One question I see over and over in our forums and even in our Customer Service department is, “What’s the best registry cleaner ” or “Is it safe to use a registry cleaner”. You’ll find almost as many answers to this question as there are geeks in a Starbucks but make no mistake, there are many registry wreckers out there. I’ll tell you why you need to avoid them, and show you what’s better.
First, let’s talk about what a registry does. Basically the registry is a database which coordinates your systems hardware, software, and operating system. It controls the interaction between all the parts of your computer. It is linear in structure and has been described by some as like a big ball of string. With use, your registry grows in size. It will contain dead or orphaned entries.
It sounds logical that cleaning the registry and reducing it’s size would make things faster and this was basically true in the days of Windows 95 and Windows 98. Back before Windows XP arrived, even small changes to the registry or .ini files could make a big difference in performance. Tweak guides and articles such as 10 Ways to Improve your PCs Performance were all over net. But now things are different. Todays registries are much more refined and operating systems are much better than in the days of Windows 95. Removing orphaned entries is likely to cause Windows to do more searching in it’s attempt to find its way than to speed things up.
All of the single function deep registry cleaners will remove registry keys, but the more you use them the more likely they are to remove needed keys. One thing you may have noticed is that each registry cleaner you use finds different things to remove. Keep changing registry cleaners and you will keep finding things to remove. The sad fact is that the more registry entries you remove the bigger your chance of killing your system. Remove the wrong key and not only can your computer become unstable, it may not even boot. I see it all the time. Show me a system with a deep registry cleaner and I’ll show you an unstable system
Deep cleaning your registry is not the way to a faster system. Most experts agree that in addition to being a huge risk there isn’t any gain in speed or performance with a deep registry cleaner. If you want a faster system, buy faster hardware, that’s been the driving force behind PC sales from the beginning.
WHAT”S BETTER
1. Clean up the bloat installed on Windows by your system’s builder. That would include: never used trial programs like Norton, McAfee, Yahoo Toolbars, Photo suites, and an unending host of others. Every computer sold comes with Trial programs and the manufacturer is paid to have these installed. It’s part of what allows manufacturers to lower their selling price but YOU don’t have to leave them there to rob your resources. Uninstall all the junk. You aren’t using it and you don’t need it.
2. Remove seldom used programs from the StartUp Menu. Sure you have lots of necessary and valued programs installed on your system, that’s what makes computing worthwhile. What you don’t need is all of them starting up and phoning home each time you turn on your system. Open each program, click on the tools or options tab that always hiding somewhere and set the program to NOT start each time Windows starts. It will save you a world of time and speed up your system dramatically.
3. Get rid of any large temp files. Redundant backups, unwanted pictures, and Windows uninstaller packages are all space hogs.
4. You can spend several hours searching and cleaning your system, updating your drivers and even decimating your registry, or you can fix it all properly with one easy click of a button. Get PC Matic.
PC Pitstop began more than 10 years ago by giving you the tools to keep your pc running great. We provided the Free PC Pitstop Full Test and pointed out the weaknesses and strong points of your system.
Today we’re still doing the same thing and now you can have it all done for you. PC Matic is not a registry cleaner. It removes a limited and specific number of broken registry entries and makes specific and limited changes and tweaks. Don’t fall into the bad habit of using a devoted registry wrecker. Each time you do you are a little closer to a system crash.
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