[kendall.a]

Ok, at the fear of being lynched by this mob, I'm going to say that I will continue to do registry cleaning and use registry cleaning programs; with a caveat.

Intellectually, I know that I have never seen any proof anywhere that registry cleaning benefits or speeds up your computer. However, emotionally, it feels like stuffing a closet full of stuff and then taking parts and pieces of it out but leaving other parts in there. I mean, it's like putting a bicycle in a closet and then taking out the chain and the handlebars, but leaving the wheels and the rest of the bike in there. Why leave it in there if you're never going to use it? Eventually, your closet is going to fill up.

I use registry cleaners to clean out basically leftovers from uninstalled programs (too much junk software out there that do not totally uninstall themselves) and references to install files that I no longer have. (I put downloaded install files into my c:\temp folder. Once they are installed, I normally delete the install files. However, the registry keeps a record of all those install file locations. Why should I keep those?) I NEVER accept everything a registry cleaner says to clean! I learned a long time ago to not do that unless I want to spend a weekend reformatting and reinstalling windows.

So, I use them for very specific and special purposes. I also know not to delete registry entries that I know nothing about. And, I ALWAYS save a copy of my registry before I do any cleaning.

In the end, I "feel" better even though I "know" that there is no solid evidence that I'm making any difference to my computing.