The Windows Registry: Myths and Legends

Just incase you are unaware, the Registry is a small database built in to Windows. The Windows Registry used to be a "Hot Topic", as getting it clogged used to result in a lot of system performance degradation, but these days Windows does a good job of not letting it slow the whole system down.

Personally, I do not recommend any registry defrag or cleaning utilies for Windows Vista or Windows 7 - I have not noticed any system performance when using them, and I have had my registry hives corrupted by a registry defrag utility on Windows 7 64-Bit, which required a re-install to fix.

On Windows XP however I have noticed increased shutdown speeds when the registry is clean, and for this operating system only I recommend Auslogics Registry Cleaner. There are also free registry defrag utilities out there like the aptly named "Free Registry Defrag", but most you have to pay for. Defragmenting the registry might make an improvement for Vista and 7, but for a 64-Bit system, at the time of writing, it is not worth the risk.