Safety of Windows Usage

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 12:57
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Support
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Windows question

I have heard that registry cleaners are ultimately a risk to the stability of a Windows system, therefore I want to stay away from them. Is Bleachbit a registry cleaner of some type or just a junk files cleaner (ex: something better than Windows Disk Cleanup). I just do not want my registry messed with and possibly have it corrupted or something important deleted that may cause my system to not boot. So basically, do I have any concerns when using this program (have used it in Linux and is fabulous).

andrew

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 17:10

BleachBit is not a "register cleaner" and does not include a "registry cleaner," which Wikipedia defines

A registry cleaner is a type of software utility designed for the Microsoft Windows operating system whose purpose is to remove redundant or unwanted items from the Windows registry. However, the necessity and usefulness of registry cleaners is a controversial topic, with experts in disagreement over their benefit. The problem is further clouded by the fact that malware and scareware are often associated with utilities of this type

So registry cleaners have broad rules which delete a variety of registry keys. For example, a registry cleaner deletes registry keys for file types where the file that opens them is no longer installed. My experience and casual testing shows this doesn't provide any tangible benefit but is also harmless.

On the other hand, BleachBit does delete registry keys, but it is much more selective. For example, it will delete the MRU (most recently used) list of any application like Windows Media Player, and I've never heard of anything having a system issue because of this.

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Andrew, lead developer

Anonymous (not verified)

Thu, 05/05/2011 - 19:18

Thanks, I'm gonna use Bleachbit :)