Hello everyone, I've got a new question. Before attempting to ruin my whole registry I've though about asking something to other people.

I remember that WinXP registry would usualy be between 30-50Mb when you would export it as 1 single .reg file. I just did it on Vista "after 3 days of use" and it is already 155Mb!!!

Two of the best utilities for the registry on WinXP were (RegSupreme Pro) and (Registry Mechanic) and from the little look that I gave in the editor of Vista, it seem to work in the same way so is it risky to use one of those programs even if they are compatible on Vista 64bit? :confused:

Also beside "cleaning/deleting unvalid keys" would it be safe to "compress" it by using those same tools?

My answer to you is uneducated and is based simply on my knowledge. The principle in both the XP and Vista registry are essentialy the same, except for the fact that Vista does have a lot more entries. Therefore it should be perfectly safe to use the programs.

I would at least give the programs a try, but if you still feel unsecure about it, maybe you can try to research this a little bit more before going ahead.

Just make sure to backup your registry before you try anything.

Just make sure to backup your registry before you try anything. Yeah, that's what I was gonna do. Well thank you both for the hints, now I know that there shouldn't be any issue doing it. :)

Edit: Works without any problem but the "Registry Compression" from Registry Mechanic doesn't work at all.

I just tried using RegSupreme 1.4, and it installed just fine and performed an aggressive scan normally. But then when I selected the items to be fixed and it prompted me to create a backup, when I clicked 'OK' after naming the backup file, I received a prompt - "Cannot create file C:\Program Files\RegSupreme\Backups\000D04\Entries.reg. Access is denied."

Perhaps a new build of RegSupreme will change this though.

I would suggest that using registry tools for XP on Vista is not a good idea. The registry structure may be similar in some ways, but I'm certain the registry is not the same.

The same way you can't use a registry cleaning tool for Windows98 on Windows XP, I would recommend not using XP registry cleaners on Vista. Wait for an actual Vista registry cleaner to come out.

I would suggest that using registry tools for XP on Vista is not a good idea. The registry structure may be similar in some ways, but I'm certain the registry is not the same.

The same way you can't use a registry cleaning tool for Windows98 on Windows XP, I would recommend not using XP registry cleaners on Vista. Wait for an actual Vista registry cleaner to come out. Hmm, I highly agree that using a Win98 cleaning tool on XP is a bad idea since it's two very diffrent OS. 98 is built on DOS while XP is on NT but Vista is just a more recent version of NT so basicly there shouldn't be big risk? So far I've got no problems with Registry Mechanic but the compression doesn't work at all.

Well, after browsing around on the Macecraft forums a bit, and checking their FAQ, I found out that RegSupreme is compatible (http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1531) with Windows Vista. Of course, still use it cautiously, and if anything goes wrong, use one of the backups to undo any registry changes. ;)

OK, that sounds good, thanks for the link. If the person who developed the tool says it's compatible, that's good enough for me :)

My concern was that the registry structure may have changed significantly in certain areas and that tools like registry cleaners may remove important keys/branches inadvertently, which could really mess things up. But it just goes to show how little Vista has changed over XP.

My concern was that the registry structure may have changed significantly in certain areas and that tools like registry cleaners may remove important keys/branches inadvertently, which could really mess things up. But it just goes to show how little Vista has changed over XP.


Actually, there still may be some significant differences.

According to the RegSupreme system requirements (http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/), RegSupreme works with Windows 98, 98 SE, ME, NT, 2000 or XP, and now Vista. I imagine that the registry differences between 98 to Vista must be somewhat large as that is about 8 years of advancement from 98 to Vista. Yet RegSupreme can maintain each respective OS registry, so I'm guessing that it's more about the programming on behalf of the RegSupreme developers allowing Vista compatibility, more-so than Vista not being that different from XP (though I could very well be wrong - this is just a guess on my part).

The difference in the registry between XP and 98 was not major. Some items and branches changed, but I don't recall any major changes. I could be wrong as it's been quite a while.

I'm sure the registry structure of Vista is different, however I was under the impression that Vista had made significant changes to the registry structure, and now it may not seem like it has. I have to admit though I haven't had the time to get into that in detail just yet.

I used CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner on x64 version Vista RC1 and RC2, and CleanMyPC does a good job in registry cleanning in Vista x64. I also tried registry mechanic on x64 Vista and registry mechanic incorrectly report some errors so I don't think registry mechanic is safe to use on Vista x64.

I didn't try Vista x86 but I guess Cleanmypc will work for it too.

What is the best Registery Cleaner/Fixer for XP?

This is the perfect example of lack of basic research. There is a whole section dedicated to registry cleaners and such tools in the TGTC and they have been discussed ad nausem on here in addition to this being posted in the wrong thread in completely the wrong forum (Vista forum instead of XP) Please do some basic research before posting - SortYa

I used CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner on x64 version Vista RC1 and RC2, and CleanMyPC does a good job in registry cleanning in Vista x64. I also tried registry mechanic on x64 Vista and registry mechanic incorrectly report some errors so I don't think registry mechanic is safe to use on Vista x64.
What wrong did it report? It's the one I'm currently using and so far I still have no corrupted files or weird bug.

The only thing I hate now that I updated RC1 to RC2 is that my PC won't close anymore, which is a bug problem to me lol. I gotta reboot it then wait that it post then push the start button to make it close. Then when I'll boot later, it will give a "overclocking error" message so I'll have to go in the bios and say Save & Exit or else it will put the default settings. I really don't know how to fix this.