How To Use a Registry Cleaner
The Microsoft Windows registry is a complex directory which stores your computer’s hardware and software settings and user preferences. When working properly, these settings enable your computer to function smoothly in order to give you a positive user experience. In essence, the registry is the central nervous system of your computer’s operations. Every time anything happens on your PC, it is recorded in the registry.
Sometimes the registry gets cluttered and loaded down with redundant directories and unwanted and unneeded instructions, and may need to be cleaned with a registry cleaner. A registry cleaner scans the registry of your system and finds broken files, links, and any other details that are not needed or used by the PC. These may even be damaging entries that take up disk space and slow down your registry’s operations. In this context, a registry cleaner should be used to scan your PC every few months, depending on how often you use your system.
There is a range of different types of registry cleaner available to buy, and each one operates differently. You may need to look at the choice of registry cleaners that are available to choose the one you think will help you most. Equally, it is advisable to seek guidance to find out what is the best registry cleaner for your computer’s set up.
There are many sites that review the top registry cleaners available, and these make your decision very much easier. The best registry cleaners will give you the chance to make backups of your registry before making any changes. Some of the top registry cleaners are RegCure, Registry Easy, Registry Smart, Registry Fix, and Error Nuker.
Installing a registry cleaner is very easy and safe, and the guidelines on how to use them are very simple to follow. Once launched, each scan will take approximately five minutes and will then display the information the cleaner believes is redundant and not needed, giving you the option to erase it. Once carried out, your PC should run smoother and operate more efficiently.
Eliminate Computer Errors and Crashes
Though there are many people who don’t yet believe registry corruption is an issue in Windows XP and Vista, the truth of the matter is registry corruption is a mortal enemy to these operating system. It can cause many problems for these operating systems and the persons who use the computers they are installed on.
A registry consists of a huge number of files and folders. Within these files and folders are pieces of code that show or point to the next place a command will find the information it is looking for. Of course, each operating system’s command will require several, maybe even millions of these pointers to find all it needs to carry out its mission.
Registry Corruption Causes Slowdowns
When pointers from no longer needed software still exist in the registry, they point to files an operation doesn’t need or worse yet, they point to a file that is no longer in the registry. This means an operation will be sent out looking for something that is useless for its completion. So, all an unneeded pointer does is waste time. These types of pointers are a form of registry corruption.
In the new, very large operating systems, one false pointer can lead the operating system hunting for a long time before it discovers the hunt will bear no fruit. Multiply this type of useless operation by thousands, maybe even millions and you will have an idea of the effect registry corruption has on your computer’s speed.
Registry corruption can make a computer slow down so badly it can no longer be used. Of course, this would take a substantial amount of corruption, but it can and often does happen. Registry corruption can also cause the computer to crash and be error prone. Even the blue screen failure has often been the result of corruption in the registry.
Registry Corruption and Viruses/Spyware Cause Similar Problems
Registry corruption may make a computer behave in a similar fashion to the way a computer operates when it is infected with spyware or a virus. Like registry corruption, spyware and viruses can also make a computer slow down and be error prone. However, where registry corruption makes the computer preform unnecessary operations, spyware and viruses steal the computer’s resources.
If all, or a high percentage of your computer’s resources are being used spyware and viruses, your computer won’t be able to perform any task, even an easy one like connect to a Web site. The way to check to see how many resources are being used is to press ctrl-alt-del, which will open up your task manager in Windows XP. If you have Vista, you will have choose “open task manager after you press ctrl-alt-del.
Even if spyware was using 80 percent of your computers resources and your computer needed to do an operation, such as connect to a web site which would require 40 percent of your CPU’s strength, your computer would react by slowing down very noticeably.
To summarize, spyware and/or viruses will make your computer slow and prone to errors and crashes. However, a corrupted registry will make a computer act in the same way.
It is not a matter of whether cleaning spyware and viruses is more or less important than scanning for and cleaning registry corruption. Doing both these things are of utmost importance for keeping your PC fast and error free. Yes, it is too bad we have to use registry cleaners and spyware/virus cleaners so we can keep are computers running well, but the fact is; we do have to.
Registry Repair for Newbies
Registry repair is an essential Windows maintenance process because all software, hardware, and user preference information is stored within your registry. Data in your registry is stored in a tree-like, hierarchal structure made up of keys, subkeys and their values.
You need to perform registry repair when the registry gets filled up with loads of unwanted keys and values that clutter it and cause registry bloating. A bloated registry gets easily damaged and creates many errors on your PC.
Registry repair is essential in the following contexts:
- You need to regularly perform registry repair if you frequently install and uninstall programs from your system.
- Registry repair is crucial if an incorrect method is used to uninstall one or more pieces of software from your PC.
- If a virus or some spyware is located on your PC, carry out registry repair to weed out any infected entries from it.
- You must carry out registry repair if your PC crashes, in order to repair any corrupt entries caused as a result of the crash.
- It is wise to carry out registry repair after you remove faulty software, a faulty device or device driver from your PC because faulty software and hardware can cause damage to your registry.
A registry repair method for beginners
Windows computers are equipped with the Registry Editor (regedit) utility that enables users to perform a certain level of registry repair. However, this utility is not simple to use and any user error can cause severe problems with your system.
This is the reason why most of the industry experts recommend the use of reliable and efficient registry repair and cleaner tools. There are many registry repair tools available on the Web, and you can search for and download a registry repair program that meets your needs from the Internet. Some of the essential features that you must look for in your registry repair tool are:
- The registry repair tool you choose must be compatible with your Windows operating system.
- The registry repair program should utilise intelligent scanning techniques to report genuine errors as problems.
- The registry repair tool should report errors based on their severity level for better understanding.
- The registry repair tool must offer features such as registry backup and registry defrag.
- If your registry repair software includes optional features like a Start-up Manager, Temporary files manager and BHO manager, it is an extra advantage.
It is advisable that you first download and utilise the trial version of the registry repair software you want to try out, and then purchase it only when you are satisfied with how it works.
How to use a registry repair tool
Scan and repair is the most essential task performed by a registry repair tool. However, before starting scan and registry repair, use your tool to backup the registry. A registry repair program will carry this out automatically before repairing your registry. If your registry repair tool does not automatically back up the registry, perform a manual backup using the backup and repair option of your registry repair tool.
Next, use the scan facility to scan your registry. After the scan is complete, all errors will be displayed on the screen. Most of the good registry repair tools enable you to automatically repair the detected errors. This facility is ideal for newbies who are not well-versed with the registry. Experienced users can go through all the errors found, and carry out registry repair on only those errors selected.