What is a Registry Cleaner?

If your computer isn’t nearly as fast as it once was, it’s likely the victim of time. Fresh out of the box, computers are generally impressive with their performance. Unfortunately, that initial burst of speed is often short lived as new programs and hardware are added. Brand new computers are fast because they don’t have much installed on them yet. As you add more software and devices, the available resources, which were once plentiful, are spread thinner. Not only are resources being used, new software and hardware installations tend to add more information to the Windows registry. At first, this information is useful but as time goes by and programs and hardware replaced, the remnants become excess baggage. Registry entries may even instruct your computer to perform tasks that it simply can’t perform because the hardware is no longer installed, resulting in unnecessary delays and error messages. A registry cleaner is a utility that goes into the Windows registry and cleans out all of the obsolete, incorrect, and useless instructions.

Benefits of Using a Registry Cleaner

Using a registry cleaner to clean the registry is preferred to manually editing it. Not only is manual registry cleaning difficult and time consuming, it’s extremely dangerous. By allowing a registry cleaner to do the work for you, you get all of the benefits of registry cleaning with the risks. Among the benefits are:

• Improved overall computer performance

• Fewer computer errors

• Faster startup times

Which Registry Cleaner is Right for Your Computer?

Choosing a utility to clean the Windows registry requires some careful consideration. The first issue is that of trust. Look for a registry cleaner from a reputable software developer and download products only from sites that you trust. Unfortunately, malware developers love to sell consumers "useful" utilities that aren’t really so useful after all. By choosing a software developer with a solid track record and downloading only from reputable websites, you can avoid becoming the next victim of a scam or malware.

Using a Registry Cleaner

Once you’ve found a reputable registry cleaner product, you’ll need to purchase and download it. Rates vary from one vendor to the next, but generally speaking, these registry utilities aren’t terribly expensive. After installing the software, you’ll then need to launch it and instruct it to do its work. This may take the form of a "scan now" or "start" button. To be on the safe side, set a System Restore point on your computer so that you can roll back any undesirable changes if the product that you use does not have an "undo" or "backup and restore" function.

How Often to Run a Registry Cleaner

Running a registry cleaner regularly ensures that your computer’s registry is always lean and clean. Plan on running your registry cleaner utility at least once per month, if not weekly. It only takes a few seconds to click the button and you’ll enjoy improved performance that doesn’t have the chance to degrade. Many products have a scheduling option so that you can set up a schedule and forget about it.