Before you install and use a registry cleaner, it is important to understand what a registry is and why it is important to have a clean registry. Every time an application is installed on Windows Operating system entries are made and saved in the system registry. The information is stored in the HKLM and HKCU registry hives. These keys store settings that are applied to the entire operating system and the associated programs. This information includes the paths to the installed applications and the options of the applications such as user-specific settings and custom dictionaries. Other settings that are recorded are the menu settings, default fonts, colors and user preferences. Without any of these entries the program will not run. When the program is run the registry is referred to by the operating system and all this data is referred to, to make the program run.

Now, suppose you are installing Microsoft Office on a windows operating system. Apart from copying the files the setup program will also copy all necessary office settings to the registry such as the user settings, which will be constantly referred to, to make the MS Office program run properly. Removing any office program will leave these entries in the registry. Since they no longer associated with a program they are redundant entries and take up space. They need to be cleaned with a registry cleaner.

How The Registry Can Get Crammed

This is as far as installing programs is concerned. When you surf the Internet, you need to view certain sites that need ActiveX controls for the page to display properly. If the ActiveX component is not installed on the system the site will prompt the system to download the ActiveX component that is stored in the registry as an OCX file. Imagine how many times you must be downloading these components that keep filling up the registry. You will probably never visit that site again because you were just browsing the web. Nevertheless, these components cram the registry and reside there unless they are removed by registry cleaner software.

Where To Get Registry Cleaners?

A search on the Internet will bring up many registry cleaners. These registry cleaners can downloaded and used free to clean the registry and make the system run smoother and faster. A crammed registry will make the system unstable and it will begin to slow down to a crawl. This will take a few months depending on the use of the system and the use of the Internet. Finally the system will crash and a lot of data will be lost if steps are not taken to clean the registry with the relevant software such as free Microsoft registry cleaner and free registry trial cleaner.

Author is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.com
To know about the Registry Cleaner visit at: http://www.pcmantra.com/registry-cleaner.htm
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