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Registry Defragmentation Giveaway
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Giveaway of the day — Registry Defragmentation

Registry Defragmentation is a small utility that does gigantic improvements in computer performance.
$26.95 EXPIRED
User rating: 281 51 comments

Registry Defragmentation was available as a giveaway on August 31, 2011!

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Registry Defragmentation is a small utility that does gigantic improvements in computer performance.

This application physically defragments the Windows registry file to give it the proper linear structure. This is an absolutely essential tool for all folks who install/uninstall new software applications frequently.

System Requirements:

Windows XP/ Vista/ 7

Publisher:

Elcor Software

Homepage:

http://www.elcor.net/rdefrag.php

File Size:

2.27 MB

Price:

$26.95

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Comments on Registry Defragmentation

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#51

Can't be 100% certain but after defragging the registry, YouTube maintained that IE8 (XP/SP3) wasn't a recognised browser. System Restore to before installing righted matters.

Reply   |   Comment by Stewart  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#50

It really depends on how new or how old your hard drive is. While defragmenting an older hard drive will provide significant increase in performance, defragmenting a newer hard drive will not.

Reply   |   Comment by Moonlight  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#49

It installs on Windows 2000 pro also.

Reply   |   Comment by Jim  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#48

Strange one this, I am having a bit of difficulty understanding the overabundance of thumbs down, considering the fact that I don't see a lot of negative comments about the actual software. Here's my stand:

1. Does the software do what it says, well it reduced the size of my registry by 10% and sped up my boot time by 20 seconds (20 seconds is a fact as I have a program that reports bootup time each time I reboot).

2. IMHO it is implied that good software will not harm my system. Well, didn't do that, and my unscientific feeling is my system does seem a bit more snappy/responsive.

For the above two reasons, reasons based strictly on the software, I have to give it a thumbs up.

3. Is $26.95 a fair price. Truthfully, to me it is not worth it,but then again spending $10,000 on a watch or $80,000 on a car is not worth it to me, others think it is, however I also didn't pay for it, so that has no impact on my opinion of the actual software.

4. Do I think it's necessary to often or even ever defrag my registry, honestly, the jury is still out for me on that one. There are experts that I trust that say it is never necessary (with Windows 7) to defrag a registry. Regardless, the software did what it promised and for that reason alone, thumbs up!

Reply   |   Comment by Dennis K  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#47

I'm confused. Several people have stated as fact that Registry can't be defragged while Windows is running, yet I have Windows versions of Glary Uts and WinUts and both offer the option to either clean OR defrag Registry and they appear to do either while I'm still in Windows. (both do pop up a warning that a Registry Defrag requires other programs to be closed first)
So, are they like a small town gas station making a big show of topping off oil while slicing your fanbelt, or are they actually defragging while Windows is still running, or do they create a defragged mirror of Registry that will replace the fraggy version upon reboot?

Reply   |   Comment by GreeneyedNewbieNovice  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#46

To clarify things, Registry Defragmentation makes no changes to the registry while it's being used. A new copy of the registry is created while Winodws is running, but the existing registry does not get replaced with this new copy until you reboot.

Almost all registry defragmenters work like this, and I can't see it causing any problems. But, since the registry is being replace with a new copy when you restart, any changes made to the registry after the analysis in done but before rebooting will be lost.

Reply   |   Comment by Roger  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#45

@Phil #21: Cleaning the registry is more like throwing out old financial records than vacuuming. Every now and then, something that seems worthless will turn out to be necessary, and if you don't know what you're doing you can get into trouble.

I'm sure you're careful about gas additives and wouldn't put water or diesel into your tank just because the label said it would improve your mileage.

Reply   |   Comment by Socks  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#44

@25 prying1

The space saved is verry diffrent, if you hardly install or uninstall softwares, and not doing to many updates. Then its not to much. I forgot to check when I ran this one, but I do heavy install/uninstall. I save some times in a total 15-25MB on the wole registry thinga.

My pressent total registry size is 72MB, small, it some times over a 100MB.

The space saved may not be much, but the computer do not have to read like ie 20.000 empty lines to get what it need.

It will not make your harddrive bigger or faster, or give you a super cpu. But it can help registry operations to perform smoother.

This may not seem like a biggy, but, the registry is a core funtion of Windows. The smoother that work, the smoother most things will work, that is related to the registry.

This is one of the small things you can do that will do a small things. You may not notice any your self, but the system will be a bit smoother and faster. Mostly since the registry is a database wich has to be searched, edited, and so on. All that knows some about databases knows that it is a consuming operation.

Reply   |   Comment by Micke  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#43

Hi,

I’ve been reading these comments upto #20
Let us accept that registry defragmentation may be usefull in some circumstances – e.g. on server level (?). – but has really no significant impact on the workings of my home system (Win XP2 – 32b, sub-terraB dik, etc…)

1. Could anyone tell me from what “level of fragmentation” (usually expressed in %... of what exactly?) it is recommendable to defragment a register? Where can I find the real science&tech behind this whole discussion?

2. Some comments may ask for more explanation:
a. “It’s never safe to “defragment” the registry while the OS is running”. [#7: Comment by Fubar]
b. “The registry of a Windows operating system cannot be defragged while Windows is loaded.” [#16 - Comment by TechGeek]
c. “I have no reason to believe that any of these types of programs stop all other processes.” [#7: Comment by Fubar]

Fubar and TechGeek are IMO do not contradict one another, even though it seems like they do. Where the latter states that defragging while an OS is running is simply IMPOSSIBLE, the former implies that it IS POSSIBLE but not without risk.
It seems to me that we’re talking different levels here.
“Is it possible for a program (call it an OS) to make changes to parts of itself (the registry) without running into any conflict that keeps the said program from running ‘ad infinitum’? This problem was formulated by Allan Turing before World War II and is known as “the halting problem”.
That’s where Fubar has a point (c)!
My question then becomes “Where’s the OS?” Is it situated in the hardware (the CPU) or is it ‘simply software’ – one or more layers on top of the CPU?
As far as I know a CPU is also ‘programmed’.But it is hardwired. There’s nothing you can change unless you have the means to change the wiring (this stuff goes far beyond what I actually know, I’m not an engineer at all).
Anything ‘on top’ of the CPU can be handlled… within the restrictions of the hardware.

But I love the ‘vacuum cleaner’s argument’ most of all!!
#20 - Comment by Phil — August 31st, 2011 at 8:50 am
…For obvious reasons? For the right reasons?
I don’t know, but Phil knows what makes the difference!..
A hearth and a brain… Thanks!

Patrick.

PS:
I use CCleaner once a month… Works OK and just feels good…
PPS: to whom it may concern…
Should I install a UNIX/LINUX OS to overlook MS WIN?
All in all, it’s still the same machine! Isn’t it.

Reply   |   Comment by Patrick  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#42

#16: "For those who say defragmenting isn’t necessary. You are half correct. It really depends on how new or how old your hard drive is. While defragmenting an older hard drive will provide significant increase in performance, defragmenting a newer hard drive will not. Why? Because newer hard drives operate at 7200 to 10,000 rpms’."

FWIW, the drives I see on sale that are most popular are very often 5400 rpm, keeping cost down & capacity up -- After all, RAM's fairly cheap & SSDs take the place of small, 10k rpm drives. As far as when to defrag, it's kinda like when do you vacuum or wash your car? Some keep it spotless, others wait until it's dirty. :-) Some people like to keep a defrag app running in the background, or as a screensaver etc. -- they don't *Need* to, but they like it that way. Other folks wait till stuff starts slowing down, sort of the equivalent of someone writing Wash Me in the dirt on your back window. If you don't want to wait that long, Windows &/or most defrag apps will tell you how bad things are before they do anything, so you be the judge.

* * *

#23: "You can not compact the registry while windows is running, period. All compaction must be done before windows loads. This software is not proper for compacting the windows registry."

The idea's rather simple, as explained with ERUNT -- you read all the data in the registry, which means skipping any/all spaces, & rewrite it to new files. During a re-start the new files are swapped for old. In fact you do the same thing restoring an ERUNT backup, as it's written the same way, without blank data. Maybe another way to think of or demonstrate the idea is create a new text file, open it in Notepad, & press the Enter key a hundred times before you type "Test". Save it & open another new text file and type test on the 1st line & save. Now compare file sizes in Properties. Reserving a space for data, whether you enter any actual data or not, takes up room.

* * *

#25: "... how much space is actually saved by using this program. With the sizes (and speeds) of today’s hard drives how much difference does it really make. I can see using it as a possible fix to try if a computer is REALLY slow and hanging up but as a weekly preventive maintenance program I wonder…"

The idea very basically is this: open both an empty .TXT file & one with 20 MB worth of content in Notepad -- which opens faster? If the registry is smaller, that's better. Will it make a huge difference? Probably not -- best to think of it like eating a healthier diet... cut the calories just a bit in one meal, you'll never notice, but cut the calories a little bit in every meal, every day, & you'll probably not gain as much weight longer term.

* * *

#26: "... It would appear that Elcor is locking up these structures while manipulating them... Nothing beats SysInternal’s PageDefrag... PageDefrag only fully supports up to XP..."

I believe that Registry Defragmentation simply writes copies of the registry file, then swaps them out on re-start, same as the ERUNT apps -- I don't know how you would confirm whether it did a separate defrag or not, whether during the writing process or before swapping etc.

PageDefrag OTOH is a bit old, having not been re-written or re-visited in years, despite other SysInternals utilities sometimes being updated a few times a year... Could that be an indication it's not really that useful? As Microsoft details here, it's not a big deal to have Windows delete the paging file on exit -- wouldn't a freshly written file tend to be unfragmented from the start, plus you've got the security benefits -- export the registry key the KB talks about set both on/off & you could delete the page file once a week or once a month if you'd rather.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314834#appliesto

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#41

"Gigantic improvements in performance"!!! I think not.
I have found nothing over the years that makes the slightest difference to performance except buying a new more powerful machine.
You can defrag your hard drive, clean and defrag your registry, it won't do much.
Now go up from Celeron to Pentium to dual core to I3, now your seeing improvements in performance!
I have benchmarking those at 200, 300, 400 and 600. Thats real performance improvement. Not this GiveAway.

Reply   |   Comment by roger  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#40

This program does NOT defrag the registry while it is running. Why do you think it needs to reboot? That is when the defrag/compact action is taking place.

Some of you supposed techs who love posting here a lot trying to show off, actually embarrass yourselves at times...like this one, and do no real good service to the many who are not technically savvy (and yes, I am talking about you Fubar). Registry defrag IS an effective program used occasionally, as needed, ESPECIALLY after tuning up previously messed up pc's: Something I do everyday in my computer business, for twenty years now. So, too, is hard disk defragmentation.

Reply   |   Comment by RRR  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#39

Registry Defragmentation does just that -- according to the web site it deletes empty spaces between stored data, much like the utility that comes with ERUNT [NTREGOPT.EXE], & it defrags the actual files. While it does do the 1st, rewriting registry data like NTREGOPT, I don't know if it relies on the newly written files to be unfragmented because they're freshly written, or if it actually defrags the new files in a 2nd step during the Windows re-start. In tests the re-written registry files are stored in Windows Temp folder, in my tests using [SysInternals] Contig.exe these fresh copies were unfragmented, a registry entry to run RegDefrag.exe is added to a RunOnce key with the Clear CLI switch, but deleting "Clear" those temp files were still deleted, & the registry's written to during Windows start, so I don't know how you'd find out if there was an actual separate defrag step or not. Running NTREGOPT after a defrag with today's GOTD, Before & After ERUNT backup folders were the same size in bytes, so apparently there was nothing additional for NTREGOPT to do -- Registry Defragmentation did its job. Registry Defragmentation does have a couple of other features, but other than convenience I'm not sure if or why you'd want to use them... One does a backup using System Restore, the other provides a registry backup similar to ERUNT, but as far as I can tell without ERUNT's ability to restore a backup after booting to a command prompt &/or another OS. Testing in win7 64 I was also bothered by the fact that registry backups never seemed to be the same size, even running one after another, & they were always smaller comparing file to file with ERUNT backups, though in tests restoring these backups worked. Maybe certain keys like MRUCache are filtered out?

Registry Defragmentation itself is small, with 37 files, 1 folder, ~4 MB in the "Registry Defragmentation" program folder. New registry entries = 1 for uninstall, + 2 program keys under HKCU, & 1 key under HKLM. The md5 for RegistryDefragmentation.zip = 8e35908589ed3f09bb8cf0fb864281f2 . In terms of practicality, I'm not sure why most people won't continue using ERUNT & NTREGOPT, but Registry Defragmentation does let you select just what portions of the registry you want to work with, & that may be a benefit to some.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#38

Basically i prefer tune-up Utilities...

Reply   |   Comment by Penryn  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#37

Wise Registry Cleaner is the best FREEware that i have used to defragment and remove registry errors. Even Ccleaner cleans a registry and this company is trying to get people to pay for just defragmenting it? come on!

Reply   |   Comment by ChineseDriveby=CapAchino  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#36

@Fubar- When I check out the comments section of these download pages, I do a quick search for your username, as I know that the most informed opinions are your comments and the comments in response to yours. I have never really found defragging my registry a necessity, but after installing and running the software I think it does okay for it's intended purpose. I just don't have a need for it.

Reply   |   Comment by Darwin322  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#35

Defragging the registry can give a small speed boost to programs that access the registry while running, and on subsequent boot times. Also to install times for some prgrams.

The emphasis is on the word small re any speed boosts, and does not affect nor improve running for programs that do not access the registry.

By all means give programs like today's GOTD a try. Can't cause any harm in itself, but is advisable to do a registry back-up or set a new system restore point, as problems might arise if there is a power cut while the program is running! The program only removes redundant (empty) items but active registry items might be being moved in the registry access table!

You should always do a backup before using any program that works on the (vital!) windows registry, just in case!

Reply   |   Comment by sparkles  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#34

For what it's worth I've used Registry "Defraggers" on occasion without bad results. My understanding is they make new copies of the registry files, they do not alter registry files currently in use. These programs all require a reboot to complete the process during which they replace the existing registry files with the newly created versions which are usually smaller and supposedly reorganized for faster access. While I feel there is some small value in compressing the files occasionally I've never noticed any improvement in performance. On the other hand I never used Registry "Cleaners" and if this program removes anything from the registry then I would recommend avoiding it, especially since there doesn't appear to be an option to review what it intends to remove beforehand. I've never had a system failure as a result of using a registry defragger. Nevertheless it is wise to have images to fall back on because things CAN go wrong.

Reply   |   Comment by Victek  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#33

Please pay attention to what Fubar says @7.

These utilities are regarded as essentially useless by people in the know, and yet here's what the developer says in describing the software:

"Registry Defragmentation is a small utility that does gigantic improvements in computer performance."

This is disingenuous at best and highly misleading at worst.

Reply   |   Comment by Bruce  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#32

Installed-activated OK.

Thought I'd better use the Registry Backup function first before trying other features/tools. (Actually, I used Windows own System Restore to create a restore point before installing this).

Initially, the first hive listed "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY" choice appeared unchecked (why? all others were already checked), so I check-box/added it.

Nexted I started the backup, but the progress bar quickly got stuck a short ways into the process while working on "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
" which was the second hive listed after the SECURITY one mentioned above.

The cooling fan kicked into high gear. In my system tray my little cpu meter was indicating a high percentage level of cycle-time use.

After about a minute of seeing the "activity bar" repeatedly scan across, yet no change in the progress bar, my system was temporarily frozen for about another minute. Then a beep sounded and a message box appeared:

"You do not have permission to access:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE

Note: To ensure proper operation of 'Registry Backup', you should be logged in as a system administrator, otherwise verify that you have equivalent permission to access the registry.

Do you want to abort registry backup/restore process?"

I aborted. I WAS using the main administrator account to instsll and run this software.

I re-unchecked the initially unchecked SECURITY hive choice and tried again. Same result. I started the backup, then selected the CANCEL option button, but although a confirmation message box popped up and I selected "YES" (to abort the backup), the package still "hung" and dominated the system for a couple of minutes before finally displaying the "You do not have permission..." box as before.

I was trying to see if I could avoid having the system temporarily freeze and seeing that message by manually choosing to abort/cancel early.

(NOTE: I have AVG installed, but the "Resident Shield" feature was turned off during all this.)

Maybe this will work in SAFE MODE, or possibly in normal mode right after a clean boot/restart? The system has been "up" and running for several days now, so maybe something I've used in the past is preventing that hive from being accessed fully?

At this point I don't know, but I think I'll be performing a full system disk image backup before I try the actual registry defrag feature itself, just to be safe.

Maybe I'll be able to report success later...

Reply   |   Comment by harpo2448  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#31

Mark Russinovich’s “PageDefrag” has been mentioned, this gentleman has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Windows. I used it during bootup after setting my virtual memory to a set size, eventually it became totally defragmented. This is probably best method of keeping all your system files in a healthy condition. It's free so you can save yourself the cost of today's offering.
There's a lot of talk about not being able to defragment the registry whilst in Windows. I believe that a copy of the registry file is made, defragmented and then on the next boot, this is exchanged for the original registry file.

Reply   |   Comment by OldScotty  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#30

After letting the machine sit cold for an hour, the 2nd boot time was 2 minutes 50 seconds, roughly half of what was before. Now to clean out some of the start-up items, and maybe it will be running before I switch it on.

It worked for me.

Reply   |   Comment by xoted  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#29

Defragging NTFS drives is not a very worthwhile endeavor. Very little is gained by it, per Microsoft.

Defragging SSD drives shortens their useful life, and makes the TRIM function work way too hard, contributing to overhead.

The only reason to defrag NTFS drives is to make the files contiguous so that in case you do something stupid and completely delete a file you need, it's MUCH easier to recover it using one of the file recovery programs if the entire file is in one contiguous piece.

Defragging the registry is just a waste of time, unless you're a diehard system tweaker, and even then...

Reply   |   Comment by Doug Dingle  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-4)
#28

I agree with number 21 above. When my boyfriend washes the dishes, we just "feel" better about ourselves!
Thanks guys!

David

Reply   |   Comment by David Kevis  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-22)
#27

I haven't tested this GOTD as I trust a different solution. However, I've read the above comments and find it amusing. I will simply say this, those of you who claim that the registry cannot be defragged while windows is running and this program is useless are both right and wrong. Much like most windows files cannot be updated while windows is running, yet primarily in the wild updates are downloaded and installed inside windows...requiring a reboot to implement. So in this way many registry defrag utilities will require a reboot to exchange(rename) the files it created based on the old. Much like a report above, such changes will cause a slight delay in the reboot while they are made. As to the effectiveness of such programs, it all depends on the computers user and the software they have installed/uninstalled. Some people will find this marginally useful, those with somewhat outdated systems or heavily trafficked program {un}installs may find it more-so [Along with a safe registry cleaner every few months] However such programs should not be run daily or weekly. I rarely ever uninstall a program as I do a majority of my software testing on a VM and simply restore a snapshot once I have decided.

Reply   |   Comment by byter  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#26

It would appear that Elcor's Registry Defragmentation tries to do both what NTREGOPT and PageDefrag (registry hive function) does. My concern is that Elcor is doing this not at boot or shutdown, but during normal runtime, while VxD access is enabled. Anybody who properly understands OS design knows that these shared, multi-access key structures must be exclusively locked when manipulated - so for windows, this generally means boot, shutdown or safe mode. It would appear that Elcor is locking up these structures while manipulating them, while any Windows app can continue to run. Locking up registry hives & preventing other programs from accessing them for the "long" time required can have unforseen interactions. This is my big concern with this program. The performance gains being advertised by Elcor are massively overstated.

Have been using ERUNT/NTREGOPT forever since it came out (Win2k) to backup and create a "slack space" removed registry as part of a weekly shutdown process (if you are using registry intensive applications, you might be surprised how much slack space gets created by some of these doggy applications as they add and remove data to the registry as they run). This is primarily a "space" issue, and only in very minor degree a "speed" issue.

Nothing beats SysInternal's PageDefrag to defrag the page file, registry hives & system logs at boottime. Used at every boot, it usually only adds a couple of seconds at booting - if it takes longer, then some application is really blowing up your system (e.g. corrupting your page file), so then you should really dig deep and find out why. PageDefrag only fully supports up to XP, but it is smart enough to detect Vista & newer and will only optimize compatible hives & logs. This is primarily a "disk access", recovery enabling & problem prevention issue and in a minor degree a "speed" issue.

That said, I will keep this to test, and use it with a massive grain of salt (and maybe a prayer), just like all the other reg defragmenters out there that don't run at shutdown or boot. ERUNT & PageDefrag have proven themselves to me & others for over 10 years (wow, has it really been that long?)

Reply   |   Comment by CompNetTeach  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+17)
#25

So far there are no comments that this program has messed up any computers. Of course if it did mess up a computer it might be a while before the unlucky one gets back online to tell us. I'll wait a bit to see if any of them get back to us later in the day.

I have to wonder, looking at Micke's post - #14 - how much space is actually saved by using this program. With the sizes (and speeds) of today's hard drives how much difference does it really make. I can see using it as a possible fix to try if a computer is REALLY slow and hanging up but as a weekly preventive maintenance program I wonder...

As an aside I also see people complain that a certain program (perhaps like a CD/DVD burner) takes soooo long to do it's job. Well, so what! While it is working do something else. Does one really NEED to pop the DVD into a player a minute or two sooner?

Reply   |   Comment by prying1  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#24

I like to check out different software, including GOTD stuff.

Ran ccleaner as usual prior to compaction, removed about 8 entries, nothing of importance was messed with. After running, file compaction was reported as ~83%.

Soluto normally reports my system start time between 4:50 and 5:10 minutes, at the first reboot soluto reported 3:08. It worked for me.

I'll report again if my machine doesn't work, or if boot times get better (or worse).

It would be nice if the program could project the amount of time to completion, along with the existing status bar.

Reply   |   Comment by xoted  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#23

You can not compact the registry while windows is running, period.
All compaction must be done before windows loads.
This software is not proper for compacting the windows registry.
You are wasting your time and resources installing it.

Reply   |   Comment by HH3  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#22

Defragging the Registry is a safe and effective way to give your Windows system a minor boost in speed and efficiency. But, VERY contrary to #15 and #16's comments, defragging your Hard Drive IS recommended and DOES provide significant benefits to performance, disk life and operating temperatures... no matter what type, spindle speed or age your drive(s) is/are.

#17 is right on the money: Cleaners are very dangerous while "tidy up" tools like Registry Defrag are very safe, albeit marginally helpful.

ASIDE: The wildly inaccurate comments here about what should and should not be cleaned and defragmented proves how dangerous powerful tools like registry cleaners can be. It is like giving a scalpel to someone who read Gray's Anatomy one time and now considers him/herself qualified to do brain surgery. Kinda funny, actually.

Reply   |   Comment by jmjsquared  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#21

For those of you who say there is no need to defrag your registry, you may be right in your opinion. For some of us who like to run a tight well organized machine it is a necessity. To me cleaning and defragging of my PC is like vacuuming at home. Does it look like it needs to be cleaned? Probably not. But after doing it I feel a lot better. A cleaner carpet. Same with my PC. After cleaning tasks are done I feel like I do after my car is washed. It runs smoother and better to me. I know....just my opinion. Many will say putting an additive in my gas tank does nothing for my engine. But as long as I think it appears to run better, why should I not continue doing it? I have tried many new registry cleaners and defraggers including todays. If I don't like it, I will uninstall it leaving behind many registry entries. After doing this several times a week for a month, old entries have clogged up the registry. Time to vacuum again.

Reply   |   Comment by Phil  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-22)
#20

Yet another useless application that may or may not actually damage your registry.
Who knows what this software actually does?
Nobody here, it seems.
Then there are the few who actually realize that you have issues modifying a critical system data file while it is in use.
I am constantly amazed by the number of people who dive head-first into unknown waters just because some app is "free".
Russian Roulette is not an option on my computers nor on any of my clients computers.

Reply   |   Comment by Helium2  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#19

I have been using CCleaner for a couple years now with no problems what so ever. As a techno idiot I have found CCleaner safe for me LOL. I also like being able to disable start up items with CCleaner that I don't want running. I also use a recent GAOTD Boostspeed. On my XP SP3 these two do a great, safe job for me.

Reply   |   Comment by aswegohomestead  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#18

Anyway I use ERUNT to backup my registry files on a daily basis.

A Defragmentation utility might be useful, however it never should delete entries without indepth analysis and only when reporting them to the user asking for permission to delete the entries.
I personally made bad experiences with many registry modifier programs. I do not use utilities anymore that delete so called "unused" entries of deleted previous installations.

Reply   |   Comment by P. Molinar  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-6)
#17

In response to #5.
I also use a free software. Each time I start up my computer, before windows starts, I am able to let run Mark Russinovich's (one of the Windows developpers) "PageDefrag" Sysinternals-utility http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.
This defrags my paging files (pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys), event log files, and Registry hives (SAM, SYSTEM, SYSTEM.ALT, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, .DEFAULT).
I am not sure what Elcor's Defragmentation in addition does good to my registry ??

Reply   |   Comment by P. Molinar  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#16

@ #8 You are absolutely correct. The registry of a Windows operating system cannot be defragged while Windows is loaded. Nevertheless, defragmenting the registry provides little to no enhancement to the computer's performance.

For those who say defragmenting isn't necessary. You are half correct. It really depends on how new or how old your hard drive is. While defragmenting an older hard drive will provide significant increase in performance, defragmenting a newer hard drive will not. Why? Because newer hard drives operate at 7200 to 10,000 rpms'. More importantly, the seek rate of newer drives make the data compilation less important. Regardless, defragmeting is a part of my routine maintenance procedure no matter how new the drive. It's just the way I do things.

Reply   |   Comment by TechGeek  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-5)
#15

Number 9. You have to be kidding me, the experts say there is no reason to defragment your hard drive. When your processor is searching your drive for information; don't you think that a tight pack of cars like a Nascar race makes more sense than a demolition derby? GOTD already previously gave us Piriform defrag which is real good so I have no need for this one.

Reply   |   Comment by Chris Grimes  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-39)
#14

@ 8. McSpocky

Actualy 6 & 7 are right, it is a missleading typing from the devloper.

A registry can look look like this.

Line 1. Reg entry
Line 2. Reg entry
Line 3. ...................This was a reg entry, now a blank line
Line 4. ...................This was a reg entry, now a blank line
Line 5. ...................This was a reg entry, now a blank line
Line 6. ...................This was a reg entry, now a blank line
Line 7. ...................This was a reg entry, now a blank line
Line 8. Reg entry

Those This was a reg entry are just empty blank lines, as if you made a new row/line in a text document.
This software only remove those, not error, or other reg misshapps.
So the above example will look like.

Line 1. Reg entry
Line 2. Reg entry
Line 3. Reg entry

I hope this was usefull information.

Reply   |   Comment by Micke  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+23)
#13

No problems getting the program to operate, the interface looks okay, but $26.95, you must be joking!
The free version of Wise Registry Cleaner does this and a lot more. Being on a very slow broadband I use it to remove the MRU’s from the registry, it can make a huge difference to my download speed, just a little tip.
As we're on the subject of increasing the system speed, I keep my virtual memory to a set size, this reduces the hard drive fragmentation, these comments apply to XP, I have no idea if it applies to the later versions as I upgraded from Vista.

Reply   |   Comment by OldScotty  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)
#12

It says "This tool also removes unused entries, thus making registry even smaller in size." So I think it should also show which files are to be removed besides the graphical representation... Other than that app looks OK, time will show it's real value :)

Reply   |   Comment by AKINCI  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-8)
#11

Several utilities programs, such as TuneUp, contain registry defragmenters: mine invariably reports that no defragmentation is necessary, although it was recommended from time to time years ago when I was running Windows 98. It would be helpful to know whether this specialised registry defragmenter does anything useful extra.

Reply   |   Comment by Bernard Winchester  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-7)
#10

According to the experts there is no point whatsoever in defragmenting the registry, better to use something like CCleaner to remove defunct registry entries (which this software does not do) to keep your registry in shape. This type of software is pretty much totally useless.

Reply   |   Comment by Saetana  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

To #5 and #6... When you click registry defrag, on the next screen it says, "This tool also removes unused entries, thus making the registry even small in size." which is what a program that removes registry errors DOES. It appears to be conservative in the entries it removes in comparison to some other registry programs however...

Reply   |   Comment by McSpocky  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#8

Before you install this you may want to read this http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426 which is PageDefrag v2.32 by Mark Russinovich. Basically, you can't defrag the registry while Windows is running.

Reply   |   Comment by BBShaw  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+31)
#7

It's never safe to "defragment" the registry while the OS is running. I have no reason to believe that any of these types of programs stop all other processes. Some registry "defragmenters" provide more detail. On Vista+, they show that most hives are already defragmented and one hive only has a very small percentage of fragmentation. That tells me that Vista+ already handle registry fragmentation. That, plus the fact that full registry scans can get somewhat slower over time and then drop down to original performance. There are plenty of horror stories on the Internet about people whose computers wouldn't even boot after a registry "defragmentation". Physical, rather than logical, defragmentation can be performed by some disk defragmenters. You'll note that not even Sysinternals performs logical defragmentation (or "cleaning"), only physical. Just as I've always stated, no one who knows anything about computers writes or uses such utilities.

Reply   |   Comment by Fubar  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#6

This is not a registry cleaner - it does not scan the registry for errors, which is why it does not give any scan results.

This defragments the registry, and like other registry defrag programs, it is normal for the computer to appear to freezes for periods of time when the registry is being analyzed before doing the defrag. Just wait and your computer will become responsive again.

What this program does is make a new copy of the registry to make it smaller and increase access time. When data is deleted from the registry - the registry stays the same size, and there is a gap left where the data was deleted. As new data is added to the registry it becomes scattered.

By making a new copy of the registry containing the same data, but without the gaps - it will of course be smaller. Also, when the new registry files are written the registry data is rearranged so that is it is all in order and not scatter all over the place.


There are several free programs which do the same job as this. However since this is free today, there is no particular reason to use free registry defrag software over this. Because this is rearranging the registry, rather than deleting data like registry cleaners do it should be safe to use.

Reply   |   Comment by Roger  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+62)
#5

Am I missing something here, this is a Registry Defragger ONLY, and does NOT find and remove any registry so-called errors. Its purpose is to try to make all registry hives one contiguous file.

IMHO any performance increases will be minimal and defraaging is only required at infrequent intervals. If you dont add and remove lots of programs it probably only necessary to check the fragmentation status, if its less than 5% or so I wouldnt bother with a defrag.

This program is free today so no loss but in time honoured GOTD tradition an excellent free Reg Backup/Defragger is Lars Hederer s ERUNT/NTREGOPT at http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ , and its portable too. Also Reg Defrag is included in some speed up suites/reg cleaners.

Thanks to GOTD and Elcor for this software today.

Reply   |   Comment by TQ  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+59)
#4

Agree with 1. The report is bare, it needs a proper report showing which registry errors were found and corrected. Otherwise install was fine on Win 7 Pro 64 bit. No crashes on restart which is always a good thing but without knowing exactly what it acheived other than a defrag, its hard to know wether it stacks up against the miriad of free registry cleaners out there.

Reply   |   Comment by swiftly  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#3

Installed and registered Registry Defrag on my Windows XP SP3 system with no problems. Used it to clean & defrag my registry and it shrank it by 7%.

First reboot, the system was a bit slow to finish loading Windows. Waited antil it had loaded and rebooted again...the second time Windows loaded as fast or maybe even faster than normal. Everything seems to be in order, and this program appears to not have deleted anything out of the registry that it shouldn't have, like SOME registry cleaners.

It also has the option to schedule registry defrags to complete automatically at the frequency you choose, if you so desire. It also will display a map of your registry before and after, which looks like the display from a disk defragger.

Also you can make backups of the registry, which is a plus.

Seems to work as advertised... I wouldn't spend $26.95 for this program, but it is a nice program to get free.

Reply   |   Comment by McSpocky  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+38)
#2

Over at Download (CNet) the User rating:4.0 stars and Editors' rating:4.0 stars and Elcor Software has been around for a few years, with quite a few popular programs. Hope this helps.

Reply   |   Comment by WaterRabbit  –  12 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+31)
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