[SOLVED] Is registry cleaning worthwhile in Windows 10 and 11?

[aor999]

The question is in the subject.
Is this affecting Windows performance for good, or damaging Windows?

 

[USAFRet]

"Cleaning", how, exactly?

Generally speaking, not needed.
And some applications that purport to do this bring more harm than good.

 

[aor999]

Avira Security offer me to delete unused registry entries that left by Windows when I doing smart scan.

 

[USAFRet]

Avira Security offer me to delete unused registry entries that left by Windows when I doing smart scan.

I wouldn't.

 

[35below0]

Don't touch registry unless you know better than some stranger posting this advice on a forum.
What if you screw up and "clean" something you shouldn't?

There are better tools to use to check on system "health". Malwarebytes or Glary might offer registry checkups but registry cleaning either has no effect or screws Windows up more.

 

[hotaru.hino]

The question is in the subject.
Is this affecting Windows performance for good, or damaging Windows?

The short answer is no it doesn't affect performance and it won't damage Windows, but it may make some apps complain.

The longer answer is the registry is simply a repository of settings and configuration items. Programs either look in here or not for certain things. Getting bigger isn't a problem either per se, as the entries are stored in a fashion that's accessed efficiently. That is, access is not linear, it's less than linear (likely something like if you double the number of entries in the registry, access time increases by 1)

And even then, apps typically only access the registry on start up when configuring itself and may store a copy of important entries so it doesn't bother it again.

The only thing cleaning up the registry does then is save maybe a minimal amount of space, and maybe an insignificant (in human time scales anyway) amount of time.

 

[Bob.B]

The question is in the subject.
Is this affecting Windows performance for good, or damaging Windows?

If you do decide to clean the registry make sure you do a registry backup before doing the cleaning.

 

[ubuysa]

The Windows registry does not need cleaning. In all my time analysing BSODs, crashes, and freezes I've never come across a problem that could be conclusively laid at the feet of an 'unused' registry item. On the other hand, I've come across crashes and freezes that were most likely caused by overzealous use of a registry cleaner.

The registry cleaner vendors use FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) to try to scare people into paying for their unnecessary products. They use the same FUD to scare people into using their anti-malware products too!

If the Windows registry needed cleaning then Windows would contain a registry cleaner. Here is what Microsoft have to say about registry cleaners (I've abbreviated this)...

• Microsoft does not support the use of registry cleaners.
• Microsoft is not responsible for issues caused by using a registry cleaning utility. We strongly recommend that you only change values in the registry that you understand or have been instructed to change by a source you trust, and that you back up the registry before making any changes.
• Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the use of a registry cleaning utility can be solved. Issues caused by these utilities may not be repairable and lost data may not be recoverable.

You can read the full Microsoft response to registry cleaning at https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb...tilities-0485f4df-9520-3691-2461-7b0fd54e8b3a