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files, and consequent confusion by the user of cleaner products. There is little competent information about this specific interaction, and no integration. In general, even if
Registry cleaners could be arguably considered safe in a normal end-user environment, they should be avoided in an application virtualisation environment.
155:
program to know whether any particular key is invalid or redundant. A poorly designed
Registry cleaner may not be equipped to know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have. This may lead to loss of functionality and/or system instability,
134:
Due to the sheer size and complexity of the
Registry database, manually cleaning up redundant and invalid entries may be impractical, so Registry cleaners try to automate the process of looking for invalid entries, missing file references or broken links within the Registry and resolving or removing
364:
since all
Registry entries in this scenario are written to an application-specific virtual Registry instead of the real one. Complications of detailed interactions of real-mode with virtual also leaves the potential for incorrect removal of shortcuts and Registry entries that point to "disappeared"
237:
filed a lawsuit against two Texas firms, Branch
Software and Alpha Red, producers of the "Registry Cleaner XP" scareware. The lawsuit alleges that the company sent incessant pop-ups resembling system warnings to consumers' personal computers stating "CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGE! - REGISTRY DAMAGED AND
204:
or free downloads that falsely report problems that can be "rectified" by purchasing or downloading a
Registry cleaner. The worst of the breed are products that advertise and encourage a "free" Registry scan; however, the user typically finds the product has to be purchased for a substantial sum,
147:
Some
Registry cleaners make no distinction as to the severity of the errors, and many that do may erroneously categorize errors as "critical" with little basis to support it. Removing or changing certain Registry data can prevent the system from starting, or cause application errors and crashes.
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The correction of an invalid
Registry key (such as one or more that remain after uninstallation of a program application) can provide some benefits; but the most voluminous will usually be quite harmless, obsolete records linked with COM-based applications whose associated files are no longer
52:
Registry cleaners seem to no longer be supported by
Microsoft, despite originally having made and distributed their own registry cleaner under the name of RegClean. Currently, vendors of registry cleaners claim that they are useful to repair inconsistencies arising from manual changes to
266:. Furthermore, versions of Windows prior to Server 2003 may fail to start up if the Registry and kernel files are unable to fit within the first 16 MB of memory. Slowdown due to Registry bloat is thus far less of an issue in modern versions of Windows.
171:
The use of any registry cleaner can be detrimental to a machine, and there is never a good reason to ‘clean’ a registry. It is not a source of load or lag on a system in any way and can lead to additional problems such as software not working or even
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These tools are also difficult to manage in a non-boot situation, or during an infestation, compared to a full system restore from a backup. In the age of rapidly evolving malware, even a full system restore may be unable to remove a
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411:
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Most
Registry cleaners cannot repair scenarios such as undeletable Registry keys caused by embedded null characters in their names; only specialized tools such as the RegDelNull utility (part of the free
221:
Rogue Registry cleaners are often marketed with alarmist advertisements that falsely claim to have reanalysed your PC, displaying bogus warnings to take "corrective" action; hence the descriptive label
284:
The Windows Performance Toolkit is specifically designed to troubleshoot performance-related issues under Windows, and it does not include Registry cleaning as one of its optimizations.
450:
472:"The .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 installation fails on a computer that has the .NET Framework 2.0 installed and that is running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows 2000"
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tool), rather than attempting to clean the Registry's contents, has a measurable benefit and has therefore been recommended in the past by experts such as
840:
394:
320:). "Last known-good" restores the last system Registry hive (containing driver and service configuration) that successfully booted the system.
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computers, it was possible that a very large Registry could slow down the computer's start-up time. However, this is less of an issue with
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Registry cleaners are likewise not designed for malware removal, although minor side-effects can be repaired, such as a turned-off
835:
103:
197:
213:" including Registry cleaners has been ranked as one of the most prevalent pieces of malware currently in circulation.
697:
361:
497:"OL2000: Error Message: "Outlook Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module Msvcrt.dll" When Creating an Appointment"
313:
561:"How do I uninstall Office 2003, Office 2007 or Office 2010 suites if I cannot uninstall it from Control Panel?"
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The effectiveness of Registry cleaners is a controversial topic. The issue is further clouded by the fact that
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CORRUPTED", before instructing users to visit a web site to download Registry Cleaner XP at a cost of $ 39.95.
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that cannot be mounted by the system, making the repair via "slave mounting" of a system disk impossible.
54:
152:
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677:"Windows 2000 Registry: Latest Features and APIs Provide the Power to Customize and Extend Your Apps"
443:"Error: "Internet Explorer Script Error..." when scanning after running a Registry cleanup utility"
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A corrupt Registry can be recovered in a number of ways that are supported by Microsoft (e.g.
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606:"Fright Fight: Washington Attorney General leading battle against scareware with Microsoft"
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262:), due to a different on-disk structure of the Registry, improved memory management, and
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522:"August 2009 Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Application Compatibility Update"
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698:"System may not start when creating a large number of logical units and volumes"
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A Registry cleaner is of no use for cleaning Registry entries associated with a
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the underlying Registry files (e.g. using the free Microsoft-supported
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106: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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395:"Microsoft now detects CCleaner as a Potentially Unwanted Application"
316:, from a "last known-good" boot menu, by re-running setup or by using
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are involved, the removal of system-critical files may result.
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Registry cleaners have been used as a vehicle by a number of
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before it will effect any of the anticipated "repairs". The
809:"Getting Started with Microsoft Application Virtualization"
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from Microsoft to block problematic Registry cleaners. The
27:
Third-party utility to clean up Microsoft Windows Registry
340:. However, in complex scenarios where malware such as
45:, whose purpose is to remove redundant items from the
785:Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovich (2006-11-01).
68:are often associated with utilities of this type.
547:"Free Utility: Windows Installer CleanUp Utility"
164:was a Microsoft-supported utility for addressing
8:
412:"Symantec Report on Rogue Security Software"
406:
404:
122:Learn how and when to remove this message
386:
417:. Symantec. 2009-10-28. Archived from
7:
743:"Windows Performance Analysis Tools"
254:-based operating systems (including
104:adding citations to reliable sources
653:"Fighting the scourge of scareware"
608:(Press release). Attorney General,
305:A Registry cleaner cannot repair a
25:
841:Windows-only proprietary software
449:. October 2, 2002. Archived from
162:Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
158:application compatibility updates
719:Lance Whitney (September 2007).
151:It is not always possible for a
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764:Mark Russinovich (2006-11-01).
301:Recovery capability limitations
297:software) are able to do this.
176:failing to work, if a registry
91:needs additional citations for
721:"Utility Spotlight PageDefrag"
242:Metrics of performance benefit
1:
651:Shiels, Maggie (2008-10-01).
72:Advantages and disadvantages
857:
356:Application virtualisation
314:Automated System Recovery
288:Undeletable registry keys
200:attacks that use website
53:applications, especially
192:applications to install
180:has not been performed.
787:"RootkitRevealer v1.71"
563:. Microsoft. 2010-06-29
362:virtualised application
207:rogue security software
836:Utility software types
702:support.microsoft.com
582:"Windows Maintenance"
217:Scanners as scareware
226:". In October 2008,
196:, typically through
100:improve this article
453:on December 7, 2008
333:from a hard drive.
586:r/TechSupport Wiki
503:. November 5, 2003
198:social engineering
766:"RegDelNull v1.1"
633:. StopBadware.Org
166:Windows Installer
132:
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57:-based programs.
40:Microsoft Windows
38:designed for the
16:(Redirected from
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279:Mark Russinovich
235:attorney general
184:Malware payloads
168:related issues.
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47:Windows Registry
43:operating system
36:utility software
32:registry cleaner
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708:on 2007-02-27.
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112:December 2014
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813:. Retrieved
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791:. Retrieved
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769:. Retrieved
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747:. Retrieved
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725:. Retrieved
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706:the original
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680:. Retrieved
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660:. Retrieved
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635:. Retrieved
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614:. Retrieved
612:. 2008-09-29
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589:. Retrieved
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565:. Retrieved
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549:. Microsoft.
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530:. Retrieved
528:. 2009-09-01
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505:. Retrieved
491:
480:. Retrieved
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455:. Retrieved
451:the original
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426:. Retrieved
419:the original
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311:
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295:Sysinternals
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283:
269:Conversely,
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109:
98:Please help
93:verification
90:
59:
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31:
29:
811:. Microsoft
789:. Microsoft
745:. Microsoft
723:. Microsoft
156:As well as
153:third-party
830:Categories
815:2009-01-06
793:2008-12-08
771:2008-12-08
727:August 29,
662:2008-10-02
637:2008-06-21
631:"WinFixer"
616:2010-04-01
610:Washington
591:2024-04-24
567:2010-09-23
532:2009-09-25
507:2008-05-19
482:2008-05-19
457:2008-05-19
428:2010-04-15
381:References
275:PageDefrag
256:Windows XP
248:Windows 9x
232:Washington
202:pop-up ads
749:August 8,
526:Microsoft
501:Microsoft
476:Microsoft
228:Microsoft
224:scareware
139:present.
66:scareware
682:July 19,
657:BBC News
447:Symantec
369:See also
264:indexing
230:and the
211:WinFixer
350:viruses
342:spyware
331:rootkit
194:malware
174:Windows
62:malware
348:, and
346:adware
190:trojan
178:backup
135:them.
422:(PDF)
415:(PDF)
260:Vista
751:2010
729:2008
684:2007
258:and
64:and
246:On
102:by
55:COM
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403:^
344:,
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252:NT
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30:A
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