Is your personal computer getting slower and slower? You may need a registry cleaner. Will that really help? If so, where can I get a good free registry cleaner to do the job?

The short answer is: Yes, your computer will run better if you occasionally clean your Windows system registry. What exactly is the Windows registry?

The registry is a database in where your applications and Windows system components store and retrieve their configuration data. The data stored in the registry can include Windows system settings, hardware configuration, user preferences, file associations, system policies, and installed software..

Before we go on, we should make this clear: You should not edit registry data that does not belong to your application unless it is absolutely necessary. If there is an error in the registry, your system may not function properly.

Because of the possibility that information n the registry may become corrupt, or incomplete, this is why you need to use a registry cleaner. Let's say for instance that you uninstall an application, but the information in the registry isn't completely deleted on the uninstall. If you computer is still looking for information that isn't there any longer, it will use resources to find it, and slow the computer down. This is called an "orphaned" registry entry or key. In general, by using a registry cleaner will make your registry smaller, eliminate those orphaned keys, and make your computer faster.

It's not uncommon for the registry to grow extremely large over time, which can slow down the computer's startup and can make it unstable. You can end up with lots of unnecessary registry entries that are created when you install or remove software and hardware on your computer. Sometimes an "orphaned" registry entry can confuse Windows during startup and cause a delay. In general, slimming down your registry will make Windows run faster.

If you're looking for an entry level registry cleaner (free), the CCleaner is available. CCleaner will do basic deletion of problematic registry keys, and will do additional things like cleaning up your browsers temporary files and deleting unnecessary files. CCleaner is pretty non-invasive so it may be better suited for novice users.

Registry Easy is not free, but has a greater amount of functionality than free registry cleaners. Registry Easy is very easy to use. We tried Registry Easy on three different Windows Operating Systems: Windows XP Service Pack 3, Vista Service Pack 1, and Windows 7 Ultimate.

The first time that I scanned the computers, it took us less than 5 minutes to scan the entire system. Registry Easy automatically creates a back up of the registry and found more than 2000 errors and fixed all of them on the Windows XP and Vista machines. The Windows 7 machine had over 1100 errors already. One thing that I like is that Registry Easy has the greatest number of error definitions and it also calculates all of the miscellaneous registry problems which other registry cleaners usually do not find.

Before using any registry cleaner, it is highly recommend that you create a system restore point if the software does not. You many also want to backup the full registry. In some cases, registry cleaning can remove entries required for some programs to operate.

My experience is that by using a high-quality registry cleaner, that your PC should run a lot faster, and with regular registry maintenance, should continue to run fast for the duration that own your computer. A good registry cleaner is definitely worth the investment.

George Harrington has his own computer repair business, and has been working on computers for over 20 years. His first computer was an Apple II if you can remember those.

He believes that computers should be high-performing assets to the end users, and decided to test several online and offline products and writes about them on the internet.