如果您正在阅读本文，那么您来这里是为了寻找一种“清理”您的Windows 注册表(Windows registry)的方法。也许有人告诉您，清理注册表将解决计算机性能(computer performance)问题或应用程序崩溃或其他听起来非常好的问题。不幸的是，其中许多声明都是错误的，实际上可能会对您的计算机造成更大的伤害。
Windows 注册表(Windows registry)基本上是一个非常大的数据库，其中包含一堆键和值，用于存储有关使Windows及其上安装的应用程序运行的所有内容的数据。注册表开始时非常大，随着时间的推移，随着您安装应用程序、卸载应用程序、添加/删除硬件等，它的大小肯定会增长。
许多注册表清理程序声称他们将从注册表中删除“垃圾”或“损坏”条目，从而减少崩溃、蓝屏和一般计算机运行缓慢(computer slowness)。虽然他们可以从注册表中删除大量条目，但这样做几乎没有任何明显的性能优势(performance benefit)。
实际上，在查看各种注册表清理程序时，您会很快意识到，没有任何实际证据或(evidence or performance tests)由合法组织进行的性能测试表明从注册表中清除数千个条目会带来任何性能提升。唯一声称这一点的人是销售该软件的网站，而且他们的网站也没有任何事实证据或性能测试(evidence or performance tests)来证明这一点。
现实情况是，注册表清理器在Windows 95、Windows 98、Windows Me甚至Windows XP的时代很流行，但像(Windows XP)Windows 7、Windows 8和Windows 10这样的较新操作系统更加稳定、编码良好且比他们以前的同行先进。在Windows 8和Windows 10中，您可以通过(Windows 10)重置或刷新您的 PC(resetting or refreshing your PC)来解决很多问题。通过禁用Windows(Windows)中无用的启动程序或从系统中 卸载垃圾软件或垃圾软件(junkware or crapware)，您还将看到更大的性能优势。
在极少数情况下，从注册表中删除条目可能会有所帮助。想到的一个例子是 Explorer 中的右键单击上下文(Explorer)菜单(context menu)。有时项目列表变得非常大，并且注册表中的某些项目不再存在于系统中。这意味着当您右键单击文件或文件夹时，加载(file or folder)上下文菜单(context menu)可能需要很长时间。
在这种情况下，删除注册表项会有所帮助。但是，最好不要使用注册表清理器(registry cleaner)。相反，您会谷歌并希望找到像我这样的文章，向您展示如何解决缓慢的右键单击上下文菜单(right-click context menu)。这样您就可以解决问题，而无需清除一堆您不确定正在使用的东西。
此外，许多注册表清理程序只是恶意软件或间谍软件程序，它们诱使用户认为他们的计算机存在严重问题，而实际上他们并没有。然后，这些程序会在各处弹出广告，窃取重要数据，甚至更糟，因此使用此类软件存在一定风险，除非您坚持使用信誉良好的品牌和信誉良好的网站。
如果您仍然确定需要注册表清洁器(registry cleaner)，那么我确实有一个建议。但是，在我们开始之前，您应该始终在运行任何类型的清洁软件之前备份注册表。进行备份就像创建新的系统还原点一样简单。在我的注册表上运行任何清理程序之前，我总是这样做，即使我将提到的那个非常安全并且从未给我带来任何问题。
清洁工
CCleaner 实际上是一个免费的系统清理实用程序(system cleanup utility)，它恰好还包括一个用于清理注册表的选项。我之前已经讨论过系统清理软件的价值，并得出结论，基本上，是的，有些工具确实在这些情况下工作。
免费版适用于大多数人，但如果您最终像我一样使用它，我强烈推荐CCleaner Professional，它包括实时监控(real-time monitoring)、自动更新和无限技术支持，一次性价格(time price)为 24.95 美元。
CCleaner将删除的大多数条目只是卸载程序时未删除的剩余密钥。同样(Again)，这些值不会主动使Windows变慢或容易崩溃。它们只是存在于数据库中，不再被访问。如前所述，较新版本的Windows中的这些数据库是高级的，因此即使是数以万计的额外条目也不会减慢对数据库的访问速度。
我喜欢这个程序的地方在于，除了注册表清理选项(registry cleaning option)之外，它还是清理系统的最佳选择。它还允许您在修复任何问题之前创建注册表备份。它还允许您选择要扫描注册表的项目类型，从而使您可以控制风险级别。唯一的缺点是它并没有真正提供对实际条目的非常有意义的描述，但对于所有其他注册表清理程序也是如此。注册表中的条目太多，无法编写每个条目的描述。
归根结底，这是我可以建议的唯一程序，我确信它不会对您的计算机造成损坏、安装恶意软件或对您的系统造成其他不良影响。如果您的 PC 仍有问题，请查看我上面提到的一些链接，这些链接更有可能提高性能并减少崩溃。如果您有任何问题，请发表评论。享受！
Best Free Windows Registry Cleaner
If you’re reading this article, уou came hеre looking for a way to “clean out” your Windows registry. Maybe someone told you that cleaning out the registry will fix computer performance issues or application сrashes or something else that sounds really good. Unfortunately, many of these claims are false and сould actually cause your computer more harm.
The Windows registry is basically a really big database with a bunch of keys and values that stores data about everything that makes Windows and the applications installed on it run. The registry starts off very large and can definitely grow in size over time as you install apps, uninstall apps, add/remove hardware, etc.
A lot of registry cleaners claim that they will remove “junk” or “corrupt” entries from the registry and thereby reduce crashes, blue screens, and general computer slowness. While they can remove a lot of entries from the registry, there is rarely any perceptible performance benefit to doing this.
Actually, you’ll quickly realize while looking at various registry cleaners that there is no actual evidence or performance tests conducted by a legitimate organization that show any performance gains to clearing out thousands of entries from the registry. The only people that claim this are the sites selling the software and they also don’t have any factual evidence or performance tests on their sites to prove it.
The reality is that registry cleaners were popular back in the days of Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me and maybe even Windows XP, but the newer operating systems like Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 are far more stable, well-coded and advanced than their previous counterparts. With Windows 8 and Windows 10, you can fix a lot of problems by resetting or refreshing your PC. You’re also going to see much bigger performance benefits by disabling useless startup programs in Windows or by uninstalling junkware or crapware from your system.
There are some rare cases where removing entries from the registry may help. One example that comes to mind is right-click context menu in Explorer. Sometimes the list of items becomes very large and some items in the registry no longer exist on the system. That means when you right-click on a file or folder, it could take a very long time to load the context menu.
In this type of case, removing the registry entries would help. However, it’s still a better idea not to use a registry cleaner. Instead, you would Google and hopefully find an article like mine that shows you how to troubleshoot a slow right-click context menu. This way you’re fixing the problem without clearing out a bunch of stuff you’re not sure what is being used for.
In addition, a lot of registry cleaners are simply malware or spyware programs that trick users into thinking they have serious problems with their computers when in reality they don’t. The programs will then pop up ads all over the place, steal important data and worse, so there is a bit of risk in using this type of software unless you stick with a reputable brand with a reputable website.
If you’re still certain that you need a registry cleaner, then I do have one recommendation. Before we get to that, however, you should always make a backup of the registry before you run any type of cleaner software. Making a backup is as simple as creating a new system restore point. I always do this before running any cleaner on my registry even though the one I will mention is extremely safe and has never caused me any issues.
CCleaner
CCleaner is actually a free system cleanup utility that happens to also include an option for cleaning the registry. I’ve already debated the worthiness of system cleaning software before and concluded that basically, yes, some tools do actually work in these cases.
The free version works great for most people, but if you end up using it a lot like me, I would highly recommend CCleaner Professional, which includes real-time monitoring, automatic updates and unlimited technical support for the one time price of $24.95.
Most of the entries that CCleaner will remove are simply leftover keys that were not removed when a program was uninstalled. Again, these values do not actively make Windows any slower or prone to crashes. They simply exist in a database and aren’t accessed anymore. As mentioned earlier, these databases in the newer versions of Windows are advanced and therefore even tens of thousands of extra entries will not slow down access to the database.
What I like about this program is that it’s the best for cleaning your system in addition to having the registry cleaning option. It also allows you to create a backup of the registry before you fix any issues. It also lets you choose what types of items to scan the registry for, thereby allowing you to control the level of risk. The only downside is that it doesn’t really provide very meaningful descriptions of the actual entries, but that is true for every other registry cleaner too. There are simply too many entries in the registry to write descriptions of each.
At the end of the day, it’s the only program I can suggest that I am certain will not cause damage to your computer, install malware or do something else bad to your system. If you’re still having issues with your PC, check out some of the links I mentioned above that have a better chance of increasing performance and reducing crashes. If you have any questions, post a comment. Enjoy!
