Registry Cleaning & PC Speed-Up
When your computer starts acting up, it is something to worry about because you don't know if there is something fundamentally wrong with it or if it is something easy to fix. What not many people know is that a computer that is acting up may not be showing any signs of a serious problem that could lead to a crash. It could be a problem with an internal part of how the computer works called the registry.
When your computer starts up, it knows what to do. When you click on your profile, it knows what picture to use in the background, what icons to show on your desktop, what will be in your startup menu and even what screen saver you will use. Have you ever wondered how your computer keeps all this information sorted out? It does it with a small file of information that serves as the internal roadmap of how your computer operates. That roadmap is called the registry.
Because things change so quickly in how your computer interacts online, the registry goes through a huge amount of modification each day and week. The result is that it can often get "cluttered up" with dead links, entries that are no longer valid or slots in the list of things for your computer to do that are blank which can cause the computer to freeze up. In a perfect world, the PC registry would take good care of itself and you would never have to worry about it. But in reality, performing routine registry cleaning is necessary or your computer will begin to act like it is sick. It isn't sick. You just need to run a good registry cleaner software.
Do it Yourself?
Microsoft gives users the tools to make changes to the registry. There is a program that comes with windows called "regedit". You can actually run it yourself and as soon as it starts up, you will be looking at the registry that runs every aspect of how your PC operates. Microsoft gives to us great instructions on how to use regedit here - http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/tools_regeditors.mspx?mfr=true
But there is one very simple guideline that you should regard with the greatest of priority when it comes to using regedit. That guideline is simply put as….
DON'T!
Regedit is a very basic utility that will let you do anything you want to do to your registry. There are no protections that would stop someone who doesn't understand the registry from doing some serious harm to their computer. It is one of those utilities that was created by the very technically savvy programmers who created Windows to give them the ability to make adjustments to how the operating system runs while it is running.
You should never get into regedit if you are not fully trained on what to do and what not to do. It is entirely possible to delete the wrong thing in regedit and bring your system down just as drastically as a hard disk crash. Regedit is not a utility that is for users who are not technical experts in the inner workings of Windows to be fooling around with. In fact, it is best if you completely disregard anything you learn on the link we gave to you above and never start regedit yourself at all.
Nonetheless, everyone who wants to operate a PC at its peak performance needs a way to clean up the registry when the computer begins to perform badly. Instead of attempting this clean up yourself, there are good registry cleaning programs that you can get that can become part of your standard arsenal of computer tools that you use to keep your system working well.
You can find a wide diversity of programs that will do the job for you by using a search engine with the phrase "registry cleaning software". Of course, as is true of any product you might shop for on the internet, you will find good ones and you will find products that are fakes or that could harm your registry. That is why it is good to know some tips on….
How to Pick the Right Registry Cleaner Software
It is a good start when you set out to find good registry cleaning software to regard it with the same seriousness that you gave to buying your internet security software. You do not want to turn over this vital task and give access to your registry to some software that may do more harm than good. Keep in mind that the one part of your computer that hackers and people who would download spyware or virus software would love to get inside of is your registry because using it, they can learn anything they want about your computer and virtually take it over.
To be blunt, there is a lot of junk out there on the interent being sold or given away free under the title of being "registry cleaning software". As a rule, it is wise to avoid free utilities that perform this function entirely. While there may be a few free registry cleaning software packages in cyberspace that can do the job, there are far more that will be dangerous to your computer or that are fronts for spam, adware or other malicious software. It pays to be skeptical and guard your computer before you set off a software program that will affect your registry.
Use the same wisdom you used when investing in your internet security software when buying registry cleaning software for your PC. In fact, check your menus of the package you may be using for online security. Often good programs like Norton or McAfee either come with registry cleaning utilities or there will be a link to upgrade your package to get a reliable registry cleaning utility from a company you already know and trust.
So.. Before you format your PC.. Try a few of the obvious registry optimisers...
Here's one we recommend: 1-Click-Fix
There is one other guideline to go by when you do find good registry cleaning software and you buy it and get it installed. That guideline is…
USE IT!
You should run your registry cleaning software routinely. That routine can be once a month but it is still an important part of keeping your computer running well. If the software comes with a scheduler, set it up to run every couple of weeks. You can always run it on an as needed basis as well. The important thing is you put the time and the resources into finding registry cleaning software that you can trust. So put that software to work keeping your registry working in tip-top shape. You will be glad you did.
Filed Under: Product Reviews • Real World Computing
