CCleaner and Norton Advanced Issues

[mclbri]

After I ran the CCleaner Pro and removed recommended items to clean and after I ran the CCleaner  Registry cleaner I ran Norton SmartClean, and at the advanced Issues (which is not in my Norton subscription - I can run it, but not fix them without moving the subscription up) Norton says that I have 630 broken registry keys and 10688 Mb of clutter. The clutter is small, but how can I have so many broken registry keys according to Norton. Did CCLeaner miss those keys or are they nonexistent? Are the test run by each that different? Who do I trust?

[nukecad]

Different cleaners do different things, and clean different things.

Whilst no Registry Cleaner can be considered totally safe to use regularly, the one in CCleaner is considered 'mild' when compared to others because it is not as agressive in what it cleans.

Even then regular use of CCleaners Registry Cleaner should be avoided.

Registry cleaning is an advanced tool sometimes used when trying to fix an already broken machine.
Using it regularly on a machine that isn't broken runs the risk of breaking something, or even bricking the whole machine, - you will find posts in this forum where exactly that has happened.

Registry cleaning will not make your machine run any faster, or any 'better', and the space it may save is only a few KB.

Windows 10/11 changes the registry too often to make using any registry cleaner totally safe.

For the official Piriform advice on using the CCleaner Registry Cleaner see this: https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/59952-i-get-a-registry-error-on-ccleaner-on-windows-10-i-have-scanned-5-times/?tab=comments#comment-326804

Here is Microsofts' advice on using any Registry Cleaner:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/2563254/microsoft-support-policy-for-the-use-of-registry-cleaning-utilities

[mclbri]

Basically I should only use it if I have a problem or I may brick my computer or require a windows reinstall. I had thought the difference between CCleaner and Norton  was due to different degrees of error search and did think CCleaner was a relatively cautious one.

I was using it quite often but see the problem with that. The references you gave made that clear.

Thanks for the quick  response. Now if I was in Cumbria, and not in Canada, I would definitely buy you a beer.