Registry Cleaner

[Lemonylemon]

Sorry, but I'm a bit(!) of a techno dinosaur. Are registry cleaning programmes any good? I have Windows Vista on my home computer and the start up is very slow. According to my computer, it automatically defrags, so I don't think I need to run that.

Any suggestions please?

Many thanks for your help....

They're pretty rubbish in my opinion. You get negligible benefits, run the risk of destabilising your system and the free online tools have a bad reputation of being a source of malware.

So I wouldn't bother.

However I would be curious to know what's loading when your machine starts.

There's some information on this from Microsoft here:
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Optimize-Windows-Vista-for-better-performance

I'd also ask if your anti-virus is up to date and if you've ever run a malware detection tool such as this:
www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

I use CCleaner which does a pretty good job of clearing junk off my laptop (files and registry). However, tidying up your registry is very unlikely to make your startup quicker. You need to look at what's being run in the startup and stop anything that you don't need.

Thank you for replying. I have Macafee installed and that is up to date, definitely. I don't run a malware detection tool as I thought that MacAfee would be sweeping, IFKWIM.

I've printed off that Vista article and will also run the lavasoft programme.

I'll also be deleting temp files, temp internet files and cookies (which I know cause probs.)

Many thanks

Oh, also just to say that I also have Parental Controls on and have K9 or Bluecoat on as well. Would this make a difference?

Thanks

MacAfee will scan for viruses but it may not be scanning for things that aren't viruses but that you might not actually want. Things like AdAware hunt that side down and remove it.

If K9 and Bluecoat, which I'm not familiar with, load at startup then they will add to the slowdown.

Thank you. K9 and Bluecoat are parental blocks on kids' use of the internet. They block inappropriate sites etc.

Is AdAware something I can just download from the internet if I Google?

Many thanks for your continued help.

You can download AdAware from:
www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

That is the free version which should be all that you require.

Many thanks.