The redundant data, and the invalid registry entries, can negatively affect your PCs performance.  While empty registry entries aren’t generally problematic, eventually the accumulation of them may cause a noticeable, though minute, performance lag on some computers. However, the real problem lies with the invalid registry entries — these can be the real PC-performance robbers.

Just about any program that you run on your PC receives its “directions” from the registry. These directions tell it where to find the files needed to start, and sometimes run, your program. However, if you have invalid entries in your computer’s registry, this may cause there to be multiple sets of “directions” for the same application. This is like being the driver in a car, with a navigator beside you, but two back-seat drivers telling you the “best” way to get to your destination.

The extra directions will either slow you down, cause you to get lost, or bring you to a complete standstill while you figure out what to do.  It’s the exact same thing with your computer — invalid registry entries can cause application slowdowns, system instability, and sometimes even the complete loss-of-use of a program.

All of this said — this does not mean that a registry cleaning program will speed up your computer today. It absolutely can, but that really depends on whether or not you have existing issues that would warrant the use of a registry cleaning tool.  Now, running a registry cleaner on a semi-regular basis is considered by many to be an integral part of your PCs ongoing maintenance — kind of like an oil change for your vehicle.  It’s a form of preventative maintenance inasmuch as it is a way to fix existing registry-related errors.

Bottom line — registry cleaners can cause your computer to run faster, and they can even help to prevent future registry-related problems if you use professional registry cleaning software.

The main reason to use a registry cleaner is not to free up space, but to increase the speed of your software. When you remove all of those invalid, incorrect, or no longer used entries, the computer does not need to go through all of those entries before it can reach the correct, valid, and currently used entries, therefore causing all of your programs to run quicker. How are all of those extraneous entries created in the first place?

The most common way that extraneous registry entries are created is through uninstalling software. When you install software, it creates an executable file (.exe) in your registry. The computer needs this executable file to execute the software.  When you uninstall that software, though the software is gone, the executable file for that software still exists in the registry, even if the software it executes no longer exists.

Another reason that extraneous registry entries can be created is through malware creating malicious entries. If you have malware installed on your computer, it will create malicious registry entries to try to get your registry to do what it wants it to do, instead of what it should be doing.

Extraneous registry entries can be caused by poorly written software programs.  When you install poorly written software programs to your computer, extraneous registry entries can be written. The software may create more entries than it actually needs to perform. Extraneous entries can also be caused by errors in software programs, or errors in compatibility. For example, you might have a great software program that is trying to interact with a software program that it is incompatible with. This will create extraneous registry entries.

Lastly, extraneous registry entries can also be caused by a corrupted or damaged registry. In this case, the registry itself is creating extraneous entries. As you can see, extraneous registry entries are quite common, and can be caused by a variety of reasons. While these entries do not take up a lot of space, they do slow down your computer, and while cleaning the registry does not free up a lot of space, it does increase the speed of all of your computer’s software applications.