RegistrySmart thoughts?

[harebrain]

A couple of days ago, I got to a state where IE wouldn't launch, i.e., click on the shortcut or an HTML doc, the cursor spins, then nothing. I finally got IE back by disabling some add-ons. (Windows search turned that up.) Before I got to that, though, I fell for downloading a Vista registry cleaner named RegistrySmart. A scan with this thing claimed > 600 problems in a dozen categories; it would fix 3 of them and demanded $$$ for the full version to "fix" the other 597.

It's only been 2 months since I installed Vista clean, I really don't have that much software installed, and performance is fine. Does the registry really get so bolluxed so fast, or is this just a scam to sucker you into paying for extortionware? Anybody know this program?

 

[linney]

My opinion of Registry Cleaners is to stay away from them and not to use them other than as a final last resort the day before you are about to reinstall Windows.

That said, the most highly recommended Registry Cleaner would be JV16 Power Tools or the Reg Supreme found at

http://www.macecraft.com/

For backup and restore capabilities I like this one.
Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

See what these say about RegistrySmart.

http://www.google.com/search?q=RegistrySmart++&rls=com.microsoft:

 

[harebrain]

Great: at least half the posts in the Google search wonder whether RegistrySmart itself is malware. I think it was TechRepublic that claimed it was a "moderate" risk because it is a keystroke logger. Buh-bye!

The IE problem recurred--again and again. I was almost resigned to reinstalling Vista (again) but I ran RIES one more time. Afterwards it became clear that the problem was a corrupted download or installation of Flash. Re-d/l'd it, and everything seems back to normal. (Except, of course, everything I lost to RIES. But that beats reinstalling Vista and losing everything.)