Registry Cleaners

No matter if you’re using your PC to finish that important work report or to browse around while downloading music, odds are you’ve caught a virus before. Even supposedly well protected computers are subject to viruses, and there are certainly enough antivirus programs on the market to choose from.

But is virus protection all you need?

Most antivirus software sites you visit will also have ads featuring registry cleaners – a Windows Registry-specific program that browses your registry, finds useless and potentially harmful files and keys, and cleans things up by deleting them.

A lot of people have one question to ask when it comes to registry cleaners: are they worth it?

The answer is both yes and no, depending on your outlook on things. The truth of the matter is that most registry errors are not detrimental to your PC. Unless a virus has maliciously changed a registry key, in which case an antivirus scan should set the world right again, the most “dangerous” thing false or empty registry entrees do is increase the size of your registry.

Another factor that makes register cleaners seem like they’re not worth the hassle is the actual price of some. Standalone registry cleaners run anywhere from $10 to $50, and they all basically do the same thing by sticking only to your registry.

Some cleaners on the market do promise to tune-up your PC, however, and ultimately make it faster, but this auto-tuning certainly has the potential to cause more harm than good. It can mess with the functionality of vital programs, delete files you didn’t want deleted, and even cause trouble with your BIOS settings.

Overall, a simple registry clean every now and then isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re using your computer for entertainment purposes, then you probably have hundreds of registry errors that could stand to be cleaned. So installing and using a registry cleaner isn’t that big of a deal.

However, you shouldn’t spend money on a standalone piece of software. Find an antivirus program with a registry feature built in, this way you get a two-for-one package and won’t have to spend extra money.

Cleaning your registry once in a while won’t harm your computer and may—take this “may” with a grain of salt—actually help your PC, just don’t rely on them to fix any problem and never use them to auto-tune your computer.