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Computers are a significant part of our life. Everything we do these days is based on computers, and Windows is the most widely used operating system globally. As we keep using our computer, it keeps getting slower day by day and then starts lagging. This is where people get a new computer or upgrades to their previous one.
Most Windows systems start lagging from their third year if not appropriately maintained. Now, there may be a lot of reasons why your PC is getting slower, and you might have tried resolving a lot of them by yourself. The hardware components are usually not the reason since they are made to last longer than just 4-5 years. The problem lies mainly in the software and operating system components.
It can be because your registry is getting complicated, your programs are overpowering your RAM, and there are many background apps. But mostly the reason in the Windows Registry. Let’s talk about the Windows Registry a little more.
Note: Though we talk about registry clean below, you might also be interested in taking a look at some of our other lists below
The registry is probably the most vital configuration of the Windows operating system. It is something you should never mess up by yourself. It stores every little detail of your system, hardware, or software. Every component of the system is logged in the registry, and this is how Windows can identify and read the file and storage locations.
The registry stores product keys for software, windows, memory locations, extensions, program settings, etc. Since the registry stores so much information, it can develop many complications. Over time, when the amount of data stored keeps increasing, working with the registry becomes slower for the other PC components.
Using our PC over time makes the registry cluttered with a lot of unwanted information, redundant, and harmful. Cleaning it prevents your PC from slowing down, lessens the system errors you face, and even protects your data online. Let’s discuss how this cluttering happens and the related benefits of removing them.
A lot of data on the registry is already useless, credit to the pre-installed software, which we never use. Also, over time redundant keys are created in the registry; this creates complications while reading and writing data. Many times even updates get errors due to redundancy in the registry. Cleaning the registry of such key sets makes it error-free and hence faster.
Also, fewer data in the registry means a faster system boot and fewer startup issues. Thus, smoothing your experience.
Data-stealing programs are often registered with the registry, and even deleting the related application does not remove the corresponding registry data. Hackers might use this undeleted information to steal data from your PC without you knowing. Moreover, such techniques can even escape antiviruses and antimalware programs.
Therefore you must clear the registry of such clutter. This saves your data from getting exposed to the person and the internet. Or else it can be a ‘party’ for the hackers.
The registry stores a lot of information regarding website cookies and cache, which leaves you exposed to numerous sites. If you have already made these mistakes of accepting cookies without reading the terms, it is better you keep your registry clean.
Also, removing cache and cookie data from the registry makes your surfing speed somewhat fast and smooth.
The registry has thousands of data sets, and deleting even one might cause a catastrophe for your computer. So before making any changes to the registry, create a backup of the registry. You can edit the registry by yourself, but it is pretty technical, so unless you understand deeply what you are doing, you shouldn’t mess up with your registry and use registry cleaners instead. A list of ways you can clean the registry are:
Disk Cleanup is a Windows tool that helps in cleaning disk space. It is not designed for cleaning the registry. However, when the disk cleanup deletes the selected files, the related registry entries are also removed. Therefore, it is pretty helpful in cleaning the registry. Moreover, running disk cleanup clears many useless files from your PC and frees your disk space.
Here’s how you can use disk cleanup, but first, you need to know how you can open disk cleanup.
With any of the above, the disk cleanup window will pop up.
This process will take time, depending on your PC’s speed, disk speed, and the size of the selected files. Once the process is completed, Restart your system for better results.
DISM is a bulti-in command-line tool in Windows. It is used to repair and reconfigure packages and settings. Its primary purpose is to resolve errors, but it can also improve the registry.
To run DISM, you need an elevated command prompt, i.e., a command prompt with administrator privileges. For this, it is better to open the command line using Start.
The process will start scanning all the system files for issues and fixing the detected problematic files. During the process, the registry is also checked, and therefore, any problems with the information will be patched up.
You can always clear your registry manually from the registry windows. This process is simple; you only need to go through hundreds of thousands of data sets and select those you don’t need. Don’t worry, that was sarcastic, do try this method if you don’t understand what each particular key and its value are for. Still, here are the steps to do so. First, you will need to know how to open the registry.
Opening Windows Registry is accessible, and you can do so in many ways. However, here is the easiest option:
The Windows Registry will open up.
An alternative method:
This will open up the Windows Registry.
Remember: Windows Registry is an administrative tool, so opening it through any method will require administrator permission.
Now that you have opened the registry let’s help you clean it.
That’s it; the key is deleted. However, it is just one information set that you deleted. Do the same for all the sets you don’t need.
I personally am not suggesting anyone use this method. I suggest you stay clear from it. It doesn’t matter how tech-savvy you are; cleaning the registry using this method is dangerous and a waste of time.
Use this method only when you need to delete a particular set from a registry location that you know about ultimately.
Remember to back up your registry before Windows Registry before making any changes. Backing up makes sure that you have your registry of the state your PC was running on. A step-by-step detail of the process is mentioned in the FAQ section, so check it out.
3rd-party cleaners are specially developed utilities used to clean the registry. They use specially coded algorithms to improve the registry. There are a lot of such utility tools in the market. To help with this, here is a list of some of them that you can use to clean up your registry.
CCleaner is more than just a top-level registry editor. It is an easy-to-use tool and has a clean UI. Besides cleaning the registry, it can also solve complications in the registry. It also backs up your registry before operating. Moreover, it solves other PC complications, cleans up cache files, does health checks, and provides driver updates. It is a completely automated tool with manual options too.
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JetClean is a registry cleaner developed by BlueSprig. It is fast in working with the registry and has a straightforward UI. It can also be installed as a portable product. Moreover, you can run JetClean directly from your removable drive. Besides being a fast registry cleaner, it cleans your recycle bin, Internet cache, clipboard, cookies, auto-fill data, etc.
It offers options to choose the registry parts you want to clean. It also optimizes startup programs.
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Advanced SystemCare by IObit is an AI tool that makes cleaning your PC easier. It speeds up your PC and protects your data. It is one of the best options for non-techy people since you don’t need to see the scan results due to its advanced AI process.
However, it does not have a registry cleaner separately; you will need to manually unselect all the other options and select only ‘Registry Clean’. If you want to clean different parts, you can choose as many as you like. It also provides firewall protection and real-time PC Tune-up to prevent any lagging.
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Registry Cleaners are not just registry cleaners; what this means is that they are not just dedicated to cleaning the registry. They have a lot of other purposes, like cleaning cache, unused drive data, and much more.
I do use PC cleaning tools and find them pretty helpful. It, however, depends if you would like it or not. If you will use such tools only to clean the registry, I recommend using the free version and buying only if you find a positive difference.
However, there is a significantly less chance of needing the premium versions; free ones do most cleaning jobs.
Registry cleaners are utility tools that help remove redundant and unnecessary information from the Windows Registry.
Registry cleaners scan the registry using its background algorithms and find the issues. After this, they present you with a list of the problems detected, and if you proceed, they resolve all the issues, primarily by deleting the corresponding key.
Many registry cleaners do nothing; instead, they cause more load on the system than optimize it. However, many do what they promise. There are a lot of worthy utilities in the online market which you can use.
Backing up Windows Registry is a small and simple task; any non-tech-savvy user can do it. Here are the steps:
You can save it anywhere you want, but we suggest keeping it on your PC and external storage. This makes sure you have access to the registry backup if your PC suffers complications. Moreover, please do not change the backup file extension, or it will become useless and might get corrupted.
Though the cleaning tools hardly make the mistake of deleting something vital, it is still necessary to take precautions before cleaning the registry.
You should backup your registry. Some cleaners automatically back up the registry; however, some do not. In such cases, it is better to make a copy manually. Backup is necessary to roll back your system to a good state if something unfortunate happens.
Though you can run the registry cleaner whenever you feel like it, it is not a great practice to always run it for your PC’s health. Running cleaners without having any issues in the registry created an unnecessary load on the system, which is not good.
Some hints for when you should run it: the startup is slow, file upload and download take more than usual, the computer is lagging, and there are unexpected error messages.
The registry is an essential component of the Windows operating system, one you shouldn’t play with. It is responsible for almost every operation on the system and therefore cleaning it is also extremely vital.
The registry has thousands of different data sets. Therefore, the registry is too complicated to clean manually one-by-one, unless you understand the depth of the Windows Operating system. Cleaning up the registry will probably solve your problem; however, the underlying issue might be something else in some cases.
You can clean the registry with any method you like. However, using cleaning tools makes it much more manageable. The reason is that they are built for this purpose, while in the case of other tools, registry cleaning is the second or even the third on the list of priorities. With the hope that you got all you wanted and your PC gets error-free and faster, let’s bid Goodbye!!
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