Registry Cleaners?

[CaveMan]

Ive seen alot of ads about registry cleaners for windows xp

Im wondering, do these accually make a noticeable differance?

Is there a free version of one that i can download?

Is it worth forking over $20 for one?

[VaKo]

I'd rather grind my computer into dust and snort it than install a registry cleaner on it.

[Sparda]

I'd rather grind my computer into dust and snort it than install a registry cleaner on it.

I'd actually UBUNTU! :D

[VaKo]

Ubuntu is great if you want to use linux, but if you don't it's just another coffee coaster.

[CaveMan]

I'd rather grind my computer into dust and snort it than install a registry cleaner on it.

point taken

thats what i expected, but it was worth a shot

even if its a free version?

still no?

[Sparda]

even if its a free version?

still no?

It will probably install a trojan.

[VaKo]

It depends, according to quantum physics there should be at least one that works but I've yet to come across it. I just have memory's of the things tanking systems because there to dumb to avoid removing something essential.

[cooper]

For the most part they don't do squat. Remove some keys that point to no-longer existing paths that you weren't going to reference anyway. Maybe, MAYBE reduce the size of the registry, but assuming it's a decently implemented database (which I doubt, but still) a few extra entries here or there won't make much of a difference.

Microsoft used to make one themselves, but, well, they had some problems with it.

If even Microsoft can't figure out a way to clean out whatever crud there is in your registry, I don't think any other company can either.

[VaKo]

I stopped using them back when Windows 98 was all the rage, so in all fairness XP may be more robust.

[digip]

For the most part they don't do squat. Remove some keys that point to no-longer existing paths that you weren't going to reference anyway. Maybe, MAYBE reduce the size of the registry, but assuming it's a decently implemented database (which I doubt, but still) a few extra entries here or there won't make much of a difference.

Microsoft used to make one themselves, but, well, they had some problems with it.

If even Microsoft can't figure out a way to clean out whatever crud there is in your registry, I don't think any other company can either.

Another reason to stay with OpenOffice. 

[VaKo]

open office is horrible though, no one i've installed it for has actually liked it. and its a complete myth that its better than MS office.

[cooper]

I don't think it's better and it has a few quirks, but it lets me do what I need to do. I can cope with the reduced functionality at the VASTLY reduced price.

[Deveant]

agreed, openoffice is not as good as MS, though it does do the job free, but if u got the cash to burn, then MS is the way.

Though on the note of Reg Cleaners, ive used Mechanic a few times, normaly it kills of about 900-1600 reg's that are either miss-linked or empty, this normal gives me about 300kb of extra space on my HDD :D the thought of the reg being optimized, im not so sure about, though i dont think ive eva had a problem with it being fragged in the first place.

[moonlit]

I wouldn't bother, they do very little in terms of improving anything. As mentioned they do remove keys that do nothing or are no longer used but the improvements will be less than neglegable. A couple of KB freed space and no noticable speed increase.

If you really want to clean it up, reinstall Windows. If you have no reason to rifle through the registry and it's not causing any problems I would just leave it.