Because the registry is really the heart of your computer, it's easy to see why some people draw back in terror at the thought of letting a third party product go through it and make decisions about what to delete. This is a short article designed to keep your registry safe.

If you're reading this then you're probably on the way to scanning and cleaning your registry. You're also probably apprehensive about inviting a stranger onto your hard drive and giving them permission to change anything. Well relax.

The good news is that, in 2010, registry scanning software - at least all the tools I've tested so far on this site - are very safe and reliable. They use advanced technology to decide what is safe to remove and what should be left. As well as taking exceptional care not to nuke anything vital, they all provide at least one way to create a backup - a safety net - should anything go wrong.

I've bought loads of stuff online - we're talking scary amounts of software. It's always comforting to know that if I buy something online it's got a refund policy. All of the products I've reviewed on this site offer a refund so even if the worst comes to the worst, and you want your money back (damn it!) there's no problem getting a refund.

The system restore in Windows is a great idea - and it works well. It creates a snapshot of your computer's current settings - the ones that are working - so that if anything goes wrong, you can choose 'Last known configuration that worked' when you turn on the PC. I've done it before and it's easy to use.

The better registry tools offer both quick backups of the registry and this more thorough option to create a restore point. This happens prior to making any changes.

I bravely (stupidly?) installed every registry cleaner I could find - free and paid - on my 3 test machines. I didn't alter any of the default settings, I just let them run their scan and fix what they uncovered. And there hasn't been one problem caused by doing this. While this isn't the most conclusive test, I'm confident that the tools I've tested so far are safe.

One thing you should exercise caution with is editing the list of programs that Windows fires up when it boots. As these settings are stored in the registry, many registry tools come with a 'startup manager'. There's a long list of programs that you can remove from the windows startup.

While this IS a great way to speed up how windows starts, don't remove anything that you're not totally sure about. This can stop important processes starting up that you do need. If you're in doubt, either search for the process you're unsure about on Google, or LEAVE it.

Good registry cleaners do what I call fast backups. This is when the tool makes a copy of the registry before it altered anything. This is done automatically by any decent registry tool (although some rely solely on the restore point). My advice would be to get a tool that creates these fast kinds of backups, as well as one that makes use of the system restore. You can't have too much safety.

	The best software I've found
	Comparison of the major programs
	Reviews of Registry Cleaning software