Customer Reviews

PC Tools Registry Mechanic Version 7.0 [Old Version]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I was going to purchase this product through Amazon, but first I wanted to try it. So I downloaded a trial run copy from PC TOOLS website. I am glad I did because after running it just once it began to act crazy within my system. I can tell you that it is probably alright with the standard vista, but the 64 version and with Microsoft's new Silverlight as well as Google's new browser it crashed my entire system. And caused me to have to spend two days in a recovery of all software and even Vista itself. So I guess just be careful. I do not say it is a bad product, it just may have some problems.

I've always kept my PCs pretty clean - which, at times, has meant really tedious work in the Windows registry using regedit. Registry Mechanic automates that work away. It also has a registry monitor feature (which can be turned off) to notify you real-time of any changes made to the registry ... which could be legitimate, as in the case of a software install, or not, as in malware. Backup points are created before the registry is "cleaned."

I bought the software because it is the registry tool used by the local big box electronics retailer, and the techs there are pretty happy with the product. So am I. Works as intended on XP, in my case without any unintended consequences at all.

(Used with Windows XP)
Easy to install and little to do to set it up, and it immediately gets to work finding problems. On its first run it found over 1,000 registry problems, which it promptly fixed. Just to make sure it wasn't having me on I ran the scan again on the next start-up and this time if found only nine problems.

I ran the Compact Registry option, but the saving was only 1%. The option to Tuneup Your Services had the visual effect of simplifying the appearance of Windows so presumably saving resources and in turn speeding things up.

In practise I'm not sure it has made very much difference in performance. Before installing the software I was experiencing persistent problems on Start-Up with the dreaded blue screen appearing, and the same if the computer was left in sleep mode for more than an hour or more. It seems to happen less since installation, but still does occur at times.

One annoying problem: since installing pctools my computer no longer recognises my camera. Not only does the usual software not open when the camera is connected, but the camera does not show up anywhere, so I cannot access it directly. In order to download photos now I have to use USB Card Reader. An interesting outcome though was the speed of the pctool's response to my email about the problem; I sent the email Sunday afternoon and received a reply Monday afternoon; not bad if the reply came from the UK, excellent if it came from the companies home Australia. The bad news is that the problem was not resolved, even removing pctools and a system restore and reinstalling the errant camera software failed to remedy the situation.

Another problem following one of the tune-ups was that my computer could not find the wireless networked printer; but a system restore to an earlier date did solve that problem.

My conclusion? it's a case of swings and roundabouts; there does seem to be a slight improvement in performance, but it also appears to have caused a few problems of its own, although of course there is no concrete evidence the pctools is to blame.

This product is being falsely advertised! DO NOT BUY FROM PCTOOLS.

1. Promised 7/24 technical support. After the product would not register with an "Invald code" error, I requested support. I received an automated response that day (11/14) and have not heard from them since.
2. 100% money back gaurentee. After a week of no response to my technical issue, I requested my money back due to 100% DISSATISFACTION. Haven't heard from them about that either.

I plan to contest the charges to my credit card and file a complaint with the California Attorney Generals office.

Bottom line. Save you money. This is no longer even one of the top 5 rated registry cleaners.

Great product. Cleanned a Trojan off my pc which was preventing me from getting to internet. I would reccommend this product to users. I tried Norton and it was horrible would not clean the virus and was eating resources when running in background. PC tools is great and would buy their product again. VERY Satisfied...!PC Tools Registry Mechanic Version 7.0

I was having terrible problems with XP. Clicking on web links in my e-mails or documents in My Documents would only work once and would hang after that. I ran Resgitry Mechanic and it fixed this in less than two minutes. I highly recommend this product. It has made me a happy PC owner.

The bad news started with installing this. It actually would not install because Norton AV was immediately deleting a file it was trying to rename for some reason, a file that had to come from the CD. The box was sealed (no seller fraud this time) and the disk looked new and the license code worked. Tried at least twice and then disabled Auto-Protect. It did finish installing and worked but Norton AV and an anti-spy program both kept hitting it for a trojan. It is probably something used to check the license validity but I preferred to remove it than set exceptions. Hopefully later versions eliminated the trojan-install feature; it seemed pretty good aside from that.

I am terribly biased against this program because it includes a spybot, which my A/V program caught and we eliminated. I've seen the same application caught on an older machine when I ran AdSubtract, so I recognized it immediately. It is called 'backlight' It apparently relays data back 'home' about your system. I also just read in another review that these people automatically deduct from your credit card on an annual basis for having the program. This is unconsconcisable and I think Amazon should exert pressure for this to quit.

I use their firewall and another app. which uses Hueristics to look at my programs, and these appear to work great, so I had no hesitation about getting this program.

Does it work? I've used it on both Win7 & XP and have not had happy results with either.

But to be totally honest, I had used another app as a registry cleaner, and my registry was pretty much left in disarray after using this product, probably after using the first one. I also use Acronis to regularly take 'pictures' of my hard drive when it seems to me the program is really humming and save that in case of distress. I had backed up after the first registry clean, and it became obvious to me I had a contaminated copy after I did a recover operation and the identical anomalies were there.

I'm not convinced that one should mess with the registry unless you really know what you're doing.

I recommend you avoid this product based on two observations: putting spyware on the install disc and 'renting' this as opposed to buying it.

I'm not even sure that it works and am afraid to reinstall to find out. I guess I would rather live with my miseries than create new ones.

I was having some issues with the speed of my computer about a year ago and thought that if I was able to clean up the registry, it would help. So, I purchased PC TOOLS REGISTRY MECHANIC 7.0. The program seems to do what it's supposed to; after I first installed it and cleaned my registry, the speed of my computer increased. Since then, the program has also helped in preventing me from downloading harmful material. For instance there have been times when I was watching a video clip or tried downloading a picture and a notice from REGISTRY MECHANIC popped-up informing me that something was trying to change my registry--a sign that whatever I was watching was malicious. I've read both some really positive and negative reviews about this particular version of REGISTRY MECHANIC. I haven't had any of the negative problems. However, I realize that even though it seems to have helped me, there are better programs out there that do the same thing more quickly and efficiently than REGISTRY MECHANIC does. It's worked for me, but it might not work or be for everyone.

This program is just terrific. It not only fixes many registry errors but does a few other things also. It installs on 3 computers and works great on all three of my machines. I have one with XP and two with Vista.