Sunday, August 15, 2010

Do You Think Registry Cleaners Necessary?

By Jose Watinks

Differing opinions exist about the need for using registry cleaners to boost the performance of computers. While some reviews state they are a necessary program for optimizing performance and speedy startup, others state that they do more damage than good. These naysayers state that they are not just unnecessary, but can cause more harm than good.

What a registry cleaner does is scan the computer registry for invalid or corrupt files and unused or outdated drivers, look for missing file associations and remove any problems it encounters. In theory, you will have a quicker loading computer, with programs running faster and smoother. Is this really true, and can these types of programs fulfill their promises? Do they do all this automatically, or do they give you the option of choosing the right actions?

Some experts claim that using a cleaner for your registry is a dangerous step. It can remove files that are actually necessary, such as DLL files, causing your system to crash or programs to malfunction. At best, they see the use of a cleaner gaining a bit of disk space and possible speedier start-up. Most computers today have enough disk space that the possible gain of a few kilobytes is irrelevant. One reviewer has even gone to the extent of calling registry cleaning programs 'snake oil'.

Questions arise about the information that free trials of cleaner give. Possibly, once you have been told you have hundreds of errors in your registry affecting performance, you are going to want to buy the program that can clean that 'mess' up. You may just find, instead, that you have now lost some necessary files and the functionality is impaired. You may even find that the computer speed has slowed because the registry has been fragmented.

Keeping your registry clean, program developers claim, will require scheduled maintenance. What they don't say is that a few orphaned files or extra entries in the registry of your computer will not noticeably affect its functioning. You may even notice that the cleaner has marked and isolated needed files, labeled them as bad, and made them dysfunctional or removed them.

Manual repair or alteration of your registry is a much safer way to go, if you are experiencing a problem. If your computer skills are not up to the task, then go hire an expert, or just leave it. With scant real data behind their claims, you should not trust software programs reviews.

Instead of using registry cleaners, start with a clean system. Install only licensed programs, and keep the original programs so you can reinstall them if necessary. Avoid installing trial software and uninstalling it. Back up your data, especially the critical stuff. Keep your anti-virus and malaware systems up to date and running. Run disk cleanup and defragment your system on a regular basis. By taking these basic steps, you will never need to think about cleaning out your registry.

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