Computer and Software Support


Should a registry cleaner be used

Each person has their own thoughts about registry cleaners but here is my two cents on them.

It is fine to use a registry cleaner if you make the decisions on what it does and not allow it to make the decisions. The software is only as smart as the programmer that wrote the software. The programmer(s) cannot write the software to deal with every situation that the cleaner may come across.

Each registry cleaner that is on the market operates differently but most or all of them will scan your system registry for items it feels can be deleted. When it is done scanning, it can do one of two options. First option is to automatically execute what the software wants to do. The second option is to display the items the program recommends to be deleted. The user then decides if he or she wants to delete the item.

It is my opinion that you should set the software to ask your permission before it makes any changes. MacAfee anti-virus software is a good example of why you should review the actions a program wants to carry out. In April 2010, MacAfee recognized a legitimate windows file as a virus and deleted it. when this happened, the system would start crashing and not work properly.

I have a program that I purchased that at one time was being detected as a virus. It was a macro program and it was safe. If I had my software to automatically decide the actions it wants to do, I would have lost that program. I also have some batch files and programs that I have written to fix computers. Because of the actions my programs do, it has similar characteristics of a virus and my anti-spyware and anti-virus programs wants to delete them as well. When it comes up with the warning, I tell the anti-virus and anti-spyware to trust the program so it won't detect them again. If I had it automatically carry out it's decisions, I would have lost those programs.

Let the registry cleaner scan your system and report what it finds. Take what it finds and research the results. Then when you say it is OK to delete a file, tell it to delete the file. The program is not fool proof.

The internet is full of information on files. Just put the file the registry cleaner finds in Google, Bing or any other search engine and let it search for the item. The results will tell you about the item. If you still are unsure if you can delete the item, go into a computer forum such as SmartComputing.com's forum and ask. Someone in the forum should be able to help you. There are many other forums on the internet that will help you as well.

Important!!! If you decide to delete the file (either by making the decision yourself or allow the program to make the decision), you need to back up the files that it wants to delete in the event something goes wrong. If you don't back the file up and something happens, you may not be able to get back into windows without taking drastic measures.

Important!!! Not only should you back up the files the registry cleaner wants to delete but you should also do a periodic back up of all the files you do not want to loose on your system.

Here are other pages that may help you as well.