Expert: Brian Benosky - 2/24/2008

Question
I have Ccleaner installed on my Pc do I still need a Registry cleaner? Also, how do I know what is needed exactly for startups. I was told, in order to speed up start ups, to eleminate unnessary startup items. I have left it alone because I don't know that much about it. Thanks for you help.

Answer
Hi Kathy

CCleaner has a more than capable Registry Cleaner built in.  Unless your computer is experiencing a large slowdown, or error messages, I tend to leave the registry alone.  It's best not to mess with something that can cause Windows to stop loading.  That being said, CCleaner is very safe to use and does make a backup of the registry first in case something does go wrong.

You can check each process running at Startup manually by looking up each individual entry here:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
Or, to automate the process, download The Ultimate Troubleshooter (TUT).  You can download the demo of TUT for free, which gives you 10 runs of the program, plenty to determine which start programs you need. If you like it, it's $29 to buy.  Read more here:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/TUT_pages/TUT_information.htm

I hope I have helped you today.  If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Brian