What are empty registry keys?
Empty registry keys are usually of no value in the registry and they just add up to the size of the registry. One of the most common causes of these empty keys are the placeholders left behind when you uninstall various applications and software from your computer. Many times, when you run a tool to remove unwanted keys from the registry, they may also just remove the malicious or unwanted value but fail to remove the entire key.
These empty registry keys, also known as registry holes, do not cause any direct harm to your system, but they do considerably increase the size of the registry. Many other factors such as the accumulation of a large number of obsolete, redundant data, invalid shared DLLs, and incorrect files associations also add to the size of the registry. This uncontrolled growth of the registry may cause severe damage by corrupting and fragmenting registry files.
A damaged registry can cause havoc on your Windows computer. Most of the errors, such as system errors, fatal errors, and even the dreaded Blue Screen of Death are caused by a malfunctioning registry.
How to remove empty registry keys and other registry errors
By default, Windows includes a Registry Editor that you can open by running the “Regedit” command. When the Registry Editor opens, you will see a Windows Explorer-like folder structure. The Windows registry is basically comprised of five root keys that further contain subkeys and values within them. You can browse through the Registry tree and search for unwanted and empty registry keys and delete them manually. However, manual removal is not safe and even a small mistake can cause severe damage to the registry.
Therefore, it is best to opt for a registry cleaner such as RegServe that provides you with registry repair, defragmentation, and backup features.
Using a registry cleaner, you can easily scan the registry and remove invalid DLL entries that can cause application failure, uninstall invalid entries left behind due to incorrect program uninstallation, and delete invalid COM/ActiveX entries from the registry to prevent software failures and information loss. Registry cleaners also make it easy for you to remove invalid font entries and incorrectly referenced program paths.
You must always follow up the registry scan and repair process with registry defragmentation. Whenever entries are removed from the registry, there are chances of registry holes being left behind. Regularly defragging the registry helps you remove these unwanted vacant registry keys, which also enables you to compress the registry. Defragging also helps in re-indexing the fragmented registry files and considerably improves the data access time of your computer.
You can also use the registry cleaner to easily create backups of the registry, especially before making any major configuration changes to your PC or installing a new application. Creating regular registry backups also helps you to restore the registry in case it fails and you want to fix it.
Registry cleaners are easy to download, install, and configure. You can schedule them to run at regular intervals to ensure that your system is free from errors, and that you will have an enhanced computing experience.