Are Registry cleaners worthwhile?
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By Fred Langa For some, Windows Registry cleaning is a waste of time. For others, it's essential! Here's how to tell if your PC might benefit from a thorough cleaning of its Registry. |
The whys and hows of Registry cleaners
A reader named Dave asked a question I was happy to answer because it's about one of my favorite topics:
- "Would you consider
commenting on the value of Registry cleaning programs and, more importantly,
making some recommendations?"
Some Registry entries are maintained by Windows itself, which does a reasonable job of looking after its own settings. But Windows can't know what third-party software needs to do in the Registry, and so more or less cedes control of those entries to the software that creates them.
Some software is very tidy, even frugal about what it stores in the Registry. This kind of software is also thorough in erasing all traces of itself when it is eventually uninstalled or upgraded.
Other software, however, is notorious not only for spewing data throughout the Registry, but also for leaving behind large amounts of digital debris when the software is removed. In fact, this behavior is sometimes intentional; many time-limited software trials, for example, deliberately leave behind special software "flags" that prevent you from using the software after the trial has expired, even if you remove and reinstall the software afresh.
Software crashes can leave behind messy Registry entries, too, some of which may interfere with your ability to correct the problem. These orphan Registry entries may even prevent you from successfully reinstalling the software later.
Bogus data causes the Registry to grow needlessly in a condition sometimes referred to as "Registry bloat." A bloated Registry slows operation of your PC (because your operating system has to wade through the bad entries while seeking the good ones) and can lead to crashes.
In addition, nothing good can come from Registry entries that point to programs or DLLs that no longer exist on the PC.
If your PC is relatively new and you haven't changed its original configuration much, then Registry bloat isn't likely to be a major issue. But the longer your PC has been in service — especially if you frequently add and remove hardware and software — the more deadwood your Registry is likely to contain.
Software tinkerers, in particular — people like me (and maybe like you!) who regularly try out new programs, experiment with shareware, or explore the more obscure settings of their setups — are likely candidates for significant Registry bloat.
A good Registry cleaning tool will seek out and delete bogus entries. For example, such a tool can check to see that every program and file referenced in the Registry really exists in the location the Registry thinks it does. If the location is incorrect, the tool can update the Registry entry with the correct data. If the referenced program or file doesn't exist, the tool can delete the meaningless Registry entry.
A while ago, I tested and wrote about 10 different Registry cleaning tools in InformationWeek. I found jv16 PowerTools to be the best commercially available Registry Cleaner (there's a full-featured 30-day free trial available), and EasyCleaner to be the best free tool (though not as good as jv16 PowerTools).
I've tried other tools in the interim, but I still haven't seen anything that makes me want to change those recommendations. See the full article for information on how I tested the tools, and why I chose those two in particular.
The Registry is the heart of Windows, so it's not something you want to alter on a whim. But, if you use your PC as heavily as I use mine, then regular and routine Registry cleaning can help your system stay as fast and stable as when it was new.
As always, make a backup before altering your PC in any significant way!
When is it safe to delete .log files?
In the Feb. 22 issue, I wrote about the hundreds of hidden log files that may "grow like weeds in the obscure corners of your PC." Reader Ed Laborwit writes that he found many logfiles on his PC, but is worried about the effects of deleting them:
-
"Is there a way to tell us if we actually need the log files? I did the search
and found 400 in a computer that I've been running for about three years. I can
put them on a disc, but how often would I have to retrieve the files?"
On the other hand, if you search your PC and find a log file from a version of, say, StableSoft that's been running perfectly ever since you first installed it, odds are you won't need that logfile. This sounds more like Ed's case.
So, the potential value of a log file is usually highest when the log file is freshly created or altered. It diminishes over time. If your PC is running fine and you haven't recently changed hardware or software, then you probably can remove all the log files without undue risk.
But as I said in the Feb. 22 issue, it pays to make a backup of the log files before deleting them. That way, you can recover the data, in the unlikely event that you do eventually need it.
Time running out on Vista 'Express Upgrades'
If you bought a Windows PC anytime after Oct. 26, 2006, odds are it came with either a coupon for a free " Express Upgrade" to Vista, or instructions on how to obtain the upgrade via an online registration process. The free Vista upgrade program is scheduled to begin shutting down on March 15, 2007, and will close entirely on March 31. So, if you haven't cashed in your chips, now is the time to do so.
Figure 1.
The Microsoft Vista Express Upgrade site is a generic front end
that hands you off to a vendor-specific upgrade site. You may find the process
to be anything but "express."If you have a coupon, you're lucky, because the online upgrade registration process can be very sluggish. I bought an Acer laptop a while back and have been trying for weeks, unsuccessfully, to get the Vista upgrade I'm entitled to. (Yes, I have other copies of Vista, but I wanted to use the same upgrade process that many of you will be using to see how it works. Or, in this case, doesn't work.)
The site is excruciatingly slow, with frequent timeouts that require you to start over. When I finally got most of the way through the upgrade registration process, the site refused to accept the numeric "Certificate of Authenticity" (COA) printed on the back of my laptop. The site offered no clue as to what the problem was, and only suggested that I start over.
Of course, that didn't work. After hunting around the site, I found a number to call for manual assistance. As it turned out, the operators there have the same front-end software as that available to the public. The operators I spoke with couldn't get the system to accept my COA either. They eventually told me to contact Acer.
Acer's tech support site isn't very helpful. The Vista upgrade FAQs and other instructions offered there basically just loop you back to the clunky online upgrade site. I finally found a customer service Web form on the Acer site, and I've been waiting for a week now to hear back from them. "Express" upgrade? Right.
And just in case you think I'm unfairly singling out Acer, other vendors are having their own problems with the upgrades, too, as this Computerworld article shows.
So, if you bought a PC with the vendor's assurance of a free and easy upgrade to Vista, don't delay. Get the gears turning on your upgrade, or you may find yourself out of time and out of luck.
Cold weather can damage hard drives
A reader named Jim writes that he carries a removable hard drive back and forth to work in very cold weather. He wonders about the possible repercussions:
-
"Re: the article on those CDs subjected to freezing temperatures in the
Feb. 22 issue.
How about the same for removable hard drives? I transport one back and forth to
work several times a week (back up purposes) and wonder if a few minutes in a
cold car (zero temps) are damaging the data?"
Cold, per se, isn't likely to be a problem for a hard drive, as long as you let it warm up before you try to use it. The main problem with cold temperatures is with the lubrication on the drive's moving parts. The factory lubrication is intended for room-temperature use.
But a cold drive can suffer a serious secondary effect: If you bring a cold drive into a warm environment, condensation may form on and in the drive. Very heavy condensation on the drive's circuitry could create a short circuit, frying the electronics when you power it up.
Worse, condensation on the drive's platters will almost surely cause a head crash, where the magnetic read/write head of the drive contacts and irreversibly damages the surface of the platter. Modern hard drive heads "fly" over the surface of the platters at a height measured in nanometers, or billions of a meter. (For context, a nanometer is roughly 1/50,000 the diameter of a human hair.) At that scale, condensation droplets are like liquid mountains on the surface of a hard drive platter, and the read/write head may fly straight into them.
Hard-drive enclosures are usually semi-sealed, with only small openings designed to equalize air pressure inside and outside the case. These openings are usually covered with a small patch of material similar to Tyvek or Goretex that prevents dust and actual water droplets from entering. The patch also reduces, but does not eliminate, the passage of water vapor.
So, if you're bringing a portable hard drive from a cold environment to a warm one, the safest course is to let it sit in a warm, dry, well-ventilated place until you're sure it's back to room temperature. If the cold exposure is just a few minutes, it will only take a few minutes for the drive to warm back up. But if the drive has sat in cold temps for a while, it may take several hours before the drive returns to a safe temperature.
Fred Langa edited the LangaList e-mail newsletter from 1997 to 2006, when it merged with Windows Secrets. Prior to that, he was editor of Byte Magazine and editorial director of CMP Media, overseeing Windows Magazine and others.
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