Software Forum

All I wanted to do was cleanup my registry. Yesterday I spent a few hours browsing the internet for reviews and product descriptions on the subject. The following webpage gave me the best help is finding the candidates:

http://registry-repair-software-review. ... ry+cleaner

That article gave Ace Utilities 3rd place ranking. But, as you will read, IMHO this program is the best. I appreciate the other two winners may offer some more features but I found they were superfluous to the task at hand - registry maintenance. (I consider myself a geek, with a university degree in mathematics/computers and formerly operating a computer consulting firm.)


For me, the most important features were:
- Grouping of registry types (Fonts, Obsolete software, etc).
- Comment on invalid key.
- Undo (saving deleted items to text file, with reg keys).
- Defragmentation.

This narrowed down the list for me. Also, to keep my computer clean, I don't want a package that stays too far from registry work. I don't want the program to include virus scanner (already got one), but trivial features like cleaning caches are ok.

This brought me to the following programs. I have included my comments on each one.

Shareware is a great business model for the customer's ability to try and test products. I tested all four of these products. Took me about one hour on each one, and another two hours of reading on other products that I elected to not bother testing.

In the end, my vote goes to Ace Utilities (with Registry Defragmenter and Compactor).



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Registry Mechanic

Good
+ Not tsr after closing.
+ Yes show priority of key types.
Poor
x Not isolate reg key in undo file.
x Not defrag module.

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Advanced Registry Doctor

Good
+ Yes defrag module.
+ Yes isolate reg key in undo file.
+ Yes show priority of key types.
Poor
x Yes tsr (RegManServ.exe) after closing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Registry Optimizer

Good
+ Not tsr after closing.
+ Yes defrag module.
+ Yes isolate reg key in undo file.
Poor
x Not show priority of key types.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ace Utilities

Good
+ Not tsr after closing. } good
+ Yes defrag module - separate. } best, shows stats
+ Yes isolate reg key in undo file. } good, text file
+ Yes show priority of key types. } best, grouped
+ Exclusion list
Poor
- (none)

Comments
- The registry scanning is one of the fastest of programs.
- The grouping of reg keys is most intuitive.
- The coding of the program is very clean (no resident threads after closing).

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There is always room for improvement. I would like to see Ace Utilities include the following features (this is available in a few of its competitors).

- Import/export reg keys.

- Jump to windows regedit program with the highlighted reg key from a registry scan (RegSeeker).

- Option to backup only the registry files (Systweak Advanced Registry Optimzer & Advanced Registry Doctor).

- Ability to enable/disable some reg keys, as opposed to pure deletion (RegSeeker).

Hi Skeleton, Thanks for your taking the time to write this review, its comforting knowing that ace utilities is your number one choice amongst our competitors. You needn't worry to much about antivirus software being built into our program as we don't want Ace Utilities to become a Feature Creep application. I trust you know what one of those are from your IT experience But more to the point, a virus scanner in Ace Utilities would be inappropriate considering the fact that we aren't an antivirus company.
Your recommendations to improve Ace Utilities have been noticed, and once the site Administrator is made known of this he will be sure to post his thoughts.
Please try our beta of ace utilities, with a few upgrades, bug fixes etc. which can be found at the following location:
http://www.acelogix.com/downloads/au_beta.exe

Yes, try the beta as James said.

There is always room for improvement. I would like to see Ace Utilities include the following features (this is available in a few of its competitors).

- Import/export reg keys.

I have not seen this in any other cleaner, and cannot understand why it is needed. Can u plz explain ?

- Jump to windows regedit program with the highlighted reg key from a registry scan (RegSeeker).

Surprised that you did not find this. Please right click on an entry and select Open in Registry Editor

- Option to backup only the registry files (Systweak Advanced Registry Optimzer & Advanced Registry Doctor).

Did you mean backup the hives ? or backup the registry in .reg format ?
note, you can backup the whole registry using the Backup tool of Windows.

- Ability to enable/disable some reg keys, as opposed to pure deletion (RegSeeker).

Please explain this also. You can already ignore entries using the right click context menu.

Ske****n
You can ignore stuff like Hari says..Plus if you open a Registry editor you can import/export registry or reg entries as you desire...

Plus How many System Management tools can you operate successfully with out even reading the Help File?
If I were a bettin man I'd wager that Mr.Norton has a copy of Ace Utilities on his favorite computer..

Also ;
Ace Utilities is the BEST tool of its genre..Numero Uno! Not the Third best..

At least that is that opinion of us Pear-shaped Norwegian Bachelor Farmers.

jazz.................aka................DenB..............

Skeleton, If you are looking for another source of recommended software check out http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/swforumapps

Thanks for the Link
jazz.........aka.........DenB..............

Hari:


>> Yes, try the beta as James said.

Thanks. I've downloaded it and will try it out in an hour. Will report back on my findings.


>> I have not seen this in any other cleaner, and cannot understand why it is needed. Can u plz explain ?

RegSeeker (vers 1.45) is able to import/export a reg key that has been selected. The export file is a plain text with *.reg extension. This feature gives me the ability to: find suspicious reg key, export it out for back purposes, delete it, test op/sys. If need be it is easy to restore with import (or cmd line run of *.reg file). For me, I want system activities to be transparent; so, I prefer data files to be in ascii format that I can easily review and modify. This approach is probably better for the advanced users but overwhelming or dangerous for the novice users.


>> Surprised that you did not find this. Please right click on an entry and select Open in Registry Editor

Found it now in seconds. Thanks - just what I wanted (how is that for customer service, guys?)


>> Did you mean backup the hives ? or backup the registry in .reg format ?
note, you can backup the whole registry using the Backup tool of Windows.

I want to export individual keys in *.reg format, and backup the whole registry as a set of hive files. These are the ones in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\ and C:\Doc&Set\User\NTUSER.DAT. Of course most of those files can only be copied during the early stage of boot process; afterwards they become locked by o/s. A corresponding restore would be good.

I have only know that Windows (\Programs\Accessories\Backup utility) will back up the "system state". This may include the registry but also many other files from C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ - all archived together. I would only want the registry files.


>> Please explain this also. You can already ignore entries using the right click context menu.

RegSeeker allows items in the "Startup" section to be disabled. This is like a delete for the faint-of-heart. It moves the reg key to a subordinate "disable" sub-key. As such, the key remains in the registry file, but it becomes inactive (does not run). This allows temporary disabiling of the key for testing and possible restoring.

One more suggestion:

In the "Remove Junk Files" module, the Options setting allows for Exclusion and Inclusion of folders. However it does not allow exclusion of individual files or file types.

I would like to see in Options | Junk Remover a submenu of tables that reads:

- Junk File Remover
.. - Exclude folders
.. - Include folders
.. - Exclude files (this is new)
.. - Include files (this already exists in Junk File Remover table)
.. - Removal
- Registry Cleaner
- etc

Here is my case. I have a data file in the folder,
C:\Doc&Set\User\Local Settings\Temp\MSVDM-Desktop0.bmp

That file is used by my desktop manager. It must not be deleted. However, the AU junk file remover will always collect it for deletion. I would prefer to mark it for exclusion from junk deletion. The exclusion feature should allow for wildcard identification of filenames also.

secure5150 wrote:Skeleton, If you are looking for another source of recommended software check out http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/swforumapps

Thanks.

I did a quick read. Seems I must be in agreement - I use most of the #1 picks.

Skeleton wrote: Here is my case. I have a data file in the folder,
C:\Doc&Set\User\Local Settings\Temp\MSVDM-Desktop0.bmp

That file is used by my desktop manager. It must not be deleted. However, the AU junk file remover will always collect it for deletion. I would prefer to mark it for exclusion from junk deletion. The exclusion feature should allow for wildcard identification of filenames also.

Hi Skeleton, welcome to the forum! I'd like to know if the "Exclude files modified within a week" in the Junk File Remover Options would help you at all, since it's obvious you use this file quite often? Just curious…

Cal:

No it wouldn't. My file is older than a week, and its age remains static. Further, this \temp\ file is mostly populated by very recent-aged files.

My expectation is this feature could "easily" be implemented. And it would be very very useful to me. (Please.)

But you could make a folder for that particular file, right? Relax, let's see what Hari has to say!

RegSeeker allows items in the "Startup" section to be disabled. This is like a delete for the faint-of-heart. It moves the reg key to a subordinate "disable" sub-key. As such, the key remains in the registry file, but it becomes inactive (does not run). This allows temporary disabiling of the key for testing and possible restoring.

I agree, it would be good to see this added in. Could be handy for a few different proceedings, for example, if you needed to recover from a Trojan corrupting your system, if you know which registry keys need deleting, and you aren't quite sure that you should delete it, temporarily disabling the key might be a good action to take. And if disabling it (making it practically as if it were deleted) doesn't make any difference, or courses malfunctions, then it can easily be enabled again without the trouble of using the backup registry and having to reinstall 50 maybe 100 other keys along with it.

RegSeeker allows items in the "Startup" section to be disabled. This is like a delete for the faint-of-heart. It moves the reg key to a subordinate "disable" sub-key. As such, the key remains in the registry file, but it becomes inactive (does not run). This allows temporary disabiling of the key for testing and possible restoring.

I guess you are referring to the auto-start programs. You can already disable programs. Use the Startup Manager's right click context menu.