VMware, he means virtual machines. @Matrix, yes CCleaner should be the best tool to clean junk files or invalid registry but only CCleaner is not enough. Perhaps can try FCleaner, WinASO Registry Optimizer. Then defragment your disk once a week like using TuneUp. This will be a perfect match of system optimizers.
I've tried little registry cleaner from sourceforge.net but it was clearly meant for XP, avoid that one
The best program to clean the registry is None. What exactly will you achieve by "cleaning" the registry?
What do you think happens when you install software, then remove it things are always left in the registry eventually these build up and it can slow down your machine. Simmilar situation for user \AppData\Local things are left in there and also user temp folder.
Slowing the machine is one thing. More important for me is the absolute lack of grace that many applications have on their exit from my system. Folders remain, preferences remain, and registry still keeps many entries. So far, I have not found one cleaner that can clean up everything. Only a system image restore works or a VM.
The registry has so many entries, removing a few will hardly improve performance. At the most, if you are getting some "file not found" kind of errors at startup due to left over entries, then you could run CCleaner for once. I think registry cleaners are highly overrated. Have personally seen instances where Tuneup has actually deleted valid entries and messed up software installs.
CCleaner is good but you get what you pay for. Have had registry issues uising CCleaner. I've been using this since beta windows 7 x64 and have NEVER had an issue. CleanMyPC™ Registry Cleaner. Great utility!
I was wondering the same thing until I actually tested a lot of registry cleaners lol. Here is what I tested so far: System Mechanic 9/10 Pro, PCTOOLS Registry Mechanic, ccleaner, windows 7 manager 1.2.8, wize registry cleaner, uniblue registry booster, and comodo registry cleaner. Some are good but some are not! I have found that the ones: System Mechanic Pro, Uniblue Registry Booster, and windows 7 manager actually screwed up my laptop while left my desktop intact strangely. The ones that I have seen that worked the best is actually either ccleaner or pctools registry mechanic(I actually use the Performance Toolkit version) and it seemed to clean up a lot but without causing any issues. If fact I have been using the pctools registry mechanic since it was at version 5 like for several years and never once had any issues at all on several computers and I recommend it to everyone. Just my two sense