Cleaning up the registry in Windows Server 2003

[Zucarita9000]

I've been using TuneUp Utilities for several years on every single WinXP and Vista machine I used. I use it to clean up the registry, clean the hard drive, optimize perfomance and so on.

We have a couple of servers running Windows Server 2003 Small Business Server and Server 2003 R2. Their registry has never been cleaned and/or optimized in any way. I was hesitant on running Registry Cleaner and 1-Click Maintenance on the servers as I never used TuneUp on a Windows Server machine.

Would it be safe? I have never had any problems with XP and Vista PCs.

What are the best practices on this subject? How do you maintain your Windows Server servers?

 

[pcgeek11]

I was hesitant on running Registry Cleaner and 1-Click Maintenance on the servers as I never used TuneUp on a Windows Server machine.

I would be too!

IMO this isn't or shouldn't be required. That is as long as people are not doing funky things with the server that would crap up the registry.

:thumbsdown:

Funky doings on a server is a NoNo and can only lead to trouble.

 

[Zucarita9000]

I know, the thing is I uninstalled some applications from the server and I always clean up the registry afterwards (on XP machines at least).

 

[lxskllr]

If you can't do it by hand using regedit, you shouldn't do it at all. I wouldn't trust an automated tool to do anything with my registry. I find the whole premise of registry cleaning dubious, and would love to see some benches that show it improving anything.

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: Zucarita9000
I know, the thing is I uninstalled some applications from the server and I always clean up the registry afterwards (on XP machines at least).

A good rule of thumb to live by in all things:

If it ain't broke don't fix it!

It can and will bite you in the ass eventually. If you are not seeing any problems, don't create one. This is just my opinion from my experiances, others may vary.

pcgeek11

 

[Zucarita9000]

It may be a placebo, but it hasn't done any harm in the past (for me at least).

 

[tomt4535]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11

Originally posted by: Zucarita9000
I know, the thing is I uninstalled some applications from the server and I always clean up the registry afterwards (on XP machines at least).

A good rule of thumb to live by in all things:

If it ain't broke don't fix it!

It can and will bite you in the ass eventually. If you are not seeing any problems, don't create one. This is just my opinion from my experiances, others may vary.

pcgeek11

:thumbsup:

Best rule to live by right there

 

[RebateMonger]

I would never run a Registry cleaner on a Server. I keep a log of every Registry change I make to my clients' servers.

I don't know what a Registry cleaner would do for a server. What would it remove? I mean, how many programs do you install/uninstall from a Server? Over several years, maybe I install a couple of Microsoft utilities and a new version of SQL or such. I very seldom uninstall anything. There's nothing to "clean".

 

[Nothinman]

It may be a placebo, but it hasn't done any harm in the past (for me at least).

But has it done any good? I highly doubt it.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Zucarita9000
I know, the thing is I uninstalled some applications from the server and I always clean up the registry afterwards (on XP machines at least).

Utter and complete waste of time.