Contact Forum Editor

Send an email to our Forum Editor:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the Forum Editor know who sent the message. Both your name and email address will not be used for any other purpose.

Tech Helproom

It's free to register, to post a question or to start / join a discussion

View Forum Rules | Contact Forum Editor

 

Identify and dump junk?

1 3 next »

jmdraft

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 12:27PM

Everybody knows that, over time, our registries get full of crap that sneaks in. everybody also knows that most of us don’t know what most of the crap is and wither it’s safe to dump it or not. Question: is there some kind of service, app, site, program……whatever, which will help us to identify all the crap and tell use what is safe to dump without causing our operating systems to malfunction?

Like this post
Ian in Northampton

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 12:42PM

A lot of people here - including myself - swear by CCleaner (formerly known as Crap Cleaner) which does a great job of keeping things clean and tidy, and has plenty of options for you to have it do what you want - or just let it do its own things.

Like this post
Kevscar1

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 12:51PM

seconded

Like this post
jmdraft

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 12:56PM

Thank you for your response.

I have had CCleaner in my computers for years and I like it. Maybe it somehow does this but, if so, I don’t understand how. What I want is something that will identify the crap in my registry and tell me what is safe to dump without causing problems with Windows.

Like this post
onthelimit1

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 1:33PM

jmdraft

You don't need to know - just let CCleaner do it's job.

Like this post
Jameslayer

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 1:36PM

You need to select Registry menu from CCleaner's main screen. Click scan for issues button then fix selected issues.

Like this post
jmdraft

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 1:52PM

Thank you for your responses.

Unfortunately, the answers are not correct. This is an example: I have an app in a computer called Roxio (pertains to creating CDs etc.). There were 10-12 Roxio items in my registry. I determined that they had nothing to do with Windows function and disabled them. When I rebooted, everything was faster (I timed it) . I have the same Roxio mess in a different computer and left it alone to check the difference and timed it……….still slow as ever.

There is still a lot of stuff like this in my registry and I want to continue to disable more crap.

Like this post
Ian in Northampton

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 2:06PM

jmdraft: if CCleaner sees that Roxio is installed, it will assume that registry entries for it are valid, so it will leave them alone. Is Roxio still installed? And if it is: does it still work after you've deleted the registry entries? Or have you uninstalled it - in which case, the uninstall may have only been partial, fooling CCleaner into thinking it's still there. It could be you need something like Revo Uninstaller to do a more complete job than Windows does when it uninstalls stuff.

Like this post
jmdraft

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 2:32PM

Thank you,

Roxio is still in both computers. Please read this again: When I rebooted, everything was faster (I timed it). http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scientific+method Try stuff, take notes and see what happens. Regardless of what CCleaner does or does not do, the result was absolute. After disabling some stuff, the computer was faster. I’m still looking for what I described at the beginning of my post: Something that will identify and advise about stuff that can be disabled without effecting Windows.

Like this post
onthelimit1

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 2:58PM

All 'stuff' as you call it that is not part of the OS can be disabled without affecting Windows, but may affect another programme. I think you're on a hiding to nothing!

Like this post
Ian in Northampton

Likes # 0

Posted March 22, 2012 at 2:58PM

I have no doubt it'll be faster. The fastest your computer will ever run is just after you've done a fresh install of Windows, before you install anything else that starts to enlarge the registry. But you didn't say: does Roxio still work just as it did before you deleted the registry entries for it?

Like this post

1 3 next »

Reply to this topic

This thread has been locked.



Check out PC Advisor's other tech forums

Send to a friend

Email this article to a friend or colleague:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.