Registry Cleaning Overview

First things first: let’s answer the question, “What is a computer registry?” The Windows registry organizes and keeps tabs on different hardware and software components. It is, in effect, the nerve center of your computer operating system. A database stores the configurations of the many software and/or hardware programs installed in or attached to your computer (such as user profiles). When the registry fails or begins to fail, the computer will seem unresponsive, slow, and/or erratic. In the worst-case scenario (if your registry is not cleaned or repaired in a timely manner) a damaged or over-loaded registry will lead to a total operations failure. In this case your system will shut down and you will not be able to reboot. Period. Fortunately there are many registry cleaning and repair options to help you out before your computer reaches the point of no return. At the same time, however, the registry cleaners available are by no means infallible.

Registry Cleaning 101

Before we even begin to get into the nuts and bolts of registry cleaning, let’s be clear: though it can be important for the smooth operation of your computer, cleaning your registry may (potentially at least) cause more problems than it will fix. Don’t blindly search the internet for registry cleaners – of which there are hundreds if not thousands out there – and go with the first one you see. A lot of the registry cleaning “review” websites are little more than paid advertisements for the companies that want you to buy their products. So beware! Don’t be afraid to ask around. Only believe reviews from credible sources.

A quick perusal of the internet will show that many people do not, in fact, recommend registry cleaning at all. However, on a personal level, I myself have used online registry cleaners and found that my computer operated much more smoothly and quickly than it did before I cleaned it. But that’s my computer, not yours, and it took a lot of research for me to figure out what sites to trust and what products to use.

How Registry Cleaners Work

To break it down further, computer registries can be cleaned in two ways:

1. Manually.
2. Using registry cleaning software.

1. The manual approach requires a degree of computer savvy beyond what most non-experts are capable of. The difficulty here is that in cleaning the registry a person unaccustomed to the language of registry entries could feasibly remove essential components from the computer without realizing it.

2. Using registry cleaning software is the preferred method for people who do not feel comfortable with the language of registries. In other words, this applies to most people. What registry cleaners do is scan over the registry and look for incomplete or missing file references.
The problem is, as many heated internet chat rooms will tell you, unless you’re careful, the registry cleaner might not recognize that a certain item is important and erase it. This is why you need to shop around and do some research. Don’t just settle for the one the product that promises to find the greatest number of errors; find the one that’s ideal for your system.

Hopefully this overview has been helpful. If nothing else, I hope it provides you with two essential concepts: that there are a lot options out there for registry cleaning, and, secondly, that you need to take your time in choosing the right one.