Comodo Registry Cleaner
Comodo Registry Cleaner is an advanced Registry tool from Comodo, a company probably best known for its free firewall program.
The Registry Cleaner is offered as a beta release currently only on the Comodo forum and selected download portals.
The software program scans the Registry for various errors like links that are pointing to deleted files, font locations and pretty much everything coming up as an error in the Registry. Those entries that are found are later on displayed in a list. The user can check individual entries or clean them all in one go.
The Registry Cleaner is automatically creating a backup before cleaning the Registry. That way it is possible to restore the Registry to a state before the cleaning took place. The Windows XP and Vista Registry cleaner comes with another option called compact which compacts the Registry to reduce it's size.
It is recommended to compact the Registry after cleaning it for maximum performance gain. A smaller Registry can reduce system start and overall system performance.
Comodo Registry Cleaner is compatible to Windows XP and Windows Vista and supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating systems.
Update: Comodo Registry Cleaner is no longer available as a standalone product. Comodo launched an all-in-one program for Windows instead. Comodo System Utilities includes the Registry cleaner component, but also an autorun manager, a shredder, or a disk cleaner.
The application is available as a free download from Comodo. The program is compatible with all versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system starting with Windows XP.
Please note that it needs to be installed before you can use it. The program displays the various tools it comes with in a sidebar on the left on start. Simply select one of the available tools, e.g. Registry Cleaner, and run a scan of the system to get started.
Comodo System Utilities lists the issues that it found, and gives you options to clean those right away, or to go through the list of issues to make a case by case selection before the clean up operation is run.
I have been using my computer without any registry cleaners for over a year now and if the claims are true that registry cleaners are beneficial, then my computer must be a wreck by now, but it’s still chugging along smoothly since then.
Even removing redundant keys can impact because you may need the keys later on.
I can’t see any point of having one. If you have applications problems, normally a reinstall solves it. If you can’t install a security program, for instance, Kaspersky because of registry clutter left behind from an old antivirus, no registry cleaners can solve it.
And the most common claim of all, is that it can improve the performance, but that claim is on very shaky ground.
I think this article is very much on the nail
http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/registry-cleaners-and-system-tweaking_13.html
Well, I’ve been using Auslogics Registry Cleaner and Disk Defrag for some time and I must say it does improve the performance somewhat. Note that you must use the tools in the correct sequence (and using just reg cleaner is not enough!) The sequence must be:
1. Clean up registry (this will rremove registry errors)
2. Defragment registry (this will reduce the size of the registry by removing gaps from step 1)
3. Clean disks (Auslogics can do it, CCleaner can also do it)
4. Defragment disks – this is the most important step besides step 1.
After that your PC should work a bit faster, or a lot faster if this is an old computer.
I have recently purchase a registry cleaner and after using it my pc is working much better.
Well, I’ve tried this Comodo Registry Cleaner and I must say I’m rather impressed. It has discovered another 60 intricate registry errors, deeply analyzing and finding what other Reg Cleaners had not discovered. Need I say I’m rather maniac concerning the health of my computer ? Comodo Registry Cleaner is a nice piece of software, IMO. That will be keeps, for me.
@ James – How can you agree with Thinker and Martin ? That’s a contradiction, you only agree with Thinker !
@ garbanzo – Revo is good, but sometimes not even the full scan is able to find everything, and you have to do manual cleaning. I wouldn’t recommend using Revo for aplications with kernel drivers, removing those without reboot will instantly produce BSOD.
It is also not true that software only writes to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE, software with dedicated drivers also writes in the Control keys, like HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001.
@ Transcontinental – indeed Russinovich doesn’t take Registry cleaners in high consideration but he also states that “Registry junk is a Windows fact of life and that Registry cleaners will continue to have a place in the anal-sysadmin’s tool chest, at least until we’re all running .NET applications”.
But yes, I also think it’s a mistake to think it will improve performance. Personally I use it only to remove clutter and sometimes to fix errors. When I need it, not on a regular schedule.
Mark Russinovich doesn’t seem to take Registry cleaners in high consideration (http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/10/02/registry-junk-a-windows-fact-of-life.aspx), and the myth of Registry cleaning improving performance is the word of several techies.
All I can say is that is that I have, if not improved performance, repaired serious problems after having “cleaned” the Registry. Every month or so, or in a critical situation (or presumed as such) I use 5 Registry cleaners, 5 I’ve found to be both reliable and efficient, and 5 which each most often find what the other 4 haven’t found :
Argente Registry Cleaner – CCleaner – jv16 PowerTools – Uniblue Registry Booster 2(the only shareware) – Wise Registry Cleaner
Now, concerning Comodo Registry Cleaner, hard to know if it would add any extra potential but, in regard of Comodo’s reputation of quality, I guess I’ll give it a try, though beta stages when applied to sensitive matters as the Registry, do frighten me a bit.
It’s probably 8.6 Megabyte GUI and the rest application :)
9Mb? Biggest registry utility I ever saw 8-) I wonder, what they had put in it.
As for cleaning and optimizing in general – as was said above, I think it does little good, but go it occasionally.
Better use more often defragmenter and PageDefrag.
hey dwarf_toss, as far as failing uninstallers go, most built-in uninstallers leave quite a few reg keys and even stray files after you run them. use an app like Revo or Your Uninstaller to scour your registry and file system to keep those rogues under control.
i too use registry cleaners on occasion. i usually only manually remove keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE, since uninstallers and registry cleaners often leave things behind in those areas. it’s too tedious to mess with HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT to clean up file types and such, so that’s where cleaners sometimes come in handy. oh, and for clearing those pesky MRU lists. cleaners use algorithms; i do not :)
not that clearing those things actually makes my computer work any better – it’s just a compulsion i have, i like my computer to stay tidy, and don’t like anything to take up space if i’m not using it…
+1 for reg cleaning periodically. Just gotta find one that’s good at not deleting anything important (backup).
Sometimes an uninstaller fails too, so you have to manually delete program folders. Is nice to not have to search a registry manually to delete keys that are never going to be useful again.
I like eusing free reg cleaner, even if it’s nagware, but Comodo firewall rocks my socks. I may have to check this one out then just because.
Edit: WHOA. 9 mb installer? Does it also process photos? I’ll wait to see what it’s all about I think heh.
I have been using Ccleaner for a few years and can honestly say that I have seen performance improvement probably 95% of the time. I am aware of the harm that may be done but after using it dozens of times, I have never had any problems. I look forward to putting Commdo through it’s paces.
I’d think compacting registry hives do help performance.
>They delete 1% of keys and that doesn’t change anything. Cleaing registry is a myth that has been disproved.
Disproved by who?
Registry cleaners does not really improve performance but benefit of removing broken entries to such things as missing uninstallers or file associations is more than obvious.
I agree with both martin and Thinker. Registry Cleaners do very little good and sometimes monumental harm. However, compacting the registry is an excellent feature.
Yes, I agree with you Martin, even a guru like Mark Russinovitch acknowledges it. Have you seen this page: http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/10/02/registry-junk-a-windows-fact-of-life.aspx
I only use jv16, registrar (for manual cleaning), erunt and ntregopt.
Thinker I still like my Registry to be clean and Comodo Registry Clean does add compacting the Registry to the options which is definitely something beneficial.
Registry cleaners are useless :| They delete 1% of keys and that doesn’t change anything. Cleaing registry is a myth that has been disproved.