So your computer runs slow and you've seen all these great ads for registry cleaners and optimizers that will make your computer run like new again! Some even offer a free scan  whereupon they find tons of errors (mostly registry items pointing to deleted items) and will clean a few of them up, but to clean them all up you need to buy the product.

Our advice is DON'T  DO  IT!  Here is a great link that explains why, and includes not only professional opinions but many user experiences.

Why I don't use registry cleaners, by Ed Bott

I could list many more links/articles, but hopefully you get the idea. However, the fact remains that the registry could use a little cleanup once in a while and some people do report faster computers. So, if you really want to try a registry cleaner, we recommend a couple of freeware utilities that kept coming up in these articles as a decent and safe alternative to the high-priced cleaners/optimizers.

• EasyCleaner

• CCleaner

They are both easy to use. The first, EasyCleaner is very safe in that it only looks for links to non-existing files in the registry and allows you to remove those. The second, has a bit nicer interface and allows you to cleanup a few other types of registry problems. They both also allow cleanup of other areas of your computer as well (temporary files, internet files, etc.) And note the following:

• they are both free (no-one is trying to suck money out of your pocket)

• with EasyCleaner you can undo your changes, and with CCleaner you can save the registry settings and restore them later if your changes cause problems (though neither of these programs will go and delete dlls from your computer like some registry cleaning programs do)

• there is no automatic fixing of things, you are free to peruse the results of a scan and only fix the things you want fixed

A side note on EasyCleaner - make sure you go to the official site (which we have linked to above) because there are other sites trying to suck money out of you for downloading such freeware programs, basically stealing the real author's identity and programs and then asking you to pay for downloads for these free programs (such scams can be found at such disgusting sites as www.toniarts.com -- feel free to send them a complaint email about their scam).
  

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