The computer industry has often been criticized for willfully exploiting the ignorance and lack of technical ability of the average computer owner in order to profit. From the computer repair shops that manage to find a significant number of expensive hardware problems to overpriced software that doesn’t do what it supposed to, the latest scandal in this woefully long list has been registry cleaner software. One of the most frustrating aspects of this form of software is that there is no direct evidence either way as to whether or not it is indeed a reliable option and even industry experts are struggling to reach some kind of consensus between themselves.

Many registry cleaner applications (and supporters thereof) argue that they are an effective and worthwhile application because they will help speed up the computer by removing the associated clutter and invalid shortcuts, paths, and registry keys that will eventually accumulate within a registry over the course of time. This is a true claim….but there is a rather significant qualification attached to it in that in order for a computer to be slowed down to any ostensible amount, the registry would have to be extremely large indeed. Given the developments and advancements that have been made and implemented with the modern versions of the Windows Operating Systems, the problem of bloated registries slowing down overall performance has been significantly curtailed meaning that it is little more than a painful but thankfully distant memory.

It should be noted that yes, registry cleaner software applications do indeed remove unnecessary content from the registry. However, in all likeliness, the amount of content actually removed is not liable to exceed much more than a few kilobytes and so the benefits of such a cleanup is likely to be marginal if not negligible. When the potential benefit (which is marginal and remote) is measured against the very real potential risk of system instability and crashing as a result of the editing of the registry of the machine, it would seem that registry cleaner software is best left alone.

Many novice computer users associate registry cleaners with specialized virus and malware removal kits and the reality is that they are not.

The grim reality is that more sophisticated malware is designed in such a way that it can easily and speedily re infect the computer all over again through a variety of different system vectors. The malware will then lodge itself in strategic areas and locations so that the removal or editing of the malware will also result in critical system processes also being altered in some way, meaning that the user has to contend with using a compromised machine which is infected with malware, or attempt to defuse it which may end up activating it. Root kits which are special forms of malware which are specifically designed to infiltrate and embed themselves deep within the very heart of the system also cannot be safely or competently removed by means of registry cleaner programs.

More perceptive readers may have noticed a potential means of covert infiltration of computers by means of unscrupulous registry cleaner applications, and in that regard they are dead right. There has been a major increase in the number of viruses and Trojan horses which masquerade as registry programs (either as cleaners or backups) which then cause a major amount of havoc. Ranging from the merely irritating to the downright fatal, the user is strongly urged to ensure that they exercise a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to downloading and using registry cleaner applications. Make sure that when you do use such software, that it is only from a reputable vendor.