This is more of a general question about registry cleaners rather than anything specifically wrong with my PC. On a daily basis I run Norton System Works 2004 to check out the system and repair anything the program might highlight, this including a registry cleaner of sorts. I have also downloaded a small program CCleaner which also has a registry cleaner unit as part of the program. I have noticed, however, a number of registry cleaners on the web all claiming wonderous cures for the PC. I should point out at this stage that my PC runs well (touch wood!) and the need to play around with my system has never really arisen. Just for interest, however, I downloaded a couple of these programs just to run the program to identify any errors, but not activate any cures. One such example is Reg Organiser. To my astonishment it identified over 300 issues with my registry. Before I invest in this program, or something similar, I need to know what exactly is going on here. Am I being taken for a ride, given my careful regime of cleaning my system, or is it simply my other programs are not detailed enough to dig deep to identify potential errors?

I am not asking for an evaluation of Reg Cleaner itself, simply a view on such products in general. I have some IT knowledge, but I am by no means an expert and always take great care before messing around with the registry. Given all seems well with my PC should I leave well alone or should I take the identification of such a number of errors as a warning of potential problems and buy a registry cleaning program of some form?

Your views on this would be greatly appreciated.

Gareth

I use Norton System Works & run the Check regularly. As far as Registry Errors is finds very few. I would list it as a very shallow scan.

I also use CCleaner & check Issues. I would say this is a little deeper but not much.

I also use RegSeeker which is my favorite (& it's free)! I would put it on a medium to deep level.

& finally I use JV16 which is one of the deepest.

An interesting test is to run them consecutively for scan (not fix) & see the differences.

I would put it something like this (for example):

Norton: 1 find
CCleaner: 6 finds
RegSeeker: 36 finds
JV16: 136 finds

This is approximate & with regular cleaning. It is not uncommon for a First Cleaning for RegSeeker or JV16 to find several hundred.

JV16 also selects green & red issues (safe to remove) & (ignore).
It ignores hundreds of Norton entries because it ignores Symantec.

In general I use a Registry Cleaner for the purpose of completely removing programs. After Add/ Remove & a manual file search I always run RegSeeker as all programs will leave a few things in the registry.

Hope this helps.

Many thanks - have opted for the JV16 as a trial period. It is quite interesting to run them in "parallel" so to speak. The RegSupreme (JV16) certainly picks up far far more.

All the best

Gareth

I love that RegSeeker. Been using it for a while now