RegCleaner ????

[Penguin]

I am trying to use ReCleaner to clean up my registry, but how do you know what to keep and what to get rib of?

Some of the files in there I don't know what program they belong to or if I can get rid of it or not.

Is there any way to determine what should stay and what should go?

[HackinCowboy]

My rule of thumb when it comes to reg cleaning, if you don't know it, don't delete it. Also, always backup your registry before any spring cleaning. Usually you can look at the location of an entry or the name of it to see what program it's related to.

[Kubie]

Penguin,
I've used Regcleaner for quite awhile. I especially like the version JV16.
When I uninstall a program, I always go to Regcleaner and use it to clean up the residual stuff out of the registry.
HackinCowboy is right! Back up!!!
Carl

[Cricket]

Hi Penguin,

You would only select the programs that you know you already uninstalled. The uninstaller doesn't always remove all the little bits and pieces of the program. If you haven't uninstalled anything, you don't need to use RegCleaner.

:) Cricket

[Doobie]

I use system Mechanic, very good program and I delete everything it finds and the good thing about the program is that it makes a backup before deleting anything... :)

[Penguin]

Thanks Everyone.

I just loaded RegCleaner and was just trying to figure out how to use it. I uninstalled some programs before, and right now I don't remember what they all were. So that is why I was wondering if there was a way to figure out if a registry was needed or not.

[ressler76]

You Can back Up do one by one Becareful all else fails right down the path where your back up is so you can restore.I do belive you can restore from dos/safe mode if needed. ween the ones out you know of first.

[GaryRouth]

Hi Penguin

Sometimes a Google.com search can do wonders to identify all sorts of things. Even registry entries: if you put some hard-to-figure filename in "quotes" Google will return very specific webpages, often from tech forums like pcmech. Sometimes you'll find out where the file came from, sometimes you'll just end up on a crazy site.
. . . Gary

p.s. If you'd like to learn a little more about the Windows Registry files, there's an article right here on PcMech: Read all about it:

"Unraveling The Mysteries Of The Windows Registry"
http://www.pcmech.com/show/os/150/

[Penguin]

Thanks everyone for the help. I am slowly starting to figure out the registry.