Thursday, August 12, 2010

Do Experts Believe Registry Cleaners Truly Essential?

By Jose Watinks

Differing opinions exist about the need for using registry cleaners to boost the performance of computers. While some reviews state they are a necessary program for optimizing performance and speedy startup, others state that they do more damage than good. These naysayers state that they are not just unnecessary, but can cause more harm than good.

What a registry cleaner does is scan the computer registry for invalid or corrupt files and unused or outdated drivers, look for missing file associations and remove any problems it encounters. In theory, you will have a quicker loading computer, with programs running faster and smoother. Is this really true, and can these types of programs fulfill their promises? Do they do all this automatically, or do they give you the option of choosing the right actions?

Using a registry cleaner can be dangerous, according to some experts. It may remove files that are necessary for programs to load or perform properly. It can even cause a full system crash. They state that the best results may be the gain of a few kilobytes of disk space, and maybe a faster start up. However, with the storage and disk space on most computers that is a negligible result. Are these programs just 'snake oil, ' as one expert reviewer has stated?

Many registry cleaners offer a free trial by way of a system scan. This is to induce you to buy the program to clean up the hundreds of errors found. Once you purchase it and run it, you just may find your computer speedier. However, you also may find it functions even less optimally that before. The program may have removed some necessary and critical entries, causing your new problems. In any case, you may even notice it runs slower, because the registry deletions have fragmented it.

Most of the registry cleaners on the market claim that you will need to run the program periodically in order to keep your registry clean and free of errors. However, just because there are a few orphaned entries and files, they do not affect your computer's speed or performance in a noticeable way. It may even mark some 'good' files as bad, and schedule them for removal.

Experts advise that if you feel the need to fix your registry, you should do it manually. If you don't have the skill, then either leave it alone or hire an expert to do it for you. Do not rely on registry cleaners that may have received some good reviews, but have little in the way of real hard data to back up their claims.

As you begin with a new and clean computer system, take a few basic steps to keep it that way. Use only licensed programs, and keep back up disks so you can reinstall or correct any problems that occur. Make frequent backups of critical data. Always have a good anti-virus system installed, keeping it updated at all times, and running. Don't install and uninstall trial software. Use the disk cleanup and defragment programs regularly. With these steps in place, you will not feel the need to use registry cleaners. - 2361

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