I know Avast (neither 4.8 nor 5) doesn't scan the registry. So what if following a spyware infection (seen that happen with "MSN+" a few years ago, was entirely my fault, I was warned, thought I could avoid the malware, I didn't). OK this said what if you're just protected with Avast, and your registry gets infected with tens of bad keys. I asked the question once a few months ago and Vlk told me that there was always a file behind a reg key. I couldn't agree more, but what if the file is gone (temp folder), or it's been removed successfully by Avast, leaving tens of registry entries behind. Obviously Avast isn't able to detect them, so it won't remove them. But, do we have to consider that once the corresponding files are gone, the registry keys don't matter anymore? I'm not sure about that at all, that's why I'm posting this thread. Intuitively I would say that bad reg keys can remain active, recreate files, and take control of the system. Also I've seen former MS antispy take care of the incident I mentioned at the beginning of this post by removing all files and registry keys resulting from the malware invasion; so to be honest, I'm not quite happy with the fact that Avast doesn't touch the registry...I know, I can use SAS or MBAM for that but I'd rather have a same product doing the cleaning, my main AV/antispy is Avast, so Avast should do it