Defragging a Windows's registry

[jwoegerbauer]

Some say defragging a Windows's registry is nonsense, other say it can make sense.

So I tried out .




It was the first registry defragging after an intensive PC use of a full year.

[lsemmens]

The question isn't so much what it's claimed speed improvement is, but what it actually does. I usually run cCleaner on occasion an have not noticed any major performance improvements after having run it, nor have I noticed any penalties for not having run it.

[jwoegerbauer]

The question isn't so much what it's claimed speed improvement is, but what it actually does. I usually run cCleaner on occasion an have not noticed any major performance improvements after having run it, nor have I noticed any penalties for not having run it.

Totally agree with you: Running CCLEANER will not improve system's speed, this because the given amount of files on a PC has nothing to do with system's speed. Quite reverse: CCLEANER forces fragmentation! It's the fragmentation which the PC slows down.

However, as existing files are deleted or truncated, new regions of free space are created. When existing files are appended to, it is often impossible to resume the write exactly where the file used to end, as another file may already be allocated there — thus, a new fragment has to be allocated. As time goes on, and the same factors are continuously present, free space as well as frequently appended files tend to fragment more. Shorter regions of free space also mean that the allocator is no longer able to allocate new files contiguously, and has to break them into fragments. This is especially true when the file system is more full — longer contiguous regions of free space are less likely to occur.

And: CCLEANER does NOT defragment Windows's registry. It also does NOT defragment any partition present.

[lsemmens]

One question, how the hell does the registry get fragmented? Everything in there has its place and everything in its place. The only thing with the registry is that it fills up with crap which can be cleaned out, but that's about it.

[hoe]

not necessary since xp......

[jwoegerbauer]

One question, how the hell does the registry get fragmented? Everything in there has its place and everything in its place. The only thing with the registry is that it fills up with crap which can be cleaned out, but that's about it.

The Registry isn’t simply one large file but a set of discrete files called hives, primarily located in the System32 folder. Over a period of time, a lot of entries get added to it as well as deleted. Whenever a user installs or uninstalls software or changes Windows settings, the changes are reflected and saved in the Windows Registry. As a result, many registry entries end up being orphaned, broken or misplaced.

As TechNet ( a Microsoft owned company) says:

Standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system.

Concerning the problem of bloated registry hives Microsoft always since years had explained:

You may discover that some of your registry hives are abnormally large or “bloated”. Registry hives that are in this state can cause various performance issues and errors in the system log. There can be many causes for this issue. Troubleshooting the actual cause can be a long and tedious process. In this scenario, you simply want to compress the registry hives to a normal state.

But do not expect any real performance improvement, after using registry defragmenters – especially in the later version of Windows like, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8. While you may use a registry defragger, as a matter of ‘good house-keeping’, one must be very careful in selecting a good safe Registry Defragmenter. And never forget to create a System Restore Point before running a registry defragmenter.

[lsemmens]

But do not expect any real performance improvement, after using registry defragmenters – especially in the later version of Windows like, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8.

My point exactly. If it ain't broke! Don't fix it!

[SpankedHam]

Most of these so called registry defraggers actually don't. They might clean things up by deleting crap and defrag the actual hive file but they don't do a compact/reorg on the database - ie the thing that most helps database performance. I've proven this by artificially bloating a user hive by writing large number of keys and values in a branch and then deleting them. After being 'defragged' the actual hive file was just as big as it was to start with.

[jwoegerbauer]

Most of these so called registry defraggers actually don't.

Auslogics's "Registry Defragger" introduced in post #1 does both defragment and compact the Windows's registry. I wouldn't have started this thread if these two features didn't work as promised. Auslogics's "Registry Defragger" isn't a Registry Cleaner!
Using Auslogics's "Registry Defragger" you don't need to boot the PC via a Windows PE in order to defragment/compact the registry, because Auslogics's "Registry Defragger" runs ( similar to CHKDSK ) before the Windows OS has loaded, so it has full access to (an unlocked) registry.

BTW: Auslogics ( founded in 2008) is located in Sydney, Australia.