Win 10 x64
I was looking at my registry. I still have .dll things in there from 2016. Potentially some older ones too. Is there a semi-safe way to scan then remove unwanted stuff in registry?
Register a free account to unlock additional features at BleepingComputer.com
Welcome to BleepingComputer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.
Click here to Register a free account now! or read our Welcome Guide to learn how to use this site.
Cleaning Registry Files/Junk - How do I remove old stuff?
Started by
darpa911911
, Oct 30 2017 01:26 PM
7 replies to this topic
#1
darpa911911
-
- Members
- 38 posts
- OFFLINE
- Gender:Male
- Local time:06:48 PM
Posted 30 October 2017 - 01:26 PM
Back to top
#2
saw101
-
- Members
- 414 posts
- OFFLINE
- Gender:Male
- Location:The Great Pacific Northwest
- Local time:04:48 PM
Posted 30 October 2017 - 02:54 PM
Microsoft, Malwarebytes, and BleepingComputer.com don't recommend registry cleaners.
See: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/373006/registry-cleaners/
I never make the same mistake twice....I always make it 5 or 6 times just to be sure!
#3
dc3
-
- Members
- 30,277 posts
- OFFLINE
Bleeping Treehugger
- Gender:Male
- Location:Sierra Foothills of Northern Ca.
- Local time:04:48 PM
Posted 31 October 2017 - 11:19 AM
These files take up little space I would leave this alone. Data ranging in size from 1k to 2k should be stored as a file and referred to by using a key in the registry rather than being stored as a value. The key will show the whole file rather than a value. This limits the overall size of the registry.
As for the use of a registry cleaner and optimizing software, the following was originally posted by quietman7, our resident security expert.
Bleeping Computer DOES NOT recommend the use of registry cleaners/optimizers for several reasons:
Why you should not use Registry Cleaners and Optimization Tools
There are numerous programs which purport to improve system performance, make repairs and tune up a computer. Many of them include such features as a registry cleaner, registry optimizer, disk optimizer, etc. Some of these programs even incorporate optimization and registry cleaning features alongside anti-malware capabilities. These registry cleaners and optimizers claim to speed up your computer by finding and removing orphaned and corrupt registry entries that are responsible for slowing down system performance. There is no statistical evidence to back such claims. Advertisements to do so are borderline scams intended to goad users into using an unnecessary and potential dangerous product.
Family and loved ones will always be a priority in my daily life. You never know when one will leave you.
#4
Canna
-
- Members
- 5 posts
- OFFLINE
- Gender:Male
- Local time:07:48 PM
Posted 31 October 2017 - 10:55 PM
Please don't. You can seriously damage and compromise your system when running these registry editing tools. If there are remnants left over from programs you've used in the past, try and search for official removal tools of said programs. For example, antiviruses offer removal tools that will remove remnants that a regular uninstall might have missed.
TL;DR: Just don't mess around in your system's registry. Bad idea.
#5
dc3
-
- Members
- 30,277 posts
- OFFLINE
Bleeping Treehugger
- Gender:Male
- Location:Sierra Foothills of Northern Ca.
- Local time:04:48 PM
Posted 01 November 2017 - 08:01 AM
Family and loved ones will always be a priority in my daily life. You never know when one will leave you.
#6
dhagerjohns
-
- Members
- 120 posts
- OFFLINE
#7
jenae
-
- Members
- 386 posts
- ONLINE
- Local time:09:48 AM
Posted 04 November 2017 - 01:15 AM
Hi,there are a lot of opinions on this subject and clearly the developers of optimizers and cleaners are still promoting their product, and people are buying them.
Firstly can a registry become corrupted the answer is yes, poor code from an installed program or poor code from an uninstalled program, modifications for performance enhancement and driver updates, malware, and virus infections, all impact on the registry. Windows updates and security updates all play a part etc...etc.
Having said that the registry is a database and windows will access it just like any other database, it ignores invalid and empty keys, the only problem occurs when a registry component is needed and is missing or corrupted or the value data expected is not found.
A cleaner can only remove items it makes no attempt to replace or repair, so if there is a problem it cannot help.
And herein lies the main problem, each registry is different, for eg:- the Hive HKCU contains data for the currently logged on user, in a muti user system there are other users HKCU within the registry, a cleaner has to know what is valid and what is not. MS developed a form of reg cleaner back in win 98 days it was done without proper considerations. It, like today's reg cleaners had the ability to remove needed elements of the registry, whilst not improving the performance in any way, so it was abandoned.
It is this capacity to do harm without offering any substantial benefit that makes Registry cleaners not recommended.
The registry in some instances does need to be cleaned, this is specific to some products, particularly Anti Virus and Malware removals, the developers are aware of this and make available utils to do this for you. Some utils offer to fully uninstall programs from your computer, these know what to look for and are (at least the better known ones) quite safe to use.
Registry repairs to fix specific problems are often used on places like this, caution is required, and you should always question the validity of the modification, most are fine, just use caution and be wary of simply lifting modifications off the net. Get advice (places like this are good) first.
Windows ten makes a regback (full backup of the current registry is made, usually every 7-10 days) this is stored in the c:\windows\system32\config file.
It is very simple to use this backup to fix many issues in windows (it replaces the old "last known good") and unlike restore includes the complete registry backed up.
I wrote a way to easily use this regback, works since Vista days for anyone interested here it is:-
Boot to the RE (recovery environment) This ability is made much easier if you have made recovery media (usb dvd.. ) as suggested by windows during an install, also easily made anytime after in recovery, PC settings.
Select command prompt at this first type:- (type exactly as you see here, syntax important)
bcdedit |find "osdevice" (press enter, the | is called a pipe and is found above the \ key)
This returns osdevice.......partition x (where x is a drive letter) we do this because even though the OS is typically on C: drive in the RE this is not always the case in fact most win 10 machines will return D as the OS partition in this mode. WE will use D drive in our commands.(you would use the drive letter the cmd returns).
At the prompt type:- D: (press enter)
Next type:- cd d:\windows\system32\config (press enter), if you are worried a backup might be after your problem began you can next type:- dir (the contents of the config file will show) and see what date regback was made.
next type:- cd regback (press enter)
next type:- copy *.* d:\windows\system32\config (press enter)
Type:- ALL (press enter) to the proceed nag, it will show all copied, restart computer, simple as that.
Edited by jenae, 04 November 2017 - 01:21 AM.
#8
isaccasi
-
- Members
- 143 posts
- OFFLINE
- Gender:Male
- Location:zealand denmark
- Local time:01:48 AM
Posted 04 November 2017 - 06:30 AM
Hello,yes use Ccleaner but what ever you do,do not touch the registry. 
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users
