The best registry cleaners are, by their very nature, rather technical pieces of software. The average computer user would be hard pressed to explain just what a registry cleaner does, yet alone how.

Therefore, it’s rather difficult for them to meaningfully compare different software when shopping around for the best registry cleaners.

This article will solve that problem for you. It will list the criteria for you to judge the best registry cleaners by.

Consequently, you will be able to make an informed decision and judge for yourself which are the best registry cleaners.

Effectiveness

The effectivity and thoroughness in repairing and cleaning your computer’s registry is the most important gauge of a registry cleaning software.

When evaluating registry cleaners, the first thing you should check for in the documentation is how many different types of registry errors it looks for.

Registry errors have several categories. A wider variety of registry errors are found by the best registry cleaners than the other regular ones. And so, more problems can be found and resolved.

At the very least, any upright registry cleaner should check the following twelve standard categories for errors:

*Invalid   Shortcuts
*Shared   Program Paths
*Startup   Files
*Shared   DLL Files
*Active   X/Coms/OLE
*Most   Recent Files
*Font   Files
*Application   Paths
*File   Associations
*Toolbars
*Help   Files

The best registry cleaners will check more than just these twelve standard categories. If possible, look for a registry cleaner that scans fifteen categories or more, such as:

*System   Drivers
*Shell   Extensions
*Add/Remove   Programs List
*Uninstall   Entries

Features

Simpler, cheaper registry cleaners repair and clean your computer’s registry, and nothing else. The best registry cleaners, on the other hand, are packed with extra features.

While others are essentially just a fluff that has little to do with cleaning the registry, some of these features are highly useful, even vital.

The following features are crucial, and should be considered a must-have for any registry cleaner worth paying money for.

Scheduler

This allows you to set your registry cleaner to automatically run itself and clean your registry once a week (or whenever you choose).

As the registry desires to be cleaned frequently, but it’s easy to forget to do it yourself, a scheduler becomes a very important feature in helping your keep a clean, stable registry.

Backup  Restore

This feature makes a backup copy of your registry before it makes any maintenance or repairs.

That way, if something goes incorrect and your registry gets broken (very rare but known to occur), you can re-establish the backup copy of the registry and be none the worse for wear.

Registry Optimizer 

This tool reorganizes, defragments, and condenses your registry. This makes the registry (and thus your computer) undersized, competent, and quick.

This feature goes by many other names, such as a Registry Compactor or a Registry Defragmenter.

Those are the essential features. There are other features, however, that while not strictly necessary are still nice to have if you can get them. These include:

*Automatic   Updates
*Startup   Manager
*Disk   Cleanup
*Anti-Spyware

Simplicity

Most of us, just average ordinary computer users, prefer quick and easy controls reduced to the point-and-click, drag-and-drop level. If there are advanced settings, we prefer them to be safely hidden away on a separate screen where they won’t confuse us or get clicked by accident.

Even the best registry cleaners can reduce the controls down to “one-click cleaning” which a lot of people like.

If you’re a techie power user on the other hand, simplicity and speed might be a lesser importance to you. Precision and control is perhaps what you value more, and prefer advanced, technical controls that let you fine-tune the software.

Numerous registry cleaners have complex features and controls as well. Whatever your first choice, give a higher ranking to a registry cleaner that your are more certain and at ease using.

Price

Finally, you need to regard the price. It doesn’t mean to say that a registry cleaner is better if it is more expensive because some of the best registry cleaners are only charged a midrange price.

Keep in mind that a good, quality registry cleaner can add years to your computer’s operating life.

Just compare that price tag to the cost of a new computer if you hesitate at the relatively modest cost of a good registry cleaner ($20 – $50). You’ll find that the cost of a good registry cleaner is a good long-term investment.

Now that you know how to evaluate the best registry cleaners, check out sites that test and rank different registry cleaners, such as Registry2Aid, and see what they have to say about the different software available on the market.