13 replies to this topic

[hi002]

Since i'm new to CCleaner and i have come up with all these issues i wanted to know is it safe to delete all uninstaller reference issues, activeX/COM issues, missing shared DLL, open with application issues, application path issues, uninstaller reference issues, missing startup software and missing MUI reference issues registery keys after making backups.Also is it true that one should not remove the registry keys for all unused file extensions for you never know when you need them later?

[hazelnut]

Welcome to the forum, as you mentioned, ccleaner gives the option to make a backup in the issues section. Use this option if you are unsure or nervous and then in the unlikely event of something going wrong ( and mine never has) just double click the ccleaner backup and select merge.

[hi002]

hazelnut, on Nov 26 2006, 12:33 PM, said:

Welcome to the forum, as you mentioned, ccleaner gives the option to make a backup in the issues section. Use this option if you are unsure or nervous and then in the unlikely event of something going wrong ( and mine never has) just double click the ccleaner backup and select merge.

[hi002]

Thank you. I had a 2nd question earlier regarding deleting registries marked as unused fies and extensions.
Is it safe to delete them? I read somewhere that you should refrain for you never know when you might need them later? Also are ActiveX/Com entries (marked in red) picked up by CCleaner to delete safe to do away? That reminds me some entries are marked in green and others in red!? Is this some indication on how safe these entries are to delete and how? My final question is on how long should i keep these backups for if my computer appears to be doing fine! Any help will be appreciated. Thanks once again.

[pwillener]

Deleting registry keys always poses some risk. I personally have stopped using registry cleaners for a long time, especially since I don't see any advantage in deleting a few hundred entries from these very vast registry files.

If you decide to run registry cleanup, the safest option is to take a complete registry backup first. ERUNT is a good registry backup utility.

[Tarq57]

Have to agree with not tampering with the registry, (yet I still do it!), but I've done damage to the OS before by using too many registry cleaners. But regarding unused extensions/file types, generally they will be created by an application that needs to use them, either on installation, or when selecting the defaults of the application. If you get rid of them, and later find a particular program doesn't work correctly, just merge the backup. After any sort of reg. clean these days, I quickly test every application to make sure no damage is done. Takes a while. Probably not worth it, and doesn't always show everything, anyway.
I would say that ccleaner hasn't, to the best of my knowledge, ever damaged the registry to an extent that anything was unusable. There are other reg. cleaners that can and do. (depending on the user.)

[rridgely]

hi002, on Nov 26 2006, 05:05 AM, said:

Thank you. I had a 2nd question earlier regarding deleting registries marked as unused fies and extensions.
Is it safe to delete them? I read somewhere that you should refrain for you never know when you might need them later? Also are ActiveX/Com entries (marked in red) picked up by CCleaner to delete safe to do away? That reminds me some entries are marked in green and others in red!? Is this some indication on how safe these entries are to delete and how? My final question is on how long should i keep these backups for if my computer appears to be doing fine! Any help will be appreciated. Thanks once again.

Unused file extensions are safe to be removed. If they are needed in the future they are just recreated.
Activex/com entries are fine to remove as well.(Just about everything is safe to remove)
I'm not sure about the green/red thing your talking about because every computer I've ever used ccleaner on all of the entries are black.(or am I color blind? Who knows. )

The back ups for ccleaner should probably be kept for 3-4 days or after a reboot.(if you reboot and everything is still ok then its pretty much guaranteed that nothing is seriously going to go wrong) I will say that I trust ccleaner enough that I have actually had it set to not prompt for back ups for over 2 years now and its never caused any problems on my computer or others' that I've run it on. It is the only registry cleaner I trust 100%.

[Tarq57]

Re the red/green thing...I've seen this before on a different reg. cleaner, can't remember which one, but I could never work out how to use it with confidence. There is another very safe reg. cleaner with colour codes called TweakNow, green entries are described as safe to remove.
If you have colour entries with Ccleaner, any chance of a screenshot?

[Andavari]

pwillener, on Nov 28 2006, 11:49 PM, said:

Deleting registry keys always poses some risk. I personally have stopped using registry cleaners for a long time, especially since I don't see any advantage in deleting a few hundred entries from these very vast registry files.

I've been thinking of doing that, however recently all versions of Microsoft.NET went buggy on my system and removing the left-overs in the registry was the only fix.

[hi002]

OOPS sorry about the color markings in issues for deletion in CCleaner, the colour settings are marked in RegSeeker 1.52! It is a registry cleaning program. Thanks rridgely for the update on what is safe to clean with CCleaner! Do you know of registries that come up in issues that should be left alone!

[JDPower]

hi002, on Nov 30 2006, 06:26 PM, said:

OOPS sorry about the color markings in issues for deletion in CCleaner, the colour settings are marked in RegSeeker 1.52! It is a registry cleaning program. Thanks rridgely for the update on what is safe to clean with CCleaner! Do you know of registries that come up in issues that should be left alone!

Almost all CCleaner issues found are safe to delete. RegSeeker on the other hand is a very powerful program and you can do some serious damge with it, so if you're not absolutely certain you know what you're doing leave it well alone. And definitely don't just go by the colour coding of entries as you can still cause problems deleting entries which may be listed as safe. Accidently deleting some needed entries will cause far more trouble than leaving a few dead entries alone.

[rridgely]

If your using regseeker make sure you look here to make it much safer(still not fool proof but its a lot better)
http://forum.ccleane...?showtopic=7196

Also I've never had ccleaner remove anything it shouldn't ever.(ever )
I hardly even read all the things it lists anymore if there are more than one screen.(yep I'm too lazy to scroll.) That should tell you how much I trust it.

[hi002]

rridgely, on Dec 1 2006, 09:49 AM, said:

If your using regseeker make sure you look here to make it much safer(still not fool proof but its a lot better)
http://forum.ccleane...?showtopic=7196

Also I've never had ccleaner remove anything it shouldn't ever.(ever )
I hardly even read all the things it lists anymore if there are more than one screen.(yep I'm too lazy to scroll.) That should tell you how much I trust it.

Thanks i got the update on RegSeeker and it works just fine! I had some 400 plus entries picked up by RegSeeker earlier and after this update it went down to 230 and then i ran the full service scan from Windows Live OneCare 'very reliable' from http://safety.live.c...-us/default.htm and these entries are down to 150 so i guess i'm taking it one step at a time! There are lot of obsolete in green, file or path does not exist in green, Invalid ActiveX/COM (CLSID) in red entries still found with RegSeeker still wondering if i should touch them after making backups.

[JDPower]

hi002, on Dec 1 2006, 03:05 PM, said:

Thanks i got the update on RegSeeker and it works just fine! I had some 400 plus entries picked up by RegSeeker earlier and after this update it went down to 230 and then i ran the full service scan from Windows Live OneCare 'very reliable' from http://safety.live.c...-us/default.htm and these entries are down to 150 so i guess i'm taking it one step at a time! There are lot of obsolete in green, file or path does not exist in green, Invalid ActiveX/COM (CLSID) in red entries still found with RegSeeker still wondering if i should touch them after making backups.

One thing you need to realise, IMO you shouldn't be aiming for zero entries found by RegSeeker (or anywhere near it). The odds are alot few of the entries will be needed, despite what RegSeeker says. If your system's running fine you shouldn't be worrying about it, you certainly won't see any improvement in performance just by removing some invalid entries.
I removed some entries from uninstalled and old software with RegSeeker recently and have about 300 left, my computers running fine so they can stay exactly where they are.