PCA Forums

I haven't kept mine up to date lately, but this is a very good one. It's basically what I do except that instead of SuperAntiSpyware, I use Trojan Remover.

http://www.selectrealsecurity.com/malware-removal-guide

After reading this, why do they say this:

Download TFC (Temp File Cleaner) and save it to your desktop. If you have CCleaner installed, you can use that instead, but do not use the registry cleaner.

I always use CCleaner and I use it on the registry as well. Any idea why they would say that?

Not sure, other than there are two schools of thought on registry cleaning. Some people don't believe in it.

I don't like registry cleaning myself because I think 99% of the cleaners out there don't do it right. I have never had a problem with CCLeaner and I use it on my client's PCs as part of regular maintenance and on my own PCs. HOWEVER I also use the feature in CCLeaner that backs up the registry entries it will delete, in case I ever have to undo what it did (never have). I also use ERUNT to backup a client's 0 entire registry before I do anything else (it's #1 on my checklist). ERUNT has bailed me out MANY times. Often I'll have a client with an unbootable OS - possibly due to registry corruption. It might be so bad that I can't even get System Restore to work, but if there's an ERUNT backup from even 6 months or a year ago, I can restore that and get the system up and running, and THEN use system restore if necessary.

ANYWAY, while I think CCLeaner's registry cleaning has little actual performance benefit (the only reason your desktop feels snappier after a registry cleaning is because the registry files have been cached by Windows after a cleaning) I DO believe that over time (years) your registry grows and will eventually impact performance since these registry files can get pretty large.

I do believe that any registry cleaner that you pay for is not worth it, if not an outright scam. CCleaner is a proven free product that's been around a long time. I only worry that every time they release an update, they may accidentally screw something up.