CS3, Office 2007, Windows XP. The restore times could change depending on what software you have installed.

Then, I ended up switching mostly to Mac and have not made a restore process yet. One day I will, probably after the thing crashes and I lose everything.

Hope this helped.

[RodKirby]

Been using this for years - no problems

http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/

[Eric]

I've used tuneup utilities before and liked it well enough. I've been using Auslogivs with my work and home computer for about a year now. I fell in love with their defragmenter and looked into some of the other products they produce.

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/boost-speed is the suite that I have now.

[LinuxRandal]

When I ran Windows, the two times I needed to do registry work, I did it manually (find the registry info online). I agree, backup, backup, backup.

I also used to partition, or use separate hard drives. One for the OS (and use as little of the OS as needed installed, to the point of looking at things like XPlite), one for the programs and the last for the keep files. Example, c: OS, D: program files (some files automatically save here, and should be copied, like game characters), then the word processing, etc on E:.

It made reinstalling a quick option that worked well.

[DUD]

I just downloaded and installed the free trial version of Tune Up and I am impressed. It speeded up My computer and helped Me clear up a bunch of errors. Thanks for the tip Rod, Bill

[dbhost]

I am not being rude here. I am a Linux kind of guy. No registry to clean up. Now if you wanna talk about re-indexing your rpm database....

[Wood_workur]

I used Tune-up utilities and liked it, but I basically only run CCleaner.

[cgallery]

I get two to three machines in for service every month, resulting from someone that was using some system and/or registry "optimizer." The result: Machine will no longer boot, or one or more of their applications no longer start. Big profit center for me.

While I haven't dug into them, I imagine the hives use some sort of hash algorithm or balanced b-trees to make finding any necessary data within nearly instantaneous.

I doubt any significant gain in performance could be achieved by running any of these utilities.

[JSUPreston]

I'm with David. I've supported Windows for over 15 years, and almost every registry cleaner I've dealt with causes more problems than it is worth. Those that didn't cause problems never did anything for me.

I tend not to answer too many computer questions on here...I am a very hands on type of person and have never had any real success trying to help fix computer problems remotely. That's why I usually let the others answer those.

[just started]

I get two to three machines in for service every month, resulting from someone that was using some system and/or registry "optimizer." The result: Machine will no longer boot, or one or more of their applications no longer start. Big profit center for me.

While I haven't dug into them, I imagine the hives use some sort of hash algorithm or balanced b-trees to make finding any necessary data within nearly instantaneous.

I doubt any significant gain in performance could be achieved by running any of these utilities.

Could you try that middle paragraph in something close to English please?

[cgallery]

Could you try that middle paragraph in something close to English please?

The registry is comprised of different sections, or hives.

Hash and b-tree algorithms are methods that applications use to find a piece of information in a enormous file without having to perform a sequential search. A sequential search requires reading the file from start to end, which is I/O and CPU intensive, and to be avoided if possible.