The development of this type of software has flourished in recent years and manufacturers continually try to convince users that they need to clean the registry of errors by downloading or even buying their products.
But these programs are really useful? In this guide, we will show you which are the best programs to clean the Windows registry for free and, in a dedicated chapter, we will also show you if they are really useful or you can avoid them.
Best Windows Registry Cleaners
On the web, we find many programs that pride themselves on being efficient registry cleaners, but we must not trust them regardless: below in fact we have selected the best registry cleaners to use for free without any risk.
CCleaner
Among the best registry cleaners could not miss CCleaner, the complete and free cleaning tool for all versions of Windows.
To use it, simply open the app from the Start menu, press the icon Register to the left, click on Find problems and, after a little research, make sure to select all the items found and finally press on Repair selected problems.
The scanning system is very fast and efficient, so you can use it frequently without particular problems.
In addition to the registry cleaner, CCleaner includes other very effective system cleaning tools, as also seen in our guide How to clean your PC with CCleaner: tricks and hidden functions.
Wise Registry Cleaner
As a first valid alternative to CCleaner, we can try the Wise Registry Cleaner app, also available for free for any version of Windows that is still supported.
Starting the app we will not have to do is press on Start Scan (in the start screen shown immediately and call Registry Cleaner), wait a few seconds and then remove all unnecessary registry entries that appear.
Also in this case the system is very fast and performing, so you can scan any PC safely.
JetClean
The last reliable app that we recommend you try as a Windows registry cleaner is JetClean, which is free to download.
Starting this app, a system scan will start immediately, so you can view all the problems on your PC in the home; at the end of the scan make sure to check the item Registry Clean and press down on Repair, so you can clean the registry of unnecessary entries.
The scan system is quite accurate but often runs into problems even after cleaning the system recently (a clear sign that something may be missing during the first scan).
Are registry cleaners really useful?
After years of experience in the computer world, I can safely say that a Registry cleaner brings no obvious benefits.
As already mentioned in the introduction, the Windows Registry is a huge database containing thousands of entries in which information about the settings and configuration of the operating system and programs are written; a registry cleaner is able to check the validity of these entries, eliminating the obsolete ones that refer to uninstalled programs.
The problem is that, if the registry cleaning were to make a mistake and delete some key essential to the operating system, Windows could not start anymore.
Even if all goes well, after a scan it might be recommended to remove a hundred invalid keys, and, given the size of the entire registry, you understand how irrelevant this adjustment is.
That these hundreds of invalid keys remain or be erased it makes no difference in the overall performance of the computer: installing or not a registry cleaner does not actually bring any real advantages, on the contrary, we run the risk (remote anyway) that an app error could force us to restore the entire operating system, wasting time and important files.
These programs are currently worth using only after a virus infection: if the threat has been successfully eradicated from the system (perhaps with the suggestions proposed in our guide How to remove malware and viruses from the infected computer), it may be a good idea to scan your computer with a registry cleaner to remove any leftover entries of the virus (usually completely harmless, but you might as well remove them).
Conclusions
To increase PC performance there are other much more effective ways, as also seen in our guides How to speed up Windows 10 is How to speed up your computer for free in just a few steps. Registry cleaners do not allow for any real performance increase, so they should be used rarely or only in special circumstances (for example after a virus infection, as mentioned above).
To maintain the performance of the computer we must check which programs start with the system, as also seen in the guide on how to manage the startup of autorun programs on Windows).
If, on the other hand, we are concerned that the programs we uninstall are leaving too many traces on the system, it may be a good idea to use a complete uninstaller of programs that also removes the registry keys associated with it without having to use a registry cleaner later.