Registry cleaners - are they safe

[wendyl]

Whilst trying to resolve a slow printing problem with my Epson RX685 I have been advised it may be a print spooler problem and have come up with Paretologic PC health adviser which scanned registry and advise 628 items need action AVG has been quite persistent advertising a registry cleaner all these programmes say they are needed but require payment and I am wary of acting. Can an ABer advise if it is a good idea (the printing problem has been unresolved for weeks) to install such a programme and recommend one if so
grateful thanks

[Bobbisox]

I use uniblue wendy , had to purchase it tho,

[Rasman]

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Includes a registry cleaner. I've used it for it's other functions as well for years with no problems.

And it's free.

[VHG]

Personally I think most (if not all) registry cleaners are a con.

When you first run them they say they have found hundreds of problems with the registry and if you pay them some money they will fix them all.

But there are not really hundreds of problems with your registry and it is just a scam to make you part with your money.

It is true that when some programs are deleted they leave data in the registry, but this does no harm, and it certainly does not slow your computer down.

I have never run a registry cleaner in my life, nor felt the need to.

Note that if a registry cleaner deletes an important bit of data from the registry then it could stop a program working, or indeed the whole of Windows.

I think it best to leave your registry alone.

[wendyl]

thanks for instant replies from you both. Had Uniblue years ago received numerous emails will look into the free one Rasman

[VHG]

This Wiki article about Registry Cleaners does indicate they are of dubious use, and can cause damage to your computer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registry_cleaner

[wendyl]

that was my first thought VHG hence my query on here

[theshedman]

Hi, I have been using the one Rasman says about for a few years and had no problems. I use AVG free, ccleaner and Malwarebytes and they seem to do the work fine. I used to pay Norton for my Virus protection and had nothing but problems, switched to the free ones and been fine since.

[Rasman]

I should also add that I broadly agree with VHG

[AlBags]

They are safe When You Know What You Are Doing .. exactly.

If you have to start asking about it .. you have not read/understood enough about it. You can easlily disable Windows with a registry tool so it will never boot again.
Compacting the registry is a good thing every once in a while.

[wendyl]

I think I'm more confused than ever now and no further forward with my printer problem not having found resource monitor or print spooler suggested as culprits will go back to vista again

[Rasman]

You could try downloading and reinstalling the drivers.

http://www.epson.co.u...DRV_CATEGORY_CODE=DRV

You could do worse than downloading the latest drivers for your RX

[Wak]

Over the years I have used both CCleaner and Easycleaner, both available for FREE.
Neither have ever caused any problems for me (touch wood!) and CCleaner allows you to copy the registry before treatment so that it can be replaced if there are any issues or problems caused.
Slow printing can also be caused by too many programs working in the background.
Check for unwanted programs which install themselves at Start-up

[wendyl]

Thanks WAK I looked up ccleaner but only found a pay for version £19+ i' ll take another look though if I can indeed make a copy of registry in case

[Rasman]

mmmm, certainly news to me that they are now charging a fee.

http://www.piriform.c...ner/download/standard

it's been free for years.

[SlackAlice]

It's here as well

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner

[wendyl]

Thanks to you all have now obtained it free and run unfortunately it does not seem to have improved the printing problem so I'll have to keep on trying with that

[Rasman]

To be honest, I didn't think a cleaner would improve your printers performance, but since you brought the subject up I was glad to advocate this useful little tool.
Reading back on this thread, drivers up to date, no extraneous resource hogging programs, then it's a hardware issue.

[wendyl]

Thanks Rasman do you have any further advice to offer regarding the 'hardware issue'

[Rasman]

If you can confirm that another printer works on your system and yours don't?