Registry Clean-Up Tools

[wee jim]

Am looking for some advice from a computer techy.

 

I’ve downloaded Uniblue Registry Booster a free registry clean-up tool but haven’t actually installed it yet. They say running their software will speed up my computer’s performance. But they would say that particularly when they want to sell you the full version. I notice there are lots of other free registry clean-up tools available but reckon they are all much the same.

 

My PC is about six years old and is taking an absolute age to boot-up. I’ve always kept my anti-virus software up to date so am reasonably confident I don’t have any viruses or other nasties lurking about. I clear out temporary internet files and history quite often. I defragment the system occasionally and also delete programs I no longer use.

 

I’ve been told at six years old you can expect a PC to slow down quite a bit and not much can be done to significantly speed it up.

 

I’d appreciate very much if someone can advise me.

[Woodstock Jag]

Free Registry Cleaners should be avoided like the bubonic plague. Almost all of them are ridden with bugs/viruses/trojans and even some of the ones you pay for are shady.

 

If a computer is 6 years old the suggestion I would venture is to back-up essential documents/music/video onto some external storage, check you have the relevant installation disks for the operating system and any essential programs, format the hard drive and start with a fresh install. This will usually speed up any computer of age quite considerably. It allows you to streamline what you do and don't need and necessarily produces a much tidier registry without all the errors that plague it. It may take an evening to do, but it's definitely worth it.

 

I would never, ever, use a Registry Clean-up Tool.

 

As for recommendations re anti-virus software, I'm going to take a flying guess that you have either Norton or McAfee, both of which, despite being pay-for anti-virus software, are absolute aberrations and slow down systems to the point of gridlock. I'd recommend trying out either Avast or AVG anti-virus instead (both free for non-commercial use) and using something like Commodo Firewall (again free) and Spybot Search and Destroy (also free) to sift-out malware.

Edited May 24, 2010 by Woodstock Jag

[Jaggyman]

As was said above i would avoid registry clean up software.My pc is 4 years old and i did as was mentioned above saved what i wanted to a external drive and wiped the hard drive clean and re-installed windows. Works fine now and thats with norton installed as well. Another way to make pc a little bit quicker is to run the disk defragmenter sometimes it can quicken significantly but most of the time the improvment isnt much.

[KAWB]

Try seeing what programs are in your startup and see if you can remove any.

[wee jim]

Thanks guys. I had a suspicion that these clean-up tools were a no no. I do use AGV anti-virus and Spybot… and an external hard drive to back-up my files.

 

I’ll probably just live with the computer the way it is. Re-installing Windows is a bit beyond my ability.

 

Thanks again for the sound advice.

[Junior]

IOBITs Advanced System Care will do the job. Doesnt go too deep into the registry and it backs everything up. Used it for years to find the wee bits every uninstall leaves behind.

 

TBH I wouldnt go down the full reinstall unless you are 100% comfortable with what you are doing. While its an easy process you nearly always forget something important on the first few occasions. If you want to do that make a list of what you want to keep , take a couple of days to make sure you have everything backed up to either a different parttion on your HDD or external storage then give it a go :

[Norman]

Rebuilding the PC should be considered as a last resort.

 

I did it to my 6 year old Dell Dimension 4700 in March this year and it took the best part of a weekend to perform on top of several weeks' worth of planning. I still managed to lose a few licence keys.

 

During the rebuild, I was very careful about exactly what was installed. It's surprising how many "bonus software packages" automatically install themselves (e.g. web browsers with the router and graphics tools with the printer).

 

Unless you're upgrading the operating system, you'll also have several years' worth of Windows updates to be downloaded and installed. There's nothing more dispiriting than trying a quick reboot, only for the message "Installing update 1 of 97" to appear.

 

The results have, however, been amazing. I can switch on the PC and be on the google home page in under 80 seconds.

[Woodstock Jag]

Rebuilding the PC should be considered as a last resort.

 

I did it to my 6 year old Dell Dimension 4700 in March this year and it took the best part of a weekend to perform on top of several weeks' worth of planning. I still managed to lose a few licence keys.

 

During the rebuild, I was very careful about exactly what was installed. It's surprising how many "bonus software packages" automatically install themselves (e.g. web browsers with the router and graphics tools with the printer).

 

Unless you're upgrading the operating system, you'll also have several years' worth of Windows updates to be downloaded and installed. There's nothing more dispiriting than trying a quick reboot, only for the message "Installing update 1 of 97" to appear.

 

The results have, however, been amazing. I can switch on the PC and be on the google home page in under 80 seconds.

 

A lot of it comes down to what you're using your computer for. If you regularly use a lot of programs you downloaded having bought online, it is typically an absolute nightmare to get things back how you want it. If you're a "web, pictures, music and documents" sort of person (like your typical user) and provided you've got an evening to spare, everything essential backed-up, clear instructions sourced online for formatting the HDD/booting from the CD drive etc. and your original Windows and Office disks, I'd be inclined to take the leap of faith that it will substantially improve things.

 

Funny you should mention the Dell Dimension 4700s. I'm actually in the process of working out the cheapest and most effective way to upgrade my 6 year-old Dell Dimension 4600 so it (processor aside, perhaps) is of modern spec. I'm pretty likely to be taking the punt at putting Windows 7 on it, even if initially as a dual-boot.

[hamiltonjag]

Glary Utilities. No spyware. No Adware. No nasties. Job done.

[KAWB]

Start, Run, type MSCONFIG and see what programs are booting up on start up.

 

Anything you are unsure about leave, but if its things like DVD progs or Nero etc, just uncheck them.

 

You may find that you still have programs trying to boot up which you removed a while ago, suprisingly.

[Norman]

Funny you should mention the Dell Dimension 4700s. I'm actually in the process of working out the cheapest and most effective way to upgrade my 6 year-old Dell Dimension 4600 so it (processor aside, perhaps) is of modern spec. I'm pretty likely to be taking the punt at putting Windows 7 on it, even if initially as a dual-boot.

 

Make sure you run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, before shelling out for a copy of Windows 7. My 4700 didn't have sufficient RAM and there was also a question about the graphics card. I decided to stick with XP.

 

I was running with 0.5GB of RAM, but shelled out about £20 on an extra 1GB through ebay. Noticibly faster when working with photo editors, iTunes, etc.

[Woodstock Jag]

Make sure you run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, before shelling out for a copy of Windows 7. My 4700 didn't have sufficient RAM and there was also a question about the graphics card. I decided to stick with XP.

 

I was running with 0.5GB of RAM, but shelled out about £20 on an extra 1GB through ebay. Noticibly faster when working with photo editors, iTunes, etc.

 

Cheers. Already done that

 

I'm upgrading the RAM to 2.5GB from 0.5GB and getting a 500GB HDD to supplement the 80GB SAT drive it came with. Going to ghost the system over to the 500GB and make it the boot drive.