Quite often, an average Windows user doesn’t even know what the Windows System Registry, although it is one of the most precious allies for the good health of our PC. In fact, sometimes it is recommended to do a good cleaning, especially if there are errors that are difficult to understand or if you notice an excessive slowdown of the machine.
In this article, we will show you how to use the registry to clean up Windows 10, to give new life to your PC.
Possible Causes for Registry Errors
Even if at the moment you are not experiencing errors or strange situations, when you go to install software or hardware that allow you to use your pc according to your needs, these programs or media install files right inside your system registry. Then, when the need is finished, you go to uninstall this software (or remove any hardware) these entries in the registry may b not completely deleted and, at times, lead the PC to report errors.
For this reason, we recommend cleaning the keys present in the System log. So the PC will not go looking for software that is no longer present or even hardware that you no longer use.
This cleaning can be done in several ways.
5 ways to clean the registry on Windows 10
1. Using “Disk Cleanup”
The easiest way to clean the Windows 10 registry is to use Disk Cleanup, which is also great for clean files excess from the hard drive. It’s not specific to the registry, but it can be very useful for removing those leftover apps and drivers. When these remnants are removed, the corresponding registry entries are often deleted as well.
To follow this procedure, first open Start and type “disk cleanup”. Select the Disk Cleanup result that will appear.
The tool performs a scan automatically. When it’s done, click on “Clean Up System Files”. At this point, you will have some other options for scanning. The tool will run a second time, giving you some additional options.
Select the options you are interested in (but be aware that you can also select them all). Just make sure you don’t have anything in the Trash that you want to keep. Press OK and your system cleanup will begin.
2. Use DISM
DISM, which stands for Deployment Image Servicing and Management, is a built-in Windows tool used for repair updates and system errors. It can also help repair the problems related to corrupted registry entries. While it’s not a complete registry cleaner, it can improve the health of your registry.
To launch it, first open Start and type “cmd”. Choose “Run as administrator” under Command Prompt.
Enter this string:
DISM / Online / Cleanup-Image / ScanHealth
The scan will find and clean any errors, not necessarily related to your registry. The good part is that this can help your PC run better by fixing some problems you didn’t even know you had.
3. Relying on CCleaner
CCleaner has been a popular PC cleaner for years. From clearing cookies and temporary files to managing startup options, it does a little bit of everything, including cleaning the registry. The thing we like even more is that you can backup your registry before cleaning it, which is great news.
One is available Free version and a paid version. In our experience, the Free version is already more than enough to do the minimum and essential operations, so you can, in our opinion, do without the paid version (as long as you don’t need to do very complex cleaning).
4. Clean with Wise Registry Cleaner
Wise Registry Cleaner is a free and lightweight tool for cleaning the Windows 10 registry. It offers three modes, although the quick scan generally works great for most users.
Again a paid version is available, but the Free version is more than enough to do everything you need. In the paid version you will have, in addition to the free version, the possibility of scheduling cleaning, but to remedy this feature, just enter this activity to do in the calendar, and here you have saved some money.
5. Use Auslogics Registry Cleaner
Auslogics Registry Cleaner has a long history of helping to keep records cleaner. The free version provides a basic scan, which is often sufficient for most users. However, you can upgrade to the premium version for notifications and deeper scans, and better cleanup.
Before proceeding with the permanent deletion of any items, you can review them to decide whether to proceed or not. However, the fact remains that Auslogics Registry Cleaner will only delete safe entries.
Conclusions
All the methods described above are absolutely safe, but our advice is to always perform the backup of what you don’t want to risk losing from your PC. Once you start using these tools, you will realize that your computer will benefit enormously from them and you will never be able to do without them. Good cleaning!