Registry Cleaner – What Is It And How Does It Work?

How many avid computer users know that Windows come with a registry? Even among those who know about its existence, how many know what its uses are and the benefit of cleaning the registry?

Registry is the main database of the computer, where all kinds of information about it are stored. This includes all details about the hardware and both the softwares installed on the computer – to run the system and to run the other hardware. Any activity that takes place in the system is recorded in the registry for later use. The registry records include the details of the specific users, log in and log out time, the web sites visited and the files downloaded from the web.

Every time a computer is switched on, more and more information is added to the registry. As time passes, the database gets swelled up with day-to-day information about the computer usage. Some of these entries may be useful in some unusual context, but most of the registry entries are useless and outdated. They just take up precious disk space of the computer. Sometimes, these entries gets accumulated so much that when a program calls for scanning of registry for information, it exceeds the capacity of the processor. This leads to slowing down of the registry. A registry cleaner comes in handy such scenario.

What exactly is it?

Registry cleaners are softwares that scan the registry entries of the system and remove unwanted, redundant and outdated data of the registry. It can recognize any file or information that is not being used for a long time and end up occupying disk space, making the registry operation sluggish.

Microsoft registry cleaner is a freeware that can be used to achieve this end. It is capable of identifying unnecessary information and files and reports its find to the user. It then prompts the user to clean the registry of the unwanted components. This can be done by clicking on the given link.

How does it work?

Registry cleaning freewares are available online and the users have to download it to their computers to clean their registry. After downloading the appropriate version of the registry cleaner that is suitable for your OS, the program has to be installed into the system. Installation process is very simple and is less time consuming. For Windows XP users, the need to reboot the system after installation is absolutely not needed. By running the .exe file placed on the desktop, the program will be launched without delay.

The user interface of the registry cleaner has a ‘Scan Registry’ button, which will launch the cleaning function. Within five minutes, the program will be ready with a report displaying the list of unwanted and unused files and information. By clicking on the ‘Repair’ button, these files will be removed from the registry. This cleaning job takes only a few seconds to complete. On completion of the repair work, the system has to be rebooted.

Once the registry is wiped clean of unnecessary files, it will work efficiently and faster.