The number of Registry
Cleaners applications that populate the World
Wide Web nowadays is increasing. How to determine
the reliability of each of these valuable utilities
is a significant issue which should not be left
apart. While prime task of this software is to
detect registry related errors, clean them up and
speed up a computer system, it has sometimes been
observed that they are themselves spreading viruses,
Trojans and other malwares.
Usually, regular antivirus applications detect any
infected downloaded software when they are put in
operation. Unfortunately, this security feature is
missing when using an Online Registry Cleaner.
Numerous websites now offer a "Free Registry
Cleaner" which requires no applications to be
downloaded. In fact, the "Free Registry Cleaner"
operates though the users' browser.
While antivirus applications
installed to safeguard a computer system do not
detect these "browser operations" as threats, many
of these Online Registry Cleaners are infected.
Online Registry Cleaners infected with virus,
Trojans and other similar malwares are rare. Most
online scanning applications are infected with
adware, spyware or scare-ware.
Such infected Online Cleaners
inconspicuously install adware, spyware and
scare-ware on the computer being scanned and later
harass the computer user by engendering illegitimate
actions like:
1. Replacing the Homepage in
Internet Explorer settings.
2. Redirecting browsers to show adverts.
3. Popup windows showing offers.
4. Popup weird infection messages and advising an
application to download.
5. Other malicious computer behavior.
A second unsafe undertaking is to
download and use a Windows Registry Cleaner which
offers no backup features. Even though a backup is
most of the time skipped, it is not an insignificant
feature. While the computer user's willingness is to
use the software to better the performance of his
machine, it may happen that the downloaded software
causes some malfunctions or faults in installed
applications. Altering or deleting a Registry Key
may well completely kill useful and working
applications. Such happenings will compel the
computer user to completely uninstall and re-install
the faulty application. How irritating such
happenings will be in cases where setup files are no
more available or original product keys are
untraceable!
As such, it is advisable to list
and compare the features of a couple of Windows
Registry Cleaners before opting for one. It is
important to look for how the product is presented.
Is the website clean and well structured? Is the
website scanned and tested by antivirus applications
like McAfee or TrendMicro? Are payment pages SSL
secured? All these factors will help in assessing
the trustworthiness of the Registry Cleaner
application to choose.
