A corrupt registry is a likely reason to reformat your hard drive. A bloated one slows down your computer. Do regular housekeeping after installing and uninstalling and updating new versions and installing servic packs to keep this file lean and accurate. Leftover entries from previously installed software can affect the installation of your new program. Use a combination of registry cleaners to help weed out invalid listings.
If I only had time to use and download three; my choices for my XP system would be ABEXO, TrashReg and CCleaner. For Vista 32 I'd switch ABEXO for MV RegClean.
ABEXO Free Registry Cleaner. Easy to use. Tested well with XP. Did not work at all with Vista
CCleaner Spyware free donationware, (free to use please donate if you are able). Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... also comes with a comprehensive backup feature. Works OK with XP and Vista. Continually coming out with a new version.
Easy Cleaner has a registry cleaner on it that has served me well. When I tried removing duplicate files, I ended up restoring most of files I deleted, using the program. Yes, some system files need to be in your system multiple places for your software to work correctly. The program does a good job searching for unneeded files. The registry cleaner part of the program has served me well, so far for Windows 95, 98, XP and Vista.
Power Tools Lite Deletes and fixes registry errors and junk, leftover temp files, history and MRU data. Safe and easy to use. XP and Vista.
MV RegClean helps fix problems with the Windows registry that are a common cause of crashes, slow performance and error messages. Tested well under Windows XP and Vista 32.
RegSeeker clears old start up menu entries, unused files and missing references finds different errors than the others. Harder to use than the others but finds more waste. Win XP and below.
RegScrubber Cleans Windows 2000/XP/ junk registry entries. The publisher's homepage was down last time I checked so I've linked to another download site. Windows XP and below.
TrashReg Scans for and lists Windows Registry errors when the program starts. Highlight the entry to delete it. Tried manual mode only. Works well in XP and Vista.
Smart PC Solutions Clean My Registry freeware cleaner and Fix My Registry both work fine. Download auto-installs a link to sell their shareware. You may want to delete that desktop link.
NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista. Run this after running your registry cleaner.
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