How to Remove Empty Registry Keys?
The windows registry is a database, which stores all the settings related to the operating system
. This includes configuration settings for hardware, file associations, system and control panel settings etc. Any kind of software or OS related errors can be resolved by an expert computer repair technician, who understands the windows registry. All the programs, which are installed on the system, create a copy of their setting in the registry, which is retrieved when it is run.
What are the empty registry keys and how to remove them?
Folders of a system are stored as keys called registry keys and files are stored as values. As the name suggests, empty registry keys are empty folders, which just increases the size of the registry. This usually happens when softwares, which is uninstalled leaves behind its traces in the registry without any values. This makes the registry bloat and over a period of time these empty registries will become unmanageable as it will outgrow the allocated size.
The windows OS keeps a backup of the registry on a regular basis so when these empty keys are also backed up it takes up space and the heavier the registry is, the tougher it becomes to manage it. These empty registry keys have redundant data, invalid file associations etc which over a period start malfunctioning and starts popping errors on the screen.
Deleting the unwanted registry keys
Microsoft Windows provides a tool called Regedit.exe which can be used to gain access to the system registry. It can be opened by typing Regedit' in the run option of windows.
It represents the complete OS and software in the 5 root keys and they are -
1) HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - This contains information about the file types and includes specific file associations.
2) HKEY_CURRENT_USER - This stores information about a specific user and it takes all the keys from HKEY_USERS during the log-on process.
3) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE This has the complete information about the software and hardware installed on the system.
4) HKEY_USERS - This stores information about every user who logs onto the system and also stores keys related to each user during the log-on process.
5) HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG This stores complete data on hardware configuration of the system.
6) HKEY_DYN_DATA- All the real time data of the computer hardware is stored in this registry.
When you have to delete empty registry keys it is advisable to take help of a computer tech support professional. Registry is a complex structure to understand and if a wrong key is deleted, then it can completely bring down a system. This is the reason why Regedit procedures are run with assistance from computer repair technicians.
It is usually from the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE that you delete keys as it is whereall the software keys are placed. To clean the keys you can browse through each key and then delete the keys which are empty or null. This is a manual way of deleting registry keys, thus it is best to backup a copy of the registry before making any changes. There are also some trusted software which can do this job with a single click. In both the scenarios the registry is stripped clean of the null or empty keys.
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How to Remove Empty Registry Keys?
By: Fixit99.com
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