Ccleaner & other registry cleaners

[office politics]

I installed PC Pitstop's Optimize 3.0, today. I think its a well designed program and maybe worth paying the 30 bucks for a pc that is slow to respond. However, my Win7 laptop isnt having performance issues and I dont think i'd benefit much from buying the full version.
With that being said, I started searching the inet for free alternatives. The first to pop in my head in ccleaner. This seems to be a very popular software on the web. But, I found this article that i whole heartedly agree with. I guess I should only run ccleaner when a pc is completely hosed.

Are Registry Cleaners Safe to Use? ~ Chris Pirillo

Programs like CCleaner can be very dangerous to your computer. NO registry “cleaner” is completely safe. There is also no hard evidence that “cleaning” out the registry has any effect on the overall speed of a machine. It will speed up searches within the registry itself – but has no effect on overall performance.
...
Last, I know there will be people who argue with me. There will be those who swear up and down that CCleaner is a wonderful program. They've never had a problem with it! Maybe you're a tech who uses it in your line of work. Good for you! I'm glad you've never had a problem – YET. Even when you know exactly what you're doing, programs like this still occasionally can and will completely hose a system. I sincerely hope it never happens to you.

were there any times specifically where ccleaner has fixed a machine?

 

[Yami]

I've used the registry cleaner in CCleaner a couple of times on older computers, where it scans and finds 1000+ 'issues'. Has usually made a difference, mostly in loading times for stuff.

 

[Abstract Hero]

This article plays out ccleaner to be some evil program that virtually rapes your system.

Honestly I understand where they are coming from but I think the constant referral to ccleaner makes this look like a bunch of crap and just an attack on one program for a fault.

EDIT: I just realized both Yami and I are CCleaner fanboys, sig and all. lol

 

[Yami]

EDIT: I just realized both Yami and I are CCleaner fanboys, sig and all. lol

Yup

 

[KSoD]

Actually it does bring to light several things that are not known by many people. I stated pretty much what this article said just a day ago.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f9/do-i-need-utility-programs-237379/#post1850925

I have said it several times before. People dont realize that these programs scan for inactive entries and flags them for removal. Not realizing that you could honestly be removing something you need. People just click Okay and not pay attention till it is too late and they have already caused an issue.

I dont mind it for the Temp Files remover and cookie remover. But Browsers have gotten much better hacing such options built right in now. So as much as you guys like the software, that actually doesnt take away from the point that the software can be very harmful and detremental to a users system. Just as much as Registry Mechanic, Registry Boosters and so many more. The Registry is not something that should be messed with by people or software unless you have very intimate knowledge of how it works and knowing what your actions are going to do.

 

[Slaymate]

were there any times specifically where ccleaner has fixed a machine?

I've had ccleaner actually fix a malware ridden PC so I'd have to say yes. But I also have to agree that it is not a tool/utility that a novice should use.

 

[KSoD]

I can see that being true back before things like MBAM and Combofix came about. As they now do that part as well. I have used it previously to remove some entries that no other program could remove. But then again, i am not a novice and have a very good idea what i am doing.