A Question About RegCleaner

CaptainSpeleo · Post by **CaptainSpeleo** » Mon Sep 24, 2001 5:23 pm

When running the "Shared DLL's" link, it brings up a list of 180 shared DLL's and other shared files which it says is safe to delete. When I highlight the entire list and give it the go-ahead to delete them, a warning appears that tells me that I'm choosing to delete the entire list and if I know what I'm doing. I chose "No" and did not delete them at this time. Some advise, please!

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Mon Sep 24, 2001 7:09 pm

Don't know much about regcleaner (the program) never used it, I use System Mechanic's registry cleaner, but to be absolutlely safe make copies of any files you intend to delete just in case you need them later.

180 orphaned dll's sounds like far too many. Make copies.
What do you do all day, install and uninstall programs LOL
That's a lot of orphans, never had even close to that many myself, reg keys yes sometimes but not dll's, and I do test tons of freeware.

btw - I have always allowed System Mechanic to delete the orphans it finds, and never yet had a problem, but be safe anyway, and make copies till you know you can trust Regcleaner.

phenix0000 · Post by **phenix0000** » Mon Sep 24, 2001 7:29 pm

You need to read more carefully!

RegCleaner doesn't tell you which DLLs are safe to delete......
It says: "DLL system files found. You can delete all the DLLs that you KNOW are obsolete.

If you want to get rid of DLL files, go to http://www.analogx.com and download DLL archive. That will tell you which ones are obsolete, and it moves them to a folder so if you want them back, you can.
NEVER delete ANY DLLs unless you have a copy of it!

Trust me on this, I know the headaches that result from missing DLLs first hand.

Storm90 · Post by **Storm90** » Mon Sep 24, 2001 10:56 pm

Norm is right back them up. I have seen them say they are a orphan dll. and not be. Just not being used at the time you do your scan. Good Luck!

CaptainSpeleo · Post by **CaptainSpeleo** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 5:08 am

Norm, I'm a full-time law enforcement officer(currently on 2-weeks vacation), so sitting behind this computer all day doesn't happen. About half of those 180 files are DLL files.

Phenix, when I activate the TOOLS - VIEW SHARED DLL FILES link, the following is posted after the list of files appears:

"Shared DLLs and other shared files that should be safe to delete(Both the files and the entries will be deleted)".

This comment gives me the impression that it's giving me the go-ahead to delete all these files.

The other sections under TOOLS tells you straight-forward that it's safe to delete those files that you know are obsolete. That's not a problem and has been done already.

Storm, I have not deleted any of them.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 9:03 am

Captain, I'm a self employed technician who sits behind a computer all day learning what I don't already know (and there's tons believe me) When I don't have a client in need I do what I can to increase my knowledge. One good way of doing that is to answer questions on this board.

I assumed you to be of similar circumstance because of the 180 orphaned dll's (even half of that number is remarkable) Orphaned dll's are files left over when uninstalling programs. So to have that many, you'd have had to installed/uninstalled that many programs or pretty close to it.

Registry cleaners can lie, so stay on the safe side, and don't delete them, save copies first. BUT, If you remove any critical dll's your PC won't be able to boot to windows, so the only way to put the copies back where they belong would be through DOS. If you can work in DOS then it's a risk you can afford to take, if not it's best to live just with a few extra dll's in your PC.

CaptainSpeleo · Post by **CaptainSpeleo** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 9:42 am

Norm, I make it a point of keeping my software programs, hardware drivers, browser, etc. up-to-date, so I do download files fairly frequently.

I notice that you refer to them as "orphan files" instead of "shared files".

Thanks for your input. I'm always game to learn something new.

Storm90 · Post by **Storm90** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 9:50 am

Captain. Sorry if I sound rules was just try to help. I have seen people do that. Then crash the computer. If you know what I mean. Not all dlls marked orphan are as I said. I learned that years ago when I first started programing computers the hard way. As I said sorry If I offened you.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 10:23 am

You're welcome Captain, no offence taken by me. Just trying to help as usual.

Orphaned files are not shared files, but can be in some instances.

Shared files are files used by more than one program (at the same time) If you check the running processes you'll see that some dll's are being used by more than one program running, so "shared".
Orphaned files are files that didn't get removed when a program was uninstalled, so "orphaned" or left behind after the demise of a program.

Updating your files usually just provides newer versions of files of the same name, and won't increase the number of files on your PC (orphaned or shared)

Two good programs I know of for finding orphaned dll's are System Mechanic by iolo software [url]http://www.iolo.com,[/url] and Clean Sweep (can't remember the maker)

It sounds to me like regcleaner (the one you're using) is finding all the dll's on your system, and asking you to decide what's needed or isn't. The number it's finding is just to far out of whack for orphaned files.
btw - A lot of dll's are shared, be careful.

CaptainSpeleo · Post by **CaptainSpeleo** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 1:47 pm

To Storm and Norm:

No offense taken, and thanks for the advice.