10 best free Windows registry cleaners

Posted on September 15, 2008 at 5:38 am

Looking for a good list of free Windows XP and Vista registry cleaners? There are literally thousands of registry cleaners out there, but only a few time-tested ones that have stood out for quality and not destroying your computer! In this article, I’m going to go through some of my favorite registry cleaner programs.

Firstly, do you really need a registry cleaner? YES! That’s my opinion based on using Windows for the last 12 years of my life and being an IT professional doesn’t help. The registry ends up getting filled with lots of useless keys over time because of numerous installs and uninstall’s of software. The more bloated your registry gets, the slower your computers gets and the more problems you start having in general.

So to clean out those old entries and keep your computer running smoothly, check out the following list of free registry cleaners in no particular order:

CCleaner – By far, one of the most popular system maintenance and PC tune-up utilities out there. It’s mostly known for cleaning up your hard drive of useless temporary files, browsing history, etc, but it also has a registry cleaner that has never given me a simple problem. Actually, some people consider it a “mild”registry cleaner in that it does not go as deep as some other cleaners. However, I like it a lot and it has helped keep my system running smoothly.

Comodo Registry Cleaner – Even though this program was just released and is still in Beta, it’s a very good product from a very reputable company. I ran it on one of my machines and it found many intricate registry keys that CCleaner did not find. It also has not harmed my system in any way, which is the main thing! Comodo has other great products like Firewall and Backup, but I’m glad they have ventured into registry cleaning also.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner – Have not used this one myself, but have read some pretty good reviews of it online. Considered a deeper and more powerful registry cleaner as it finds and cleans missing shared dlls, invalid ActiveX, invalid paths, invalid installer references, and tons more.

Argente Registry Cleaner – Another registry cleaner that has some mixed reviews. Some people say it’s one of the best and others say it’s messed up their computers. I’ve personally not run it, but you may want to read some more about it online before trying it on your computer. Also, ALWAYS make sure to backup your registry before running any registry cleaner.

Erunt 1.1 – This utility allows you to backup and restore your registry, plus optimize and tweak it. It only works up to XP, so if you have Vista, you’ll have to find something else. This program has gotten very high reviews online and no negative feedback, which means it’s probably pretty safe and won’t mess up your computer.

EasyCleaner – EasyCleaner is kind of like CCleaner in that it has other features such as cleaning up temp files, duplicate files, and unnecessary backup files. The registry cleaner is gotten good reviews and one of the nice features of EasyCleaner is that it uses a up-to-date text file with registry keys that should never be deleted or changed.

TweakNow RegCleaner – Comes in two flavors, standard and professional. Standard is free and has all the features for registry scanning and cleaning. The Pro version just has a registry defragmenter and a Windows optimizer, but these are really not needed anyway. This program also works with both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

RegSeeker – I have used RegSeeker and personally really like the interface and overall quality of the product. You can use it to search the registry for installed apps, startup entries, histories, favorites, etc. You can also apply certain tweaks to the registry and, of course, clean the registry. Works with Windows XP and Windows Vista also and has high ratings online.

Wise Registry Cleaner – This program also has a free and pro version, the pro version having some extra features like being able to export entries to MS Excel, etc. Also has a restore feature whereby you can return to the original state of your machine before running the software in case something does not work correctly.

Free Registry Cleaner – Very highly rated registry cleaner that works on all versions of Windows up to Windows Vista. Also has a disk cleanup utility, startup manager, uninstall manager, and process manager. According to reviews, finds a lot more keys to remove than other registry cleaners (this could be good or bad though).

What are your favorite registry cleaners or do you even use one at all? I’m not a huge fan of cleaning the registry very often as it can cause problems with your computer occasionally, but definitely using a milder registry cleaner every few months is very helpful. Also, check out my previous post on Tune-Up Utilities 2008, a very comprehensive program you can use to optimize and tune up your computer system. Enjoy!

» Filed Under Free Software Downloads

Comments

53 Responses to “10 best free Windows registry cleaners”

Bloggliv said on : September 15th, 2008 at 10:16 am

I use Glary Utilities for my daily cleaning Free, useful functions and easy to use.

Kyle Judkins said on : September 15th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

I have been trying out nCleaner, but this is definitely a great list. It’s always nice to have choices.

Technoraz said on : September 16th, 2008 at 2:31 am

To clean my registry I use RegCure and Tuneup Registry Cleaner

reical said on : September 23rd, 2008 at 6:36 am

cc cleaner is my fav one

Eric Franjelico said on : October 20th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

this is merely a list of free registry cleaners there is no rhyme or reason for how you have deemed these the “best”, no actual test being conducted to verify that these are good registry cleaners whether or not they do any harm, or to compare them in terms of a resulting boost in performance or even to verify that there is one.

Should have been called “ten free registry cleaners” not “ten best free registry cleaners”

Deyaa Addeen Fahmy Shedeed said on : February 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am

ccleaner is great, thanks.

Aaqib said on : February 13th, 2009 at 4:50 am

Great tips

You said on : February 17th, 2009 at 1:09 am

I have been using Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and it works perfectly!

registry cleaner said on : February 19th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

Good tips. I recently purchased a registry cleaner and my pc is running much better. It use to crash and get errors but now i don’t have a problem.

Alex said on : February 24th, 2009 at 8:03 pm

DO NOT USE ERUNT 1.1 REGISTRY CLEANER!!! This is one of the worst registry cleaners I have EVER seen. My computer froze up during the so-called “optimization” process. I had to unplug the computer and when I powered it back on, the Registry was forever corrupted. So, unless you want this to happen to you, DO NOT USE ERUNT REGISTRY CLEANER!!! (It will eat your computer)

Anonymous said on : March 13th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

Use Eusing, CCleaner, and erunt. All of these softwares worked fine. Right now, I use Ccleaner because it has multiple tools and Erunt to work alongside with windows system restore.

Registry Cleaner Reviews said on : March 25th, 2009 at 8:54 am

I think CCleaner is still the best free one around, but there are couple paid for that have much more features. In the end, it’s subject to personal preference or requirements. One must be careful with all registry cleaners.

Martin said on : March 26th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

All these are great and I use Eusing registry cleaner and free registry cleaner. I have WinXp.

John said on : May 3rd, 2009 at 12:54 am

To clean my registry, I use Regcure and Perfect Optimizer, it works great.

Chad said on : May 18th, 2009 at 1:22 am

You guys do know that registry cleaners do pretty much nothing right?

The registry doesn’t get that bad really, it may be half a second on a boot up, that’s it.

People who think your registry slows your computer/crashes it are usually old people who dont know any better.

Also, buying a registry cleaner is so dumb..

Rajib said on : May 21st, 2009 at 9:35 am

All of these software apps are great, but I am using Advanced System Optimizer. Is it a good software to use with Windows XP?

Ucex said on : May 26th, 2009 at 11:53 am

Great site. Try Free Windows Registry Cleaner, you’ll love it.

jason said on : May 31st, 2009 at 7:20 pm

i just started using ccleaner and it does work great. very simple and some nice extra tools at hand. the only other one ive used and still use is free registry cleaner. i have 3 computers. my laptop had stop loading my desktop for some reason. i had to do everything through the task manager. long and tedious process. until i downloaded frc. low and behold after running it, everything started working correctly. i would strongly recommend free registry cleaner.

McCarthy said on : June 19th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

I used the COMODO Registry Cleaner.

Before I was really worried about whether it would work or not, as I use my computer lots. Strange how while it was fixing the errors I found myself saying a prayer that it would work, because I understand the registry is basically the central nervous system of a computer, and myself, having a quite extensive knowledge of the body, know that the nervous system isn’t something you mess around with.

To my confusion, when I done the initial scan, I found 1342 Registry Errors. COMODO has reduced it to 22. I am yet to discover whether it worked though. Hopefully the 22 errors I have left aren’t too harmful to my computers registry.

I recommend this to anyone, because it seems to be a great programme, and during the time I have been writing this, my computer has not stalled once, but before it was doing it constantly.

Thank you COMODO.

lordjimmy said on : July 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm

Commodo finds a lot of errors but when I ran it, my windows defragmenter disappeared, reappeared when I restored so can’t really reccomend the product.

Dave Boyle said on : July 9th, 2009 at 10:18 am

Used Erunt OK. It does freeze the machine for quite a while while its working and it can’t be interrupted even by Ctrl Alt Del. Judging by comments above you shouldn’t unplug your PC at this point but ERUNT does eventually finish and work and it reduced my registry file by 8% (XP Pro)

Valerie said on : August 13th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

I purchased the Perfect Optimizer to fix my computer, and it totally messed it up. I had to try and revert it back to prior state, but it disabled my Windows System Restore, and it still is not working. Still trying to get windows drivers and my cd-rom drives do not work. They ignore my requests for money back so far. Don’t ever get it. it stinks!!!

Elenor said on : August 25th, 2009 at 11:34 am

I have windows vista ( Hate it) Is there a free Registry cleaner I can use . I am out of work and money is tight?

Tyler said on : September 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 am

well friends i am satisfied with RegInOut, its the best registry cleaner to make a computer fast and stable…reginout.net

jason said on : September 7th, 2009 at 11:28 am

You may like to try RegInOut , to me its one of the best registry cleaners.

Grete said on : September 8th, 2009 at 11:19 pm

I tested many registry cleaners and I found Easycleaner the best for me.

I found it safe and throughout enough at the same time. It retrieves registry keys only with green light that are safe to delete and I believe the rest which was not found, should be left for professional manual registry cleaning, anyhow.

A very personal view on registry cleaning, though.

david said on : September 13th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

Since ccleaner is a registry cleaner will it be possible that it can correct what ever error is causing a BSOD when I trigger one of the mofps that i play (crossfire)? if not what would be a good program?

Jewbert said on : September 17th, 2009 at 12:11 am

You should try AML Free Registry Cleaner.
It does a very thorough search, cleans temp files, and etc.
Works kinda like Eusing

bob said on : October 5th, 2009 at 11:33 am

If I use C Cleaner and it brings up a lot of dup files how would I know which ones to remove?

Vidooshak said on : October 16th, 2009 at 2:51 am

Excellent post. So far I have only used CCleaner. Its good. I am sure there is a lot of crap in my Windows system folders as well. Would be good if that bloat would come down. Over time, the Windows folder has grown from some 500MB to over 2.5GB. Can’t be good…

Epos said on : October 21st, 2009 at 3:23 am

I have used the Eusing registry cleaner on several occasions and found it very good. Its a great free little piece of software and we have never had any issues with it.
Regards David: Epos software developer

Wonder fix PC said on : October 23rd, 2009 at 3:33 am

Nice article. I just use Wondershare Registry optimizer to help me fix my PC！

Legion said on : October 25th, 2009 at 1:48 am

Well from my own personal knowledge, i have tested quite a few registry cleaners. I have one computer specifically for testing new products so it doesn’t mess up my good computer and because just like any of you, i want my machine to run in top form.

But in all that i have tried, I have narrowed it down to two. AML Free Registry Cleaner, and CCleaner. AML is fast, simple to use and has fixed a lot of registry issues in the past on other machines. And i dont think i need to explain how well CCLeaner works to anyone. They are both light weight and have many usable features.

Now there is one on that list that i absolutely refuse to ever use again and thats Comodo. I ran it once and it froze my computer and then crashed it. I had to do a fresh install because of it. But everyone has their own taste in what they use. I have AML and CCleaner on all 3 of my computers and i have put them on 20+ friends computers as well and i havent had to go back and fix any registry related problems yet. just try em out. see what you like best.

fred64 said on : November 3rd, 2009 at 10:40 am

Great list, although I think Glary Utilities should be included. Glary is lighter registry cleaner (like CCleaner)with many extras and a one button maintenance function (good for friends that ask me to fix their systems). It has many extras including a registry defragmenter — not sure the others don’t, but it seems to speed things up. One note on Glray and some of the others: It may take more than one pass to get all the errors exposed. Some are nested and don’t show up on the first pass.

Doc said on : November 9th, 2009 at 4:24 pm

Free Registry Cleaner: “283 problems has been found.” Definitely not using THAT one.

Dave Johnson said on : November 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am

None of these are free, they will scan you system for free, but then you pay to fix.

Dave

Geroge said on : November 20th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

I am using PC Optimizer pro. Even though it’s not free, it cleans the registry safely. I found my pc speed increase which just one registry scan.

Lam said on : November 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am

I use Advanced System Care and it has helped speed up my computer quite a bit.But, there are hundreds of errors which it tells me, require the purchased version to clean. I also use a multiple number of free registry cleaners, though I wonder if that isn’t harmful.

qwertyuiop said on : November 24th, 2009 at 5:12 am

When I use CCleaner it detects 20+ registry problems but when I use some other registry cleaner it detects 300+ registry problems. Why?

akishore said on : November 25th, 2009 at 9:56 am

@qwertyuiop – The reason CCleaner finds less registry “problems” is because it’s really safe to use. They do not delete any registry keys that could cause your computer to fail. Other registry cleaners can sometimes end up deleting keys that are important!

tony said on : November 26th, 2009 at 10:45 am

Install Revo Uninstaller, this program is awesome as far as uninstalling programs, etc. It will clean out registry entries left behind by windows and possibly eliminate messy registry entries in the first place! p.s. ITS FREE ALSO!

tony said on : November 26th, 2009 at 10:49 am

Try Glary Utilities. It also has a lot of other features other than cleaning the registry.

Shahrin said on : December 5th, 2009 at 10:39 am

I use ‘Advance System Care’ together with Iobit freeware for my Computer. CCleaner is also a good for your computer.

hammersjg said on : December 13th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

I ran a registry cleaner right after a fresh install of Windows and it came up to 124 “errors” How come?

I see one quote;

“It retrieves registry keys only with green light that are safe to delete”

No registry cleaners are the same, if you run them all, they all give different results, so that “green light” to delete in one cleaner could differ from others. Also, if you deleted these keys, you may need them later on.

I steer clear of registry cleaners because they do nothing except harming your computer. They don’t improve or fix any errors like freezing or crashing (they are myths). I got this saying for you “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

free registry cleaner said on : December 15th, 2009 at 11:56 am

I use CC cleaner primarily because its free and it does a good job.However, other good products are those of Registry mechanic and RegCure which do a great job too!

James said on : December 19th, 2009 at 9:17 am

Hey, I was an avid user of CCleaner for many years, today I did a search for something new and I found Comondo here. I downloaded it and ran it just after running CCleaner. I was amazed at the results: Comondo System Cleaner found 154 registery error’s, 719 junk files, and cleaned up my Windows XP PRO os. My pc runs better now and its a whole lot faster than it use to be..! Great Job “Comondo”..!!!!!

Pyotr K. said on : January 21st, 2010 at 2:09 am

As of Piriform – they DO NOT take any responsibility, if something is messed up cause of their products (like CCleaner). They also DO NOT reply on emails, that are having a tech. support characteristics within.

DO NOT USE Defraggler! It will harm your Windows’ built-in HDD defragmenter.

——————–

If you’re using Revo Uninstaller – use a “Safe Mode” for the best safety results…

Some reg. cleaners can find a lot more errors, becuase they’re searching within a “History” section.

TweakNow! RegCleaner is the best option for noobs, because there’s a safety indicators (for each reg. item), like “Safe”, “Warning” and “Unknown”. [thumb up]

P.S. As of Defraggler – better try Auslogics’ Disk Defrag.

Also… really not sure about COMODO, and a FRC.

keith billett said on : January 21st, 2010 at 3:48 pm

CCleaner is free to download but not free to clean your system. what bit of FREE do you not understand. Top 10 FREE registry cleaners, are you sure?

Doc said on : January 24th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

@Pyotr K: Never had a single problem with any Piriform product, neither CCleaner nor Defraggler have hurt my systems (Windows XP/7) in any way.

@James: Do you mean “Comodo”? I’ve never heard of “Comondo”…and neither has Google

AlOnan said on : January 27th, 2010 at 6:04 am

I use Ashampoo WinOptimizer. My 2GB RAM PC was working very very slow. Now It is very fast!

10 registerrensare till Windows | Bloggliv Says:

[...] CCleaner må vara bra, men det finns betydligt fler fullgoda alternativ att testa. Online Tech Tips har listat tio populära register-rensare som kan vara värda att kolla närmare på. Tyvärr platsade inte min egen favorit, Glary [...]
September 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Automatically fix registry errors using PowerTools Lite Says:

[...] I wrote an article on the 10 best free registry cleaners currently on the market. The Windows registry can become bloated over time and registry cleaners [...]
August 8th, 2009 at 5:48 am
99 of the best Windows freeware programs you may not know of Says:

[...] registry! CCleaner may be the most popular system maintenance tool out there, but what about other registry cleaners and tuners, such as Comodo registry cleaner and Eusing registry [...]
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 am