Winferno Registry Power Cleaner

Tidying one's Windows Registry is one of the underappreciated maintenance routines in computing. A good registry cleaner excises shards of old graphics and audio drivers that may interfere with new cards or updates. Cutting back the overall bloat with outdated references will increase your boot times. Winferno Registry Cleaner is as good as most in getting the job done at a reasonable price, but there are more polished and versatile solutions available.

 

The basic program hunts down 16 categories of errors and obsolete links–everything form partially uninstalled programs to missing file references and fonts–and deletes any or all of the found errors. Unlike other programs of this type, Winferno does not have a Registry compression tool, which can speed boot times. Yet this app does have excellent safety mechanisms that back up the Registry and Windows's system state.

 

We were pleased that Winferno automatically created a System Restore point before executing any changes to our Registry. You can also schedule Winferno to do cleanings on a custom schedule. If you install and uninstall a lot of programs, drivers, and other upgrades, this little convenience can be a system saver.

 

Despite the simplicity of the interface, Winferno lacks some of the broader compression and system clean-up utilities in CleanMyPC or System Mechanic, so it is hard to justify the $29.95 price. We also experienced interface bugs like some blank Help file status screens that were unclear about whether our system had been cleaned or simply scanned. Winferno could use a bit more polish and features, but for those who like security and the convenience of scheduling, it's worth a trial download.