Registry tidy up - any good downloads?

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my laptop is playing silly buggers at the moment and i'm actually online now with it in safe mode as it's taking forever to start up normally.

there's no viruses on it, but i think the problems have been caused when i've uninstalled some of the sony vaio software which was pre-installed on it.

I've looked at the restore points and there isn't one from before the uninstall, so i'm thinking of getting the registry checked and make sure there's no missing bits. Can anyone suggest a reliable and free registry clean up download that i can try?

or even suggest what else i can do to see where the problem has come from?

cheers in advance :thumbs:
 
stupar said:
Download CCleaner. Free and works a treat!
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+1 - Very good software. Check under "Options, "Advanced" to turn off waning messages which become annoying after a while. By default it only removes temp files older than 24 hours, you might want to untick that as well!
 
Go into MSConfig and see what is running on start up.
My wife just bought a sony desktop and that was running more cr** than a little when it started,most of which was not needed.
If you do get CCleaner (which is very good) make sure that you note all your passwords/logins before you run it. It will clear cookies by default but you can turn it off.
 
neil_g said:
if its better in safe mode it could be a device/driver issue. safe mode only loads a basic set of drivers.
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could be yes... it has had issues with the drivers for my wacom tablet.

just downloaded ccleaner now, so i'll give it a whirl and see what happens - thanks for the advice guys!
 
wow! 601 issues with the registry... all fixed!

re-start the pc now.... if i'm not back in 10 minutes, carry on without me :D
 
Just to go against the grain... (again :lol:).. I feel I should point out there is no benefit to cleaning the registry. - Also, no program with "check" the registry for missing bits, as the registry is so variable from different programs people install.

Using a registry cleaner won't speed up your PC, if anything it's more likely to slow it down due to messing up bits of the registry. Registry "Errors" don't do anything, an orphaned entry doesn't do anything - it's not needed but it doesn't do any harm. You risk accidentally removing needed entries by using registry cleaners for no actual benefit :thinking:

CC Cleaner is a good program however, it's just the registry cleaning bit of it's thats useless.

Before anyone shouts at me:
http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/registry-cleaners-and-system-tweaking_13.html
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2005/04/why-i-dont-use-registry-cleaners/

I would suggest you use something like Revo Uninstaller to completely remove the programs you deleted, and then reinstall any drivers you might have deleted from the VAIO website. It should be ok to remove most VAIO preinstalled software, it's drivers you need to be careful about.
 
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someguy201 said:
Just to go against the grain... (again :lol:).. I feel I should point out there is no benefit to cleaning the registry. - Also, no program with "check" the registry for missing bits, as the registry is so variable from different programs people install.

Using a registry cleaner won't speed up your PC, if anything it's more likely to slow it down due to messing up bits of the registry. Registry "Errors" don't do anything, an orphaned entry doesn't do anything - it's not needed but it doesn't do any harm. You risk accidentally removing needed entries by using registry cleaners for no actual benefit :thinking:

CC Cleaner is a good program however, it's just the registry cleaning bit of it's thats useless.
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Agreed mostly with that. I never run any cleanup tools of any kind and my little network of computers couldn't be happier.

I bet that all that computer needs to speed it up is a sweep through msconfig and a run through the services management console.
 
My general tune up process is as follows:

  1. Goto www.ninite.com and install CCleaner, Malwarebytes and Defraggler (easiest and quickest way to do it)
  2. Once installed run msconfig and disable all startup applications you don't need
  3. Then switch to services tab, tick "Hide all Microsoft Services" and disable anything here you don't need (be more careful than with the Startup tab)
  4. Then don't restart yet, run CCleaner and perform a drive cleanup followed by the registry cleaner ran 2-3 times to remove all issues
  5. Then update malwarebytes and run a quick scan to check for anything sneaky on your drive
  6. Finally run a quick defrag with Draggler
  7. Reboot for a new faster PC
 
Defraggler, WHY?! It does the exact same thing as Windows defrag. It's like buying four new wheels to put on your car.

And as for installing an app to install apps... please, don't get my engine started on that one...
 
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I used Auslogics Disk Defrag sometimes. It always detects a higher fragment % than Windows disc defrag.

Neil, what does Windows say your current fragmentation % is? Just curious as to what it stays around with only Auto defragging. Also, I thought I saw somewhere that you used a SSD?
 
someguy201 said:
I used Auslogics Disk Defrag sometimes. It always detects a higher fragment % than Windows disc defrag.

Neil, what does Windows say your current fragmentation % is? Just curious as to what it stays around with only Auto defragging. Also, I thought I saw somewhere that you used a SSD?
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i have an SSD in my desktop but not my laptop. so defrag is disabled on the box with the solid state.

i defrag neither to be honest, unless im really bored then i might defrag the laptop (prob once a year?).

on the laptop MS defrag is actually reporting 1% fragmented on a 150gb drive. and it gets abused, loads of file read/writes, programs installed/uninstalled etc.
 
Odd, if I leave mine it gets to about 10-15%. Might go check my settings...
 
well... i ran the ccleaner last night, then went for the reboot, brought me to the login screen, clicked on my login... and waited... and waited... and waited. So i went to be about midnight and left it logging on, i'll go back tonight and have another look.

i really do think it's to do with vaio drivers somewhere along the line, but if i can't even start the bloody thing up it's so frustrating! :bang:

looks like its 'safe mode with networking' while i sort it.
 
I'm sure I said something about how registry cleaners can damage your system..... :lol:

Startup Repair might fix the logon issue. I would try that first.

If not, use SR to go back to before you used CC Cleaner, might make Normal Mode bootable again. If it's giving you problems that you can't solve, VAIO's have a restore partition to set it back to factory settings. Might be the easiest option and shouldn't take to long - providing you back up any data you need first.
 
someguy201 said:
I'm sure I said something about how registry cleaners can damage your system..... :lol:

Startup Repair might fix the logon issue. I would try that first.

If not, use SR to go back to before you used CC Cleaner, might make Normal Mode bootable again. If it's giving you problems that you can't solve, VAIO's have a restore partition to set it back to factory settings. Might be the easiest option and shouldn't take to long - providing you back up any data you need first.
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well, the logon process is the same as it was before i ran CC... pathetically slow - so not sure if the reg clean has helped or hindered :bonk:

is startup repair a free download jobby? lazy git aren't i... i'll have a google :D
 
yeh vista. cheers, i'll have a look thru that. thanks for your help will.
 
fixed! the startup repair found no errors, then the full disc scan found nothing... so after 4 hours of waiting for those 2 to finish, i used the vaio drivers scan thing and bingo! everything is ok now.

i never knew any of that repair software was included in windows - but as it was pre-installed with no disc - it's only accessible thru the F8 on boot up. thank god :thumbs:
 
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