Delete files from the win 8 registry. Is it worth cleaning the Windows registry? Cleaning the database using special programs
Almost all actions performed by the user are recorded in the registry (base Windows data). With prolonged use of a PC, the size of the database increases, many garbage records are created in it and a lot of errors occur. To optimize and speed up your computer's performance, you need to clean the Windows 7, 8, 10 registry.
Most likely, you will not experience a significant increase in performance, but optimization will not be unnecessary, although it all depends on the degree of neglect. In addition, I recommend doing the following. Standard means The OS does not provide the ability to clean Windows registry, so let’s consider special programs and manual cleaning methods.
Registry cleaning programs
There are many applications that clean the registry, but there are some that do not perform their functions or can harm the computer. Damage to important registry sections is accompanied by Windows errors or leads to the OS not starting, which is why you have to use a system recovery tool. Reliable programs that perform their stated tasks include:
- CCleaner
- Comodo System Utilities
- Windows Cleaner
- Wise Registry Cleaner
For example, let's take a closer look at cleaning the registry Windows application number 1. Download and install CCleaner. Launch CCleaner, go to the "registry" section. By default, all elements are checked, I recommend leaving them that way. Click the “search for problems” button, wait for the process to complete, then click the “fix” button.
In the message that appears, click “yes”, this will allow you to backup the registry just in case. Specify the folder to save the reg file and its name, click “save”. In order not to fix problems one by one, click “fix marked” and wait until the end of the process.
Close application windows. In the program, in addition to cleaning the Windows registry, you can clean the system as a whole and use services to optimize the OS. Perform the process once a month or more often.
Manual registry cleaning
If you do not trust programs, then you can clean the registry manually. The process will take longer, and it will not be possible to correct all errors. The process consists of removing the remaining software entries from the registry and cleaning startup.
Note: The instructions are intended for experienced users. Damage to the registry may result in critical problems and errors.
Create a system restore point or backup as described below. Do , 8, 10. Click “file”, then “export”.
Select the "Entire Registry" range. Specify the name (in Latin letters) and storage folder, click “save”. If unwanted problems arise, you can restore the previous state from the reg file.
On the left side of the registry there is a tree structure of partitions. Expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section, then the Software subsection. Software stores data about installed (once removed) software. Now look for the name of the programs that you deleted. Right-click on the partition to be deleted, select “delete” from the menu, click “yes”.
Now press Ctrl + F to bring up the search bar. Write the name of the program you are looking for, set the parameters as in the screenshot. Click “find next” and wait until the search ends. If you find registry keys associated with the phrase you are looking for, delete them. Next, press F3 to find the next result, manually remove all links and repeat the process.
Advice: install for real necessary programs. If you are planning to remove applications, then read. When properly removed, adequate applications clean up their traces in your registry.
Here's how to properly clean the registry of Windows 7, 8, 10. Using the programs listed in the recommendations will be much more relevant than manual cleaning. The programs will save a lot of time and complete the task more thoroughly.
Registry operating system Windows is a large database where all information about the PC configuration, OS settings, information about installed programs oh and their ways. Over time, this database becomes filled with outdated and incorrect records (keys), which arise due to the crooked hands of the program creators and the operating system itself. For example, you decide to delete a game that is already boring. We launched the uninstaller, waited for the process to finish, and that seemed to be it, but there could still be entries about this game in the registry, which are now lying there like dead weight. And the longer you use your computer, the more garbage accumulates in the registry. This reduces the overall performance of the computer. and slows down the launch of programs, so it is necessary to periodically clean the registry.
Step-by-step instructions for cleaning the Windows registry
Theoretically, you can clean the registry manually, but firstly, it takes a very long time, and secondly, it is unsafe, especially for non-computer professionals. Therefore, CCleaner will come to our aid - a free, powerful and absolutely safe system cleaning tool. CCleaner will help you find all the garbage from third party applications, and destroy it in just a couple of minutes.
After you have installed ccleaner, launch the application, go to the "section" in the left menu Registry", and select the function " Troubleshooting«:
CCleaner will begin checking your operating system's registry for errors. This process takes from one to three minutes (depending on the size of the database itself). When the process is complete, press "To correct…" in the lower right corner of the program.
Here ccleaner will prompt you to create a backup of your current registry state. Be sure to agree - if something goes wrong, you can simply restore the saved copy.
After you save the backup, a window will appear describing the problems found. Here you can either fix each error individually (recommended for advanced users only) or click« Correct marked« , and ccleaner will automatically fix all the errors and problems found.
At the end of the process, you will see a window like this, informing you that the registry cleaning is complete. For your own interest, you can click on the links and see what specific problems were solved.
That's all, ccleaner has finished cleaning the registry and now your computer will run a little faster. Repeat this procedure once a month to continue to keep the Windows registry clean and tidy.
), at best, only the “body” of the program was deleted, but much of it remained in the bowels of your computer. Most beginners cannot even think about this, and remember only when, under the weight of junk from various software garbage, your system begins not only to sag, but also to crack at the seams, producing, for example, all kinds of “blue screens”.
TO Cleaning the Windows registry must be approached very competently and carefully. At least this is not for beginners. Moreover, it is not recommended to entrust all kinds of programs to work with the Windows registry, even if they are super cool
ATTENTION: If you decide to clean the Windows registry, be aware that you will have to work with nothing but the Windows registry - the holy of holies of the system, and careless handling of this very registry is like waltzing on a minefield. If you neglect the registry, problems may arise . You can only delete files that are familiar to you
Yeah! Now I’ll start teaching here, like most of my fellow admins on similar sites, they say, launch the registry editor, erase this and that there... No, no :o) First of all, backup, backup and backup again. For those who are not in the know and don’t know what backup is, it’s the creation backup copy data in case something goes wrong. This is how a computer magically differs from a vacuum cleaner, which allows you to almost always “roll back” to an earlier, working state if you manage to “tamper” with your system, including by not carefully reading this lesson.
Step one: Make a system backup...
So, it means that we are making a backup of the system and registry: and we are doing all this using standard Windows tools. And the last “Chinese” warning:
If you have a non-original Windows (assembly) installed, it is better to refrain from using any of the recommendations outlined in this article, since cleaning the registry on broken Windows is triply risky!
Further, so that no questions arise, I will describe the procedure for each Windows versions, separately for XP and separately for Windows Vista, Windows 7. Please do not confuse anything, be careful. If you doubt your abilities, it’s better to refrain from experimenting!
If for any reason the System Restore function was disabled on your computer, you must enable it, then make a restore point. In Windows XP this is done like this: On the menu Start right-click on the icon My computer and select the item Properties. In the window that opens System properties find and click on the tab System Restore. Check the box Enable System Restore. Now you can safely press the button OK.
But that's not all: now we need to create the system restore point itself. To do this, you need to perform the following sequence of actions (let me remind you, this is for XP): Start — Programs — Standard — Service — System Restore and there click on Create a point. Another way is possible: Start — Execute, enter there rstrui and press Enter and then as in the first method.
Now I will describe how to enable System Restore and create a checkpoint in Windows Vista, Windows 7. Due to the similarity of these two systems, the steps described below will be valid for both versions: To do this, you need to log in to the system under an account with administrator rights. Next click Start, right click on Computer and select in context menu Properties. In the nameless window that appears, on the left panel, click System protection. If you are prompted for administrator rights or confirmation of consent, enter your password (again, if necessary) or confirm. In the field System parameters select drive C (or the drive on which you have Windows 7 installed) and click on the button Tune. Next you need to click on Restore system settings and previous versions of files- this is important, because God forbid, of course, but we may have to restore system settings and previous versions of files. And now, without leaving this window, you need to press the button Create. Specify the name of this control point and click Create. Windows will tickle the green bar a little and give you a congratulations message saying that it was successfully created! Now click OK, and again OK. At this point, the preparatory stage can be considered complete.
Action two: looking for what we need to clean...
And again, I won’t talk about how to delve into the registry yet, because it’s a little early... First, we need to thoroughly decide what exactly to clear in the registry, and only then we’ll start cleaning the registry directly. In other words, measure seven times and clean once!
Before deleting any program, find out who its developer is. This will be useful to you in the future to correctly clean the registry from this program. The fact is that program developers like to create in the registry when installing their program on a computer. Windows records with the name of your company. Moreover, it sometimes happens that when a company changes its name, the corresponding registry entries that are created when installing their program have exactly the old name of the developer (probably this was done for compatibility).
For example, if we take the famous Nero disc burning program, we find that the Nero program has a developer company of the same name, focusing on one of its successful products. Nevertheless, more experienced comrades will not let me lie that the Nero company used to have a different name - Ahead. Therefore, in the Windows registry, and in the names of the folders where the program is installed, the name Ahead is also found, as it now turns out, associated with the Nero program. Yes, yes! It turns out that it is not so easy to clean the registry; you need to know a lot before doing this. And how can you now entrust cleaning the registry to some stupid cleaning program?
Step three: Correctly remove the program that we no longer need...
Perhaps we’ll practice on Nero. Moreover, you and I know two magic words Nero and Ahead. Let's remove this wonderful program from our computer. Let's go to Start — Control Panel and for Windows XP Installation and removal of programs, and for Windows 7 (Vista) in Programs and components. But even here, not everything is so simple. It turns out that Nero is a whole complex of programs, and this is also necessary to know. For example, if you suddenly feel uneasy needed by Microsoft Word, most likely you will not find it in the list of installed programs. Because Microsoft Word included in the software package Microsoft Office, so you’re unlikely to be able to remove Word separately from Office (although it’s possible).
Therefore, we remove one by one all the programs included in Nero. To do this, double-click with the left mouse button on each program: Nero Burning Rom, Nero Express, and so on, until all programs labeled Nero disappear from the list.
When you are finished with uninstalling programs, go to My computer - Drive C - Program Files and look there for folders with names containing our two cherished words: Nero and/or Ahead. Very often such folders remain, although the program itself no longer exists. We delete these folders in Cart. For Windows Vista and 7 we need to check in one more folder - Program Data. To do this, the display must be turned on hidden files. I don’t want to repeat how this is done - you can read it. Don't be upset or surprised if in folders Program Files And Program Data, you will not find the specified folders - some programs behave correctly and completely remove themselves upon uninstallation, but it never hurts to check this.
And that’s not all - don’t be lazy and look (if in Windows XP) into the folder C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data, and C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data, and it’s even easier to use search and find all folders with names containing Nero and Ahead. In Windows 7, thanks to its improved search, this will be made even easier, and we also delete these folders (Nero and Ahead) to the Recycle Bin.
When with correct deletion The program is finally over - let’s move on to the most important and important part of our entire undertaking...
Step four: Clean the Windows registry...
Click Win+R and enter into the launch line regedit and click on OK, launching the Windows Registry Editor in this simple way. On the left side you will see section K computer, expanding it by clicking on the triangle you will see sections
*HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*,
*HKEY_CURRENT_USER*,
*HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE*,
*HKEY_USERS*
*HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG*.
*HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT* we will skip, there is nothing there for us.
Method 1. Cleaning the registry
Now... Noooo! We don’t clean anything yet, but again make a backup copy, now of the registry itself. To do this, left-click on File - Export... and save the Windows registry in a file with the extension .reg, preferably on another drive, not on C . Now, with peace of mind, you can finally start editing and cleaning the registry. In the registry editor, click once on the inscription Computer(or My computer in Windows XP), and then press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F a search window will appear. First enter the word Nero there and click OK. The computer will “think” a little and give you a registry branch in which you will see the word you are looking for. We carefully look at what is written there, if the path to the program is written, for example C:\Program Files\Nero\..., etc. - it is obvious that this path belonged to the program we deleted. We delete this entry from the registry. Then press the key F3, and the search finds us the next value which contains Nero. Or we’ll see a whole section called Nero in the Software section, delete that too. And so we repeat our actions cyclically until the registry editor gives us the phrase Registry search completed- this means we have reached the end of the registry and the program will not find anything for us.
We repeat the same thing with Ahead. And so we clear the registry from the program. After this, close the registry editor and restart the computer. If the computer boots normally, then everything worked out for you, and you can run to brag to your friends and acquaintances that you manually cleaned the Windows registry yourself!
This is how you can correctly and without a trace remove programs from your computer and clear the Windows registry of no longer needed deleted programs, and having become more experienced in this matter, you can even remove some viruses manually, without an antivirus! Don't forget to be careful and attentive! And also, remember! Not even the most vaunted cyclinizer will ever replace your mind and hands. For lovers of portable programs, I will give one more parting word - keep in mind that not always, of course, but quite often your favorite “portables” also clutter up the registry with their entries. It all depends on the kulibin who made this very portable.
Method 2. Manually clear the registry of programs.
Expand * HKEY_CURRENT_USER*, open the section *Software*. Now we read the entire list of folders, there will be many programs that you deleted a long time ago, but a record of them remains. And these records clog up and slow down your computer.
And, unfortunately, not all programs see and delete them. Therefore, when we see such an entry, click on it with the second mouse button and select *delete*, or simply select this folder and press the Del button on the keyboard. Please note that all (or many, depending on the situation) settings of this program will be erased, and the next time you install them you will have to set them again. But it's not that difficult.
Now collapse *HKEY_CURRENT_USER*, open *HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE*, there is a section in it *SOFTWARE*. And we also look for and delete unnecessary entries. Delete entries only for those programs that have been removed. Otherwise the program may stop working. When you have cleared this section as well, close *Registry Editor*. Restart your computer. All.
Based on materials from luxhard.com
There are 2 methods of cleaning the registry in Windows 8: manual and automatic. The latter involves the use of auxiliary programs. There are free and paid, simple and difficult to learn, as well as with and without the Russian language. We looked at many such programs and have currently selected two good options– these are CCleaner and Wise Registry Cleaner. CCleaner has been described several times on our portal, so we will look at the Wise Registry Cleaner program. Its advantages: it is free, easy to use, available in Russian and a full range of functions for working with the registry. With Wise Registry Cleaner, you can not only clean the registry, but also defragment it.
Method 1: Standard Windows 8 Tools
Most often, users are faced with situations where a program has been uninstalled, but it continues to be listed in the system and in the list of installed utilities. Fortunately, all of its remaining files can be deleted manually using the Registry Editor from under account Administrator. To do this, click Win+R and write the command regedit:
We indicate Entire registry→ indicate the file name (it is better to indicate the time and date here) → Save:
The editor will find the corresponding file. Select it and press the key Delete. Confirm deletion:
Be careful as damage system files may cause errors and crashes. You only need to delete application program files that are not directly related to Windows OS and system drivers.
We repeat this process until there are no files left in the registry associated with the deleted program.
Method 2: Automatically clean your registry with Wise Registry Cleaner
Let's start with cleaning. To get started, click on the button Scan to get a list of problematic registry keys:
Now, before we start cleaning, let's create a system restore point and a registry backup. In general, a registry backup should be sufficient, but it is better to use both options, since a system restore point may always be needed in the future. 
Next, click on the button Cleaning and the program corrects all errors and inaccuracies.
The registry defragmentation function is located on the third tab, which is called Registry compression. Here the scheme is exactly the same: first analysis, then defragmentation. As a result of defragmentation, empty areas of the registry are removed, it becomes more compact and begins to weigh less, which is why the tab has this name.
The middle tab contains system optimization functions, but they are not relevant to this topic.
Quite often, PC users encounter a slow response of the computer to assigned tasks. Previously, these same functions were performed literally in a fraction of seconds, but gradually the system takes much more time, which is definitely annoying. The most common reason for decreased computer performance is a clogged Windows registry; in such cases, clean the Windows 8 registry.
The system registry is an important link on which the stability of the computer depends. Many settings of the operating system and its components are stored here. Progress is not long in coming, so regularly released software, when installed or removed from a computer, can leave residual entries in the registry. The more time this problem is ignored, the worse the situation becomes, so it is important to know how to clean the registry in Windows 8.
A modern computer definitely needs periodic maintenance. It will solve many problems associated with low performance. To ensure your computer functions properly, you need to clean the registry from time to time. Cleaning the Windows 8 registry can be done manually, but this task requires certain skills from the user.
How to clean the Windows 8 registry without harming the operating system:
- scan the registry for errors;
- execute backup registry configurations;
- eliminate identified errors and remove unnecessary keys using software;
- analyze changed registry sizes;
- check the performance of the system and main applications.
Programs for cleaning the Windows 8 registry:
- RegCleaner will allow you to clean the registry of garbage, and all the work is done in just a few clicks. You can download the program for free. There are also no restrictions on its use. The program performs the following functions:
- backs up data before scanning begins;
- deletes information remaining from previous programs;
- Cleans the registry of unused DLL files.
- CCleaner is a well-known program provided to users free of charge. It's quite simple, but at the same time sufficient powerful tool for cleaning and optimizing Windows OS. The prerogative of the program is to remove non-working and unnecessary files created by browsers or programs. CCleaner features:
- cleaning the registry from unwanted files;
- ability to control program autorun;
- optimization and acceleration of the operating system;
- automatic program update.
- Reg Organizer
– a multifunctional program created to maintain the registry. With its help, the system is cleaned, data is compressed, and then defragmented. In addition, Reg Organizer allows you to remove programs without leaving any residue, “sweeping up” all the traces that remain after regular uninstallation in the system registry. Reg Organizer features:
- export, import and copy key values;
- search, replace and delete keys in the registry;
- complete removal software via Full Uninstall;
- automatic error correction and registry cleaning;
- registry optimization based on file compression and subsequent defragmentation.
