jv16 PowerTools 2010 2.0.0.989 Beta 3
Reviewing 2.0.0.989 Beta 3 (Dec 15, 2010)
Review of jv16 PowerTools 2010 (SIC) 2.0.0.989 Beta 3 (actually ver 2011--not 2010 as indicated).
This carries on from my beta 1 comment, (below).
Test conditions essentially the as beta 1 except the PC has been extensively used since beta 1 (many programs installed and uninstalled in the interim).
Results:
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jv16 ver 2010
- Registry errors found: 433
- Scan time: 33 seconds
- Program completed normally
jv16 ver 2011
- Registry errors found: 5625*
- Scan time: 915 seconds*
- Program was terminated by user*.
* As for beta 1, beta 3 DID NOT COMPLETE NORMALLY--I terminated it after 915 seconds.
At least several thousand of the errors--I didn't bother counting them--were of the type 'Invalid owner' and 'Unneeded history data'. (Note: minutes earlier, the previous version, jv16 2010, did not give any such errors.)
Also, at the time I terminated it, I noted that jv16 2011 beta 3 was hogging over 500MB of memory and using nearly 50% of one CPU core's resources and 15 to 20% kernel time (the other three cores were idling).
As a reality check, I compared the jv16 products with these registry cleaners: RegSeeker 1.55, RegCleaner 5.2, TuneupUtilites 10.0.2020.9 and Glary Utilities 2.30.0.1066. They found registry 'errors' which ranged in numbers between the extremes of the two jv16 versions. As expected, with no two registry cleaners ever producing the same results, what they found was significantly different to that of jv16. Glary for example found 555 registry errors, but unlike jv16/2011, which ground itself almost to a halt without finishing, Glary and all these other products completed the registry check ok.
SUMMARY: Comment essentially as for beta 1. jv16 2011 beta 3, is still an alpha stage product and should not be here. In fact, as with beta 1, this version is potentially dangerous to the registry (if I'd proceeded to 'fix' the registry as jv16 suggested then it would have rendered it unusable).
(FYI, I let one rerun of jv16/2011/b3 go for over three hours. When terminated, it was still using 50% of the CPU core's resources and memory use had crept up to ~650MB. It never fully completed the run.)
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@carlvui: Thanks, comments noted and essentially agree. Specifically noted your comment re survey (for some reason I'd not known about it).
@mike59, Andy Dean, et al. re mike59's comment:
'There is no reason to ever clean the registry. Cleaning it will never speed up your computer. In fact, it will slow it down and break things.'
Would mostly agree that registry cleaning doesn't speed things up significantly, but I'd also agree with Andy Dean. Sometimes, you've got to clean things up to get them working again. Most often, this is manual intervention and not done with automated cleaning tools. (Some programs simply will not run/reinstall unless certain traces of previous installations are removed).
For the record and to put my reviews into perspective, I should clarify what I do and why I sometimes clean the registry with automated cleaners and why I'm always tweaking it manually. As part of my work, I review software and hardware; my PC could see up to 200 new packages on/off it per month. Some software is reinstalled multiple times or has multiple instances--for example, today's problem is to figure out why DTP Scribus 1.3.6 and 1.3.8 work perfectly yet--so far--why ver 1.3.9 goes belly-up (today, all three versions have been installed both simultaneously and separately).
The software reviewing process not only includes a report on a program's attributes/functions but also its various impacts on a Windows installation (for instance, what happens to Windows if say a user deletes the '\Program Files' entries instead of uninstalling the program). In day-to-day operation my Windows installation can get pretty battered, it occasionally stops functioning and even BSODs are seen from time to time. As it's continually tweaked, my PC sits within easy access on the RHS side of my desk with its cover always left off.
Addressing mike59's issues specifically:
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With the registry being the diabolical conception that it is, no two registry cleaners will find and clean errors the same way, thus I never rely on them to fix anything properly. At best, they provide only a rough and ready list of problems, issues, etc. which I usually address manually. To restore my PC to full/guaranteed health I use a different tactic altogether which is simply to reinstall the O/S to a pristine copy (this is important for control reasons). How I do this quickly and without fuss needs some explanation.
The original installation of Windows is done in discrete stages and a snapshot backup taken of every stage before Windows is ever used. Backups consist of both Windows BKFs together with complete file-by-file copies produced by using a separate boot CD such as BartPE etc. Also, each stage is fully documented.
Each stage is pristine w/o any MRUs etc. and the PC is never online at this point. 7 stages are typical and, all up, the installation usually takes about two weeks. Stage 1 is the default Windows installation, stage 1a are the tweaks to make Windows useable (Explorer icons to details mode, turn off automatic updates etc.), then successive stages, from those with essential low-impact/stable utilities through to the high impact programs (MSO, dev tools, OOo etc.) which are left until the last stage. Reinstalling any of these stages will return the O/S together with the programs to a pristine installation of that stage. (Note: care is taken to ensure program defaults/options are set correctly so they don't have to be redone later--it's ready to roll immediately after reinstallation.)
At most, reinstalling the O/S must only take a few minutes. To ensure this, no program userdata (DOC files etc.) ever resides on the installation drive, C:, rather it's on E:, F: etc. 'My Documents' is never used to store userdata but just in case some wayward program uses it, it's relocated to a new 'My Docs' dir in the root directory for instant checking. Thus, without any files of value, UBCD/Bart PE etc. can simply erase every trace of the complete O/S then copy over a pristine preinstalled working copy, all within a few minutes. Similarly, sliding in a new hard drive with a preinstalled virginal O/S takes even less time--only seconds in fact. Reinstalling the O/S, would on average, be done about once per month.
Between O/S reinstallations, I rely on what I consider the 'Utility of the Decade' to get me out of registry trouble, it restores a known good copy of the registry. ERUNT, http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/, automatically and silently backs up my registry and ntuser.dat files on a daily basis and keeps copies of the last 30 days of registries, any of which I'm able to choose from to restore. Simply, a wonderful utility that's gotten me out of trouble many times.
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@mike59 BTW, In my comment to which you refer:
"* Specifically, the registry cleaning function (the program cleaning mode is acceptable)"
I was referring to the files cleanup function of CCleaner, i.e. browser cookies, cache etc., not the 'Registry Integrity' function, which CCleaner also has a secondary function (afterthought?). It's nigh on useless other than to give a neophyte the sensation that something important is happening--and, to boot, it'll probably screw up file associations by deleting important ones.
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