By: Kelly | Last updated January 12, 2021 
The Windows registry is the most vital part of your PC, because it acts like a large archive where all the settings are stored, including Windows settings, hardware, the settings of all the programs that are installed on the device and so on. You can think of this huge database as the DNA of your PC, which is why it is so important to be kept organized, clean and “healthy”.
All the activities we perform on our computers leave a mark on the Windows registry: all the installations and uninstallations, updates, deletions and so on. Every time you uninstall programs you no longer want in your PC, small spaces are formed inside the registry. If your PC takes a longer time to open an app or to start, you might want to consider using a registry cleaner.
What does a registry cleaner do?
A registry cleaner is a complex utility software that works by scanning your Windows registry in order to identify all the registry errors in your computer: invalid registry entries, missing or corrupt entries, leftovers from malware infections that infiltrated in your system and were subsequently removed and so on.
Registry cleaners find all these problems and help you clean and repair the Windows registry, improving the performance of your PC.
What can a registry cleaner clean?
Registry cleaners focus on all the files in your PC that are no longer useful and were once part of a program that was installed and then uninstalled. They will never delete entries that are important for the proper functioning of your system. If they would, that can cause malfunctions in the entire operating system.
There are many file types that can be cleaned by registry cleaners: libraries, file extensions, DLLs (dynamic link libraries), sound bits and files, Windows services, installers, app paths and more.
Before any of these entries are deleted, the registry cleaner will ask for your permission, so you can manually choose what gets to be deleted or not.
What registry cleaner should you use?
While Microsoft does not offer a registry cleaner, there are a plethora of apps on the internet that you can use. A lot of them are free. However, that doesn’t mean you should just download the first program you find. A lot of these apps that you can find online (especially the ones that are free) contain malware such as viruses, spyware, adware and so on. When you download the registry cleaner, you also risk downloading the malware with it and, instead of fixing your PC, you risk infecting it even more.
The best thing to do is go with a reputable registry cleaner, based on research, ratings and reviews of the product. Only download the registry cleaner from safe sources, preferably directly from the official website of the provider.
Some great options to consider are: RegClean Pro, Advanced SystemCare PRO, Registry Reviver, CCleaner.
All these are trustworthy apps and they offer additional optimizing tools that can boost the performance of your PC: disk defragmenters, driver updaters, malware removal, a startup optimizing feature and more.
