The registry is the central and hierarchal database repository used to store all hardware and software information on your Microsoft Windows XP system. In due time, a lot of obsolete and redundant information gets accumulated in the registry leading to unwarranted growth. This makes the registry unstable and increases the number of errors on your system.
A large number of registry cleaner software programs are available today that you can download and use to perform registry maintenance. In this article, we will discuss a few facts and myths about selecting and using a good registry cleaner program.
The more errors a registry cleaner program finds, the better it is.
More than the number of errors a registry cleaner software program finds, it is even more important to know the kind of errors it finds. Most of the registry cleaners base their cleaning process around one the following two methods:
- Smart and safe: Registry cleaner programs following this method search for genuine errors. If there are certain entries the program is not sure about, it takes additional steps to find out if the entry is important or not. Programs using this method might display fewer errors, but each error is well analyzed and only genuine erroneous entries are displayed. This method works as an efficient registry cleaner and optimizer by helping you get rid of actual junk in your registry.
- Bulk and Deep: Registry cleaner programs using this method, display unknown entries as errors. Programs following this method may display many more errors, but you might end up deleting many important entries from the registry. Therefore, programs using the bulk and deep method may end up increasing the number of errors on your PC instead of eliminating them.
A Registry Cleaner with backup and restore is good enough to keep your PC safe.
Almost all registry cleaner programs offer a full registry backup and restore feature. This feature can only be used to rollback changes that you have done to the registry since the last backup. Although the backup and restore feature helps you restore the registry to the last known good configuration, you may lose many other harmless changes that you would have done since the last backup.
This is where the registry cleaner programs offering undo or selective restore features come to your rescue. Selective features help you undo only those changes that are causing problems within the registry and retain all other settings as is.
Therefore, the best way to keep your PC out of trouble would be to opt for a registry cleaner program that incorporates both complete and selective restore features.
It’s enough if a Registry Cleaner cleans and repairs registry errors.
Just a simple clean and repair of registry errors is not enough. Although cleaning and repairing removes a lot of debris collected in the registry hive, it does not fix all your registry problems. When invalid and unwanted data is removed from the registry, many times, certain vacant spaces or holes get left behind. These holes fragment the registry and unnecessarily increase its size. A number of advanced registry cleaner programs can rescue you from this problem. These programs include the registry defrag feature that helps you remove registry holes, compact the registry and make it contiguous. Registry clean and repair along with registry defrag, together ensure optimal PC performance.
It is important to clean the registry on a regular basis.
The frequency of registry cleanup depends on many things. If your PC is new and you do not actively install or uninstall applications, you may not need to perform a registry scan for quite a long time. Some of the factors that determine the frequency for performing a registry scan and cleanup are listed below.
- You frequently install and uninstall applications.
- You frequently change computer hardware such as printer, monitor, and RAM.
- You do not follow proper uninstall program procedures.
- You frequently browse and download games, audio, video, and ActiveX components from the Web.
- You frequently change system configuration settings.
Maintaining a healthy registry is vital to keeping your PC at its best performance. Opting for a registry cleaner software offering smart and safe cleaning processes, both full and selective restore features, and the defragment feature, helps you keep almost all your PC problems at bay.