Does cleaning the registry really help performance?

Question

The registry is one area on my system where I don't know much. Cleaning programs tell me that there are hoards of errors there, however, and Windows has been acting buggy for some time. Could a clogged-up registry have anything to do with that? I remember someone once told me that Windows is fine until you start installing and uninstalling programs on a consistent basis. I've been doing that, more or less, for a couple years now, which might account for all the errors and random, odd quirks (like icons moving by themselves, windows flipping by themselves, etc).

Sound feasible?

Answer 1

Random cleaning of the registry won't do any good. You have to know what you are looking for and removing.

If you know what you are doing, it's a great help as it will help your computer from indexing old and nonexistent programs and registry entries.

Answer 2

Yes it does help. I recommend you use CCleaner. It's free and very good. I use it once a week to clean up my computer and have never had a problem with it. You can download the newest version here. It's in the top right box marked "Most Popular Downloads (last 7 days)

http://www.filehippo.com/

You can do registry repair for XP one of two ways. You can use a free repair program or do it through DOS.

You can use WinsockxpFix. Very good and I use it.

http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html

If you are using Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) there is a command that can be used instead of Winsockxpfix. It works by resetting the winsock catalogue. Click Start, then Run and type CMD in the dialogue box that appears, and then click OK. Type "netsh winsock reset"(no quotes) into the DOS window that appears. Hit enter and reboot your computer.

If using any other windows os use this program. LSPfix can be used on all other consumer versions of Windows, but make sure that Winsock 2 has been installed on Windows 95 machines.

http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm

Answer 3

If you don't really know what you're doing on a computer, I would consider not to mess with the registry. You could really do some damage to it, especially if you end up altering important Window's files.

In my experience its a good thing to backup your files to another hard drive or even writable media such as Cd's and DVDs. And then I normally reformat the hard drive and load everything back on. It sets everything back to when you had bought the computer, but make sure that you back up your important files because you will lose them! I try to do this every year or so because I do alot of filming and making videos and I'm constantly saving huge movie files to my hard drive and then when I burn them I have to delete them.

As a temporary fix, try doing disk cleanup regularly. Probably on a weekly basis, considering how much you may use your computer. If you always install and uninstall programs on your computer then run Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyze. You may just need to run that program. Let in analyze your hard drive(s) to see if you need to do that. If it says that you need to defrag your hard drive then do it. It normally keeps your computer running smoothly with as much information that you seem install and uninstall.

If your computer is acting wierd, you may have deleted an important Windows file. I would just try backing up your files reformatting the hard drive...

Answer 4

Cleaning the registry helps windows run faster and gets rid of some bugs thta have to do with missing files and stuff. Get a registry cleaner and clean it out. If you haven't cleaned it in years then it is probably filled with virtual cobwebs.

Answer 5

I don't know if your issues are caused by registry problems, but it's a good idea to purge your registry and clean out the errors periodically.

Best of luck and God bless.

Answer 6

yes cleaning helps a system so does a regular defrag also good anti-virus protection and good spyware ,also try using a java free browser for back up if you want really browse several sites fast oprea with out java is fast and a registry mechanic does wonders

Answer 7

yes it certainly does help.


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