JHolland - clarification of reg cleaners

[PattiChati]

Awhile ago, in one of your posts, you recommended the reg cleaner Tweak Now Reg Cleaner Std - which was a free download.
Would you still recommend this? I download the paid version of registry mechanic, but am afraid that is removing too much.
On the Reg Cleaner Std, it only scans total value of 11,000 and never finds any problems, whereas Registry Mechanic scans alot more and finds more problems. My question is - which one is safer? I do a lot of downloading, so I think I need something to keep the registry clean.
Other cleaning programs I have are Webroot spysweeper and window washer, spybot, adaware. Are these all safe and good.
Thank you.

[jholland1964]

Patti, I don't believe I was the one who recommended Tweak Now Reg Cleaner Std as I am not familiar with that program at all.

The only one I usually recommend is this one RegCleaner

It is a safe regcleaner. You can never go wrong from going to the Tools Menu and choosing "Registry Cleaner > Do Them All". It will keep anything removed, by default, for 30 days in case you want to put it back. A backup of all that was removed will be made, just choose 'Backups' (top right) to view them, you can delete them when you're confident they're no longer needed. BUT it's a good idea to leave the backup stuff alone and let the computer delete them after the default 30 days. Sometimes it takes a little more than a few days to see if something may have broken due to removal from the registry.

All that said, I never recommend "playing with" the registry and NEVER would recommend using a registry cleaner as a regular part of computer maintenance. I'm not a fan of Registry cleaners for people who cannot interpret exactly what those registry entries truly mean.
Even I don't just take any cleaner's advice and delete all that is found. I ALWAYS go down the list one-by-one and try to understand the significance of each entry before I allow it to be deleted.

As far as the others, Webroot spysweeper and window washer, spybot, adaware, I have never used WindowWasher so I cannot comment on that one. I do use Spysweeper, as a scanner only. I do not have it running all the time in the background. I use AdAwareSE and Spybot the same way, MANUAL Scanning ONLY. I do not have portions of either one running in the background. I use my Norton Anti-virus, Windows built in firewall and also SpywareBlaster. Which, as far as I am concerned it really my KEY protection program. It is especially good because it is NOT supposed to run in the background.
The ONLY programs which run in the background are my anti-virus and firewall. I use the built in Disk Cleanup tool if need be, and very, very occasionally CCleaner and I do mean VERY RARELY on that one because it can remove too much. Though I do, like PP, recommend it's usage when trying to rid a computer of spyware/malware, etc.

Why are you using a registry cleaner? I know you say you do a lot of downloads but it depends on what you are downloading as to whether a registry entry or change is made. I generally only use RegCleaner if I have uninstalled a program via Add/Remove to be sure that any registry remnants are removed too. But otherwise, I rarely use it.

[PattiChati]

You had said RegCleaner and I went to google search and that is where I found the Tweak one. I have just now downloaded the one you said. I think I want to use regcleaner when I uninstall things. Is there a rule of thumb of what stuff is always safe to remove?
All my malware removal is on a "use when needee" basis also. I don't have anything in the background.

[jholland1964]

RegCleaner Tools Menu and choosing "Registry Cleaner > Do Them All". It will keep anything removed, by default, for 30 days in case you want to put it back. A backup of all that was removed will be made, just choose 'Backups' (top right) to view them, you can delete them when you're confident they're no longer needed. BUT it's a good idea to leave the backup stuff alone and let the computer delete them after the default 30 days.

This IS safe to do it this way, but as I said, not as a regular maintenance program. Just when needed. I probably go three or four months without using it.