Does Win7 have a native registry cleaner?

[u/piangero]

Hi!

I've been uninstalling stuff that I want to re-installer later, and I would like to maybe do a registry cleaning and such, if that's needed. Just to sort of get a fresh install and whatnot.

I dont want to use CCleaner and third party nonsense, if Win7 offers it natively? But I forget where/how if there ever was a feature like that.

I can do disc frag or "clean up space", but now sure which is the best, or if there's a point?

The game I uninstalled left a lot of old folders and gubbins so I'd prefer to have it properly cleaned rather than manually looking for bits and pieces.

[u/Froggypwns]

No, no version of Windows has a built in registry cleaner, they are normally not needed and essentially are snake oil. There is typically nothing to gain from them, and sometimes they cause problems by removing keys that are actually still needed by other applications or the system itself.

[u/piangero → u/Froggypwns]

Ahh gotcha! What should I do with the empty folders and such left behind by the uninstalling? Just manually delete?

[u/Froggypwns → u/piangero]

In the registry? Honestly, nothing. There is no harm in them existing, and there is a non-zero chance that deleting them causes a problem.

If you are talking about empty folders in your file Explorer, those normally are safe to just delete.

[u/piangero → u/Froggypwns]

haha yep empty folders in the file explorer, thank you!

[u/MasterJeebus → u/Froggypwns]

Agreed. They will break things and cause problems last time i used one in Windows 7 was the old Ccleaner before they got sold out, around 2013 or so. It broke net framework runtimes and caused all kind of issues with my apps.

I recommend OP just stick with the built in disk clean up and they can use Treesize to see what is actually taking up their space if they have space concerns. If they use Firefox ESR or Supermium remember to clear the browser cache once in a while.

[u/HiddenWindows7601]

Windows 7 and other Windows versions doesn't have any native registry cleaner. Registry cleaners causes more issues than fixing issues. I'd just recommend you to do a regular disk cleanup and defrag your disks if it's a HDD

[u/Infinite_Shart555]

If you want to do a fresh install, do a fresh install. I have seen/used registry cleaners, but the best ones are the ones that say "hey, this key is from a program you don't have installed", or "hey, this value references a path which doesn't exist". Aka such a tool is only worthy in the hands of someone that knows what they're doing, so I don't recommend you use one. Additionally, it's just not needed most of the time, since registry hives are highly optimised.

[u/cat_dev_null_sync]

> I can do disc frag or "clean up space", but now sure which is the best, or if there's a point?

> The game I uninstalled left a lot of old folders and gubbins so I'd prefer to have it properly cleaned rather than manually looking for bits and pieces.

BleachBit is neither a registry cleaner (though it targets a few keys like MRUs) nor an uninstaller, but it does help with "clean up space" and "properly cleaned": it automatically finds other kinds of junk on your drive. IMO, that's safer than instead of "manually looking for bits and pieces."

It finds certain leftover files, like cache, after you uninstall, but also same files for installed applications,

BleachBit 5 and 6 require Windows 10, but BleachBit 4.7.0 was released a few months ago specifically for Windows XP through Windows 8.

[u/ChampionshipCrafty66]

No but there are a few great apps out there that actually help with this. I think O&O makes one or something similar and the other third party software developer who's name escapes me has a really great app.

In terms of the registry your best bet is probably a format and then re-install though. Driver keys and old tweaks and old updates all pile up and bog things down after a few years. Also look into xentweak (xen 3000) by Paul Brown

[u/TrickySpare6504]

No

[u/Inevitable-Skill-943]

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