So, to sum it all up:
- Microsoft designed the registry as a vital part of the Windows operating systems.
- Microsoft failed to supply us with a registry maintenance tool to check, clean and repair the registry, and check for wrong use of the registry
- Software producers use the registry incorrectly, and don't clean up their registry entries after their software has been removed.
- So after a while the registry becomes partly a garbage bin of orphaned and badly used registry entries.
- There are certainly circumstances that these registry entries may cause serious problems.
- Never the less, Microsoft claims leaving the garbage in the registry is what you should do, after all Microsoft has no utility to solve the garbage problem.
- Microsoft also warns that using a third party registry cleaner may cause more problems because you never know how software suppliers have abused the registry.
- So if you have problems with the registry, you're left on your own using the registry editor to search the thousands of junk entries for the ones that are causing the problems. Microsoft does not offer any support.
It all sounds like a really well thought over set up, designed for a stable operating system.