What's the best registry cleaner?

Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.

Registry cleaners are widely available. When do you need one? Why? In general, a registry cleaner isn't needed and when it is, shouldn't be used frequently.

What would be the best software to buy to fix and clean the registry for Windows XP Professional?

•

There's a wide variety of opinions on registry cleaners. Many people believe that they're important tools to keep your system running smoothly.

My opinion's a little different.

•

I rarely use a registry cleaner. In fact, I've never actually felt that I've needed to use a registry cleaner. And I definitely install and play with random things on my machine on a regular basis.

My fundamental belief is that the best registry cleaner is no registry cleaner at all. Most people simply don't need it, and don't need to run one.

"My fundamental belief is that the best registry cleaner is no registry cleaner at all."

Many people reach for a registry cleaner when an application is having problems, or when Windows is misbehaving. The problem is that these types of situations rarely respond to registry "cleaning" - it often requires application or Windows-specific resolution.

So when is registry cleaning appropriate? Besides rarely?

I would identify two cases:

As one of the last steps in an attempt to speed up Windows or if nothing else has really helped.
As one of the last steps in an attempt to resolve Windows or applications crashes that nothing else has helped.

In both cases, I consider it one of the last resorts because while it might help, it's just not that likely to help much.

But as I said, there are those that disagree with this position. And, to be honest, registry cleaners are unlikely to do any damage. Naturally you should take care to always be backed up properly, but unless you explicitly select advanced or aggressive options meant for the more advanced (or aggressive) users, you're unlikely to hurt anything with one of the recommended registry cleaners. It can happen, but it's rare.

So if you're going to use a registry cleaner, what tool to use?

There are plenty of tools out there. Rather than duplicate his effort, last year Fred Langa compared several registry cleaners: Langa Letter: Testing 10 Windows 'Registry Cleaning' Software Packs. I'll simply endorse his conclusion: EasyCleaner as a free solution, and Macecraft's JV16PowerTools, an inexpensive commercial solution that includes not only a registry cleaner but an entire suite of maintenance utilities. (Full disclosure: Macecraft is an occasional advertiser in Leo's Answers Newsletter. That being said, this is the package I own, and I purchased my copy just like anyone else.)

Article C2710 - July 2, 2006

Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed. After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.

Not what you needed?

You may also be interested in:

Internet Safety: How do I keep my computer safe on the internet? Internet Safety is difficult and yet critical. Here are the seven key steps to internet safety - steps to keep your computer safe on the internet.
What is 'defragging', and why should I do it? Defragging is short for defragmenting which rearranges the layout of files on your hard disk for faster access.