The short answer to the question posed in the headline is: Yes, they can. Depending on the free programs one is using. But the real question to ask yourself is: Are free registry cleaners worth worrying about in the first place? Especially with advanced operating systems like Windows 7 and 8.
Because the registry can be a very complicated area to work on on a Windows system, the level of application-specific knowledge that an effective registry utility needs is really high. And anyone who has worked with free utilities like Eusing or CCleaner knows that they only target the safest entries to fix, while leaving a lot of empty and obsolete entries alone and untouched.
You can find out for yourself by running your favorite free utility against the trial version of any of the commercial applications to find out which registry repair does the most thorough job. If you’re not a heavy user of your computer, which means you don’t download, uninstall, or change and move files from one folder to another, then perhaps a free registry repair tool is more than enough to handle the work you do.
On the other hand, if you normally download any number of music, photo or video files on a regular basis, or make regular changes to files on your system, then it would be wise to consider finding and purchasing a reliable cleaner. . Even radio personality and computer guru Kim Komando recommends using a commercial product instead of free apps to help keep your registry in tip-top shape.
Of course, one of the other benefits of using a commercial product is the additional capabilities that are sometimes included with a registry repair tool. While most paid utilities have a registry backup capability along with a startup manager, few have the ability to recover a deleted file or find and recover your passwords for MSN, Outlook, Google Talk and other accounts.
On the other hand, there are some commercial registry cleaners that offer a free Lite version of their product for users to review and evaluate. Downloading and using one of these utilities can be the best of both worlds. Not only will it give the user a chance to see how the commercial utility can work, but it can also be tested with any free cleaner to compare the repair capabilities. If the user chooses not to purchase, the Lite version of the cleaner can still be used without a time limit to augment the work that other free utilities provide.
If you’re interested in trying out a free lite version of a registry cleaner, one that you can keep and continue to use even if you don’t end up buying the full version, there’s a link to one of the best and most highly rated utilities. in the resource box below.