Currently, there are many software tools designed to clean the Windows registry. Often they even come with practical, concise instructions in Russian. And nevertheless, an ordinary user sometimes still wonders (usually when faced with performance problems on his computer) why you need to clean the Windows registry.
To clearly answer the question of why you need to clean the registry, you first need to know some of the features of its device. After all, it is because of them that the registry needs periodic cleaning.
What is the Windows Registry
The Windows registry is a database of all settings for the Windows operating system. The registry stores the parameters of various devices of a personal computer, settings for installed programs, information about file associations, system data, and so on. Almost any change to the operating system is reflected in the registry.
How the Windows Registry Works
The registry has a well-ordered structure. The main component is the so-called keys, in which all information is stored. Each key is associated with a specific parameter of the operating system. According to the established principle, the keys are combined into subsections, which form larger sections, and so on. Thus, the entire structure of the registry is built according to a clear hierarchical principle, which significantly speeds up access to the necessary keys, and, consequently, the operation of the Windows operating system as a whole. This principle plays a critical role in ensuring performance, since most programs and the OS itself access the registry very often.
Disadvantages of the Windows Registry
Despite the fact that the use of a hierarchical structure significantly optimizes the search for the necessary information, the registry also has a number of significant disadvantages due to it:
1. The registry is not a single monolithic file, but a set of files physically located in different areas of the hard disk. This creates a so-called fragmentation problem, the direct consequence of which is slower access to registry data.
2. Since the registry stores various information of the system and applications (for example, many programs store a list of recently opened files in the registry), the size of the registry increases significantly with the use of a personal computer.
3. Moreover, many programs, even after they are removed, store information in the registry. This happens, for example, if the program's uninstaller is configured incorrectly. And many software developers do not intentionally delete this data at all - for example, in case all settings are restored when the program is re-installed. What if you never reinstall the program? This completely unnecessary data will remain in the registry, increasing its size and complicating the search for the "necessary" information.
These problems directly affect performance degradation. It is in order to correct the consequences of the above-described shortcomings of the registry, and you need to periodically clean it. Cleaning the registry will improve the performance of both the operating system itself and other programs. If you do not want your computer to lose performance, be sure to regularly clean the Windows registry.
