The short answer to this is yes they do work and I use a registry cleaning tool in every computer tune-up and run a scan on nearly every computer that has been infected with a virus or if the customer is having blue screens or other off the wall issues.

In just this last week I have used a registry cleaning product at least a dozen times.  The first issue was because Mcafee was not installing onto a system.  It kept thinking that an older program called Webroot was still on the system.  After looking around and verifying that the client did un-install the program correctly I could see the registry keys needed to be cleaned out and the invalid traces removed.  After running the scan I had no issues installing the product.

I also used the tool on several other computer to eliminate long boot times and the computer not shutting down in a timely fashion.  Now the real question is what is the best registry cleaner.  If you were to ask a hundred techs you will get a few dozen answers.  While there are many leading products the right one for you does depend on your computer skills and needs.

For instance if you do not have a lot of tech skills and you do not fully trust your deleting skills then I would encourage the user to get Regcure.  It’s one of the safe registry cleaners out there and the program makes it very hard to mess things up. It also has a start-up manager tool that makes it very simple to stop programs from auto starting on your computer.  For people with limited computer skills or those who just want to hit a few buttons and be done then it’s a great option.  One down side of this product is it does not work with 64 bit operating systems and does not have a self junk file cleaner.  Yes you could always just use the built in one from Windows but I think they should have their own program.

If you are a little more tech savvy and have the time to spend on learning a new program I would go with Registry Mechanic.  The makers of this program is PCTools.  They have been around a very long time and this tool has many different options.  They also have a program called Desktop Manefesto that is a genuine PC optimization tool.  It also works on 64 bit operating systems.

When your computer seems to slow down, get sluggish, display blue screens, don’t jump to the conclusion of “spyware”, “ad trackers” or “virus”. We all have problems with our computer systems on occasion and, rather than jumping to conclusions, you should examine an issue that is rather common among Windows users. The problem is within the Windows registry and, if this is, in fact, the problem, you need to go in and clean it up in order to get your computer running efficiently again files and pieces of no longer installed programs.

The Windows registry is basically a large database that lives in all MS Windows system that stores all the settings, options, preferences, and hardware options of the user. The registry continues to grow every time you start Windows. Each time your computer starts up, Windows first checks the registry to let every installed application know the preferences, documents, program paths, and a lot more stuff. The registry slowly accumulates junk in this manner, and this slowly leads to a deterioration in your computer’s performance.

When you install and then remove that program, remnants of it will stay in the registry record also.

Here’s where it gets tricky — Once you’ve made a change to the registry, it can’t be undone without special software (or manual editing).

Ever since Windows 95, the majority of programs will intentionally place permanent entries in the registry to preserve licensing information, which are not uninstalled when the program is uninstalled. This left over “stuff” continues to build up until a registry cleaner application is employed to get rid of it.

Another thing to keep in mind, some computer malfunctions can further screw up your registry.

Doing a manual edit of the registry could be a disaster and is not a job the average computer user should try. Think of it this way: the most desireable registry is always an unmolested registry.

A lot of web sites offer a “Free Registry Scan”. So, is a free registry scan a safe thing to do? My answer is a definite: “Depends…” I suggest that you avoid – at all costs – all of the readily available “free” registry cleaners. Such “free” registry cleaners are many times nothing more than a vehicle for a variety of very dangerous viruses and malware that will severely damage your computer. Alternatively, most of the legitimate registry cleaner software companies offer you the power to run a free scan of your system before your purchase their software.

The criteria of a top-notch registry cleaner

Registry cleaning programs are supposed to check the registry, locate, and delete any unnecessary entries in there. But that’s the ideal scenario. The reality is, there IS no perfect registry cleaner. All registry cleaners have complex formulas which assist them “identify” what is an important key and which is junk. There’s no method of knowing if removing a registry entry will impact system performance in subtle ways. Therefore, a good registry cleaner should let the user to backup your registry before you start repairing the registry.

Here is the manual way of backing-up your registry nice and easy:

Click Start – Run
Type in the words – regedit (which will open the registry editor window)
From the box, hit File – Export
Save it as something you’ll remember, preferably including the date

If you observe, there are actually four kinds of registry cleaners:

Deep scan registry cleaners
Surface scan registry cleaners
Balanced scan registry cleaners
Scam registry cleaners

A deep cleaner can be dangerous to your computer since it may delete some important registry keys by being overzealous. A light scanning program, isn’t much use either; it simply skims the surface. A bogus registry cleaner is dangerous, since it is malware cloaked as a registry cleaner. Do not download anything just because it’s free!

The “best” registry cleaner is one that:

Defragments your registry
Offers a backup of the registry
Asks you if you would like to delete various entries and provides alternatives
Perform other functions in addition to registry work

Instead of just suffering with the slow speed of your system and the never-ending system failures, you can, in fact, do something about it. Be smart and get yourself a quality registry cleaner. It will help your system run as smoothly and quickly as the day it was brand new.

Sometimes the registry gets loaded down with unwanted and unneeded instructions, and may need to be cleaned with a registry cleaner. A registry cleaner scans your registry and identifies broken links, files, and any other information that is not needed by your PC. These may even be damaging entries that take up disk space and slow down your registry’s operations. In this context, a registry cleaner should be used every few weeks, depending on how often you use your PC.

There are many different types of registry cleaner available, and each one operates differently. You may need to look at the choice of registry cleaners that are available to choose the one you think will help you most. Equally, it is a good idea to seek advice to find out what is the best registry cleaner for your computer’s set up.

There are many sites that compare and rate the top registry cleaners on the market, and these make your decision much easier. The best registry cleaners will give you the option to make backups of your registry first before making any changes. Some of the top registry cleaners are Registry Easy, RegCure, Registry Smart, Registry Fix, and error nuker.

Installing a registry cleaner is very safe and easy, and the instructions on how to use them are extremely simple to follow. Once launched, the scanning process will take approximately five minutes to scan the registry and then display the information the cleaner believes is redundant and not needed, giving you the option to remove it. Once finished, your computer will run smoother and operate more efficiently.