Putting RegClean (and other registry cleaners) on the checklist for beginners is not a smart thing to do.


The problem is that RegClean (and similar software) has a severe problem with false positives -- they mark registry entries for deletion that should NOT be deleted, as they're either in use, or are required for installing additional components that need those registry entries.

RegClean and similar utilities should *only* be used by people who can go through the registry entries one by one and *understand* whether the key really can be safely deleted or not. The users you direct this to can't make this decision -- that's why you created the checklist in the first place!

And yes, the registry entries can be restored, but then you also assume that the users can isolate the RegClean session they did several days ago as the likely source of their seemingly random problems, and also know (and dare!) to manually run an Undo.

Because of RegClean's ability to do more harm than good in the hands of unskilled users, Microsoft *pulled it*. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;2999
58 for some details.
Other similar utilities (like Norton System Doctor) are no better, and often do even more harm than RegClean does.

Strike RegClean (and similar products) off the checklist, please.


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