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General discussion

Advanced SystemCare vs Registry Mechanic

by MrDonLM Jul 24, 2010 11:24AM PDT

I am already a user of Registry Mechanic and SuperAdBlocker/SuperAntiSpyware. Recently I was advised by the Technical Support of another program that I was having difficulty uninstalling to download Advanced SystemCare (free version). It worked perfectly and I was very impressed with its performance.

However, I'm wondering if maybe I'm just getting a little too much of a good thing. I tried one of these free system scans before and it apparently had a conflict with Registry Mechanic that caused an endless loop of the dreaded blue screen of death, which could only be resolved by formatting my HD.

I really don't want to go thru that experience again any time soon, so I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions about the compatibility of these programs or if any one is particularly preferable to the other.

FYI, I'm currently using Win XP Pro SP3 and IE8.

TIA, Mr Don

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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I have to say
by MarkFlax Forum moderator Jul 24, 2010 9:02PM PDT

Sorry in advance that my own post is going to be so negative.

I have to say that I would not be using either of these, nor any optimisers or registry cleaners. All too often we see pleas for help in these forums after some optimiser/cleaner or other has deleted or changed some critical file, and made an Operating System fail. The end results vary from minor disturbances and fixes that give relieved users, to complete reinstalls, lost data, and very unhappy visitors to the forums.

Your own experience appears to parallel some of the problems we have seen and if this were me, I would move away from both.

It's your choice of course, and if you want to continue then my own advice would be to stick with the one that you know. These optimisers work differently on the same system settings and files. Constantly using more than one is likely to result in conflicts and contradictions as each utility tries it's best to 'reset' and sort out what it considers to be problems. Tiny errors may build up to system wide problems that neither can solve.

You don't say what this other program was that you were having problems with, but it saddens me that their technical support would suggest using ASC at all, or any other similar utility.

Sorry, I'm old and grumpy in the mornings! Devil

Mark

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to optimize or not........
by MrDonLM Jul 25, 2010 11:40AM PDT

Hi Mark,

If I didn't want to hear your opinion, I wouldn't have posted this in the first place. Happy

Your advice is well taken. I agree with you that it behooves me not to muck up my system again with too much stuff, which I have a tendency to do as a form of overkill, that usually comes back to bite me in the behind.

Having said that, I must admit that I haven't seen a whole lot of benefit to using Registry Mechanic even tho it is generally well reviewed. Perhaps it's just too subtle for me. However, after I ran ASC, for the first time ever ever RM couldn't find any questionable registry entries. Likewise, SuperAntiSpyware could only find one ad tracker so I may be on to something here.

I was also surprised at the recommendation of a software manufacturer to download and install two third party utilities, but the good news is that the magic did work this time. Hopefully I won't come back crying to you over spilt milk the next time.

Again, thanks for your thoughts on the matter.

Best, Mr Don

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Neither
by metmichallica Aug 23, 2010 8:17PM PDT

Neither personally I would choose System Mechanic. I have used System Mechanic since like Oct. and it does a fine job at cleaning my computer. I have no need for other registry cleaners or disk cleaners because it keeps the computer running good.

System Mechanic however is a recurring subscription. Every year you must pay for it to use it. It stops working when you don't have an active subscription.

You can download a free trial http://download.cnet.com/System-Mechanic/3000-2094_4-10030183.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1d

You can use it on three computers when you buy.

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System Mechanic
by MrDonLM Aug 25, 2010 12:35AM PDT

Hmmm. Sounds interesting. However, I've had such good luck with ASC that I purchased their Pro version and have been very happy with it. It used to be that my Internet speed was very slow and kept locking up on me. Now it's quite zippy and I can even watch streaming video even tho I don't have broadband. I did let my subscription to Registry Mechanic expire even tho it was a highly rated utility since ASC also has a registry optimization feature and I surely don't need two competing programs mucking about down there.

The bottom line for me is that if it works, I'm not going to change it... especially since I've already paid for it. Thanks for your input anyway.

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Get a free year of Advanced Systemcare Pro
by metmichallica Aug 25, 2010 8:07AM PDT
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