For me if you are going to use a registry cleaner, use one that is only a registry cleaner and not some jack of all trades that just happens to include a registry cleaner, use a specialist tool for a specialist task.
If you are regularly trialling software (like many on this topic ;D), you ‘hope’ that they clean up after themselves unfortunately that isn’t the case for many, so you just trust to luck that what they leave behind might not have an impact on your system (like certain AVs which shall remain nameless), personally I think not.
I’ve used TweakNow Registry Cleaner before and now using Registry Mechanic and I don’t have any problem with both of them. I don’t think it will caused you any problem as long you know how to used it. Futhermore there’s backup tool to do some backup if you accidentally delete some unneccessary keys. And there are option in both registry cleaner whether you want to delete or just let it be there. So if you not sure you can skipped the keys. And sometime it’s very helpfull when you’ve face virus problem.
I will have to agree with Tech on this as there are times and situations when the registry does need to be cleaned. He gives some good reasons why.
And, I also agree with Medieval that TweakNow Reg Cleaner (free version) would be a good program for someone who, like flygirl, is not familiar with the registry nor registry cleaners. Before the first scan with TweakNow Reg cleaner, you will be asked if you want to create a backup which you should do. Once the scan is finished, this program will have divided the results into 3 groups … safe to delete, not fully safe to delete, and unknown. You can view the contents of each group. Even so, you should only delete those in the “safe to delete” group.
I’ve tested a lot of them and can drop some words:
CCleaner: very superficial, but safe. No problems.
Amust Registry Cleaner: Hmmm, I don’t feel comfortable using it. Uninstalled quickly…
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner: good and safe.
jv16 Powertools 1.3.0.195 (last freeware version): old, but functional.
ToniArts EasyCleaner: good and safe.
Wise Registry Cleaner: the best I’ve tested. Safe and deeper.
Other registry tools (not cleaners):
Auslogics Registry Defrag
ERUNT: backup must have.
RegASSASSIN: delete access denied keys.
Registrar Registry Manager Lite: registry explorer (replaces regedit.exe with more features).
RegShot: compare registry shots, for instance, before and after installing some software.