Look at it this way if you put client files into a file cabinet (registry) and you only remove part of that file when you no longer have that client. Over time you file cabinet becomes full. Now you have to get another file cabinet (registry expands). Over time you have a warehouse full of file cabinets, and need to find file on Mr. Smith. While you may know exactly where that cabinet is located, you still have to walk through that warehouse and then look through the files. Now imagine those old files (orphaned keys) were cleaned out once a month. You now have your files in a small room in back of your office. Do you think you could find it faster? Or better yet if you got 30 keys on a key ring and only one opens the door, do you leave them there because they are not hurting anything? Think about this. Those orphaned keys causes your PC to use more processing power, however small it may be, means increased load on CPU. Increased load on CPU shortens life expectancy. This in turn means buying new CPU, or whole new computer. Also it takes more electricity for more processing. Are the differences huge? Probably not, but then again a penny saved is a penny earned. So how can leaving unused registry entry's not have an impact? I am really curious to know.
Sorry the filing cabinet analogy is wrong, When you start a program, it does NOT sort through the registry (aka filing cabinets) to find the appropriate keys - it goes directly to them because it knows where they are, so it doesn't matter whether you have 2 "filing cabinets" or sixty, the seek time is exactly the same. That's why orphaned entries have little or no effect on performance. The only time it might have some effect is on boot up, but the average user won't normally notice.