Best Free Registry Cleaner [1]
Introduction
There is a lot of controversy over how well Windows registry cleaners work. The makers claim their programs remove unneeded settings from the registry and some claim to remove "errors" that could potentially cause problems. While some people swear by them, others blame registry cleaners for their Windows system becoming unrecoverable. If you use a registry cleaner that causes a problem you should be prepared to restore from a backup or to reinstall Windows.
This ever-present risk of problems is why the "Best Registry Cleaner" is the one that causes the fewest problems, rather than the one that finds the greatest number of registry issues. Although none of the registry cleaners I recommend here have caused me a problem I have not elected to have an Editor's Choice in this category because I consider that all the registry cleaners fail to provide clear guidance to make registry cleaning a well-informed choice. None of the products properly explain what they are suggesting should be removed and none clearly indicate the risks of such cleaning.
The registry is a database or a large index of information that is needed for Windows to run. It mainly stores settings for anything Windows needs to know about: startup settings, program settings, installed components, network connections including the Internet, printer settings, mobile phone and tablet connections, and many other details you're probably not interested in. Just remember that there are lots of these entries. When you first install Windows it already included many settings that you might need: about 150,000 in Windows XP, close to 380,000 in Vista, and nearly 450,000 in Windows 7 (all 32-bit versions).
You can think of the registry as a large tree with many branches and leaves. The data values or settings are like the leaves and the branches are the keys or indexes to those settings. A main branch can have many smaller branches each of which can have many more branches and all of them can have many leaves. Using that same picture, a registry cleaner trims the tree by removing some of the branches and leaves that aren't needed or are damaged.
I tested these products by scanning and cleaning the registry using the least and most aggressive settings. None of the recommended products caused me any problems in any of the versions I have tested in the last three years. But I have not tested them against the wide range of applications that you may be using. I did look at the specific keys and values that each application removed. I found that there is no consensus among the application programmers about what should be in a light clean versus a heavy clean. So I have not provided an evaluation of their comparative cleaning capabilities because it is largely meaningless without a clear understanding of how the registry is used. That may be provided in a later article which explains the risks of cleaning different types of registry keys and values.
Read also Do you need a registry clearer? at the end of this page.
Rated Products
Platforms/Download: [field_blackberry_download] | Mac OS [6] | Windows (Desktop) [7] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 4/5 |
Read more... [5]
Platforms/Download: Windows (Desktop) [12] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 4/5 |
Read more... [11]
[13]
Little Registry Cleaner [13] [14]
Like the majority of registry cleaners In terms of speed and features
Platforms/Download: Windows (Desktop) [15] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 3/5 |
Read more... [14]
[16]
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner [16] [17]
Clean and repair registry problems in more versions of Windows
Platforms/Download: Windows (Desktop) [18] | [8]
Version reviewed: n/a
Gizmos Freeware [9]
| Our Rating: 3/5 |
Read more... [17]
Related Products and Links
You might want to check out these articles before selecting or using a registry cleaner:
- What Everybody Should Know About the Windows Registry [19]
- Learn How to Use the Windows Registry Editor (Regedit) in One Easy Lesson [20]
- How to Backup the Windows Registry [21]
- Deeper into the Windows Registry [22]
- Best Free PC Cleaner [23]
- Do we really need Windows registry cleaners? [24]
Do You Need A Registry Cleaner?
Windows users do not usually need to use a registry cleaner
- Each new version of Windows brings further improvements to the performance of the registry. The problems that registry cleaners may resolve become less significant for each new version of Windows.
- Registry cleaners hardly make a dent in the registry size as most would not find even 1,000 entries to remove. That's a lot less than 1% change so don't expect a noticeable difference in performance.
- They increase the risk of damaging the registry so that Windows will not work at all and you will have to restore your system from a backup or reinstall your system.
- A lot of advertisements for registry and system cleaners are malicious or useless programs. Make sure that you get a reputable program from a reputable download site.
If your Windows system is running slow then there other things you should try first
Each of the following actions can improve your systems performance ten to one hundred times more than registry cleaning.
- Use a Windows system cleaner [23] that removes temporary files and the like from your system. They can produce much greater improvements in performance.
- Disable the loading of memory resident programs and services that run all the time. This frees up memory and processing power. System cleaners will usually have tools to help you to do this.
- Uninstall unneeded programs. System cleaners will also have tools to help you to do this.
- Add more memory (RAM) to your computer if it does not have enough.
- Consider adding a second hard disk drive as can be used to improve performance.
If you do use a registry cleaner then always have good backups
It is absolutely essential that you backup your registry before using a registry cleaner. For most users the easiest way to do backup the registry is to create a system checkpoint. An even better way is to use a drive-imaging program to create a snapshot of Windows, which you can use for system recovery if needed. As an added layer of protection consider using the excellent ERUNT [25] utility which backs up and restores the registry files.
Features that should be in a registry cleaner
- Backup and restore of changes. Most reputable products perform a backup automatically before scanning or making changes. Some like CCleaner prompt you and give you an option. CCleaner only saves the issues rather than the entire registry but some will do a full registry backup or a System Restore point.
- More system cleaning options. Most registry cleaners are one part of a suite of cleaning tools in a system cleaner. CCleaner is an example of one program with a suite of functions whereas some are a suite of separate programs with a common menu. But if you want a stand-alone registry cleaner then we also recommend a couple of options.
- The ability to select which categories of issues will be scanned. Some cleaners like PowerTools Lite also allow you to explicitly set your level of risk.
- A review of suggested changes so you can confirm what will be done before anything is removed. Some registry cleaners like Wise Registry Cleaner and PowerTools Lite also provide you with a measure of the "severity" of each error. That will usually do as a measure of the risk if you get it wrong.
- Meaningful descriptions of the issues so you can exercise an informed right of veto. However, this is the most serious weakness of registry cleaners: they just don't make it easy to know how risky any changes are. Some programs provide links to more information but they don't usually put it all in plain English.
- The ability to jump into RegEdit. If you're into registry cleaning then you're unlikely to be put off by the additional risk of damaging the registry yourself. The opportunity to see the actual registry entry at issue is particularly useful to advanced users.
- An option to export Registry errors allows you to more easily document what you've done, keep a copy of what you've removed or compare two different cleaners.
One feature that is not on my list is defragmenting the registry. It sounds like defragmenting files on a disk drive but doesn't provide the same benefit. The registry properly exists only when it is assembled in memory because some parts are never saved to disk, they are always volatile. This means that there is no direct relationship between organization of the registry hive files on disk and the performance of the registry hives in memory.
Editor
This software category is in need of an editor. If you would like to give something back to the freeware community by taking it over, check out this page [26] for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here [27].
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