What is the Windows Registry?
All Windows operating systems including the Window XP version, consist of the registry that stores your system’s configuration and setup information. Any action that you perform on your PC, including running a code, double-clicking an icon or even browsing the internet, cannot be performed without referring to the registry. In fact, if you start monitoring the registry of your PC, you will notice that the registry provides hundreds of values to your operating system within a few seconds. In other words, your Windows registry is the heart and soul of your Windows PC and your PC is useless if the registry gets damaged.
Causes of Registry Damage
You can open the Registry Editor window by running the regedit.exe command. In the Registry Editor window you will see five root keys- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY-CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG. Each key stores specific types of information. Between them, the five keys store information related to file associations, current user’s preferences and settings, and configuration information related to hardware, software and the operating system installed on the system.
Whenever you uninstall an application or delete a file from your system, references to the deleted files are stored in the registry. Applications that access the registry to perform various activities, usually fail to completely remove the temporary entries they store in it. Additionally, malicious software, such as Spyware, Trojans, and Adware, also add invalid values to the registry making it unstable. As you continue to work on your PC, these obsolete and invalid values cause the registry to grow and eventually damage it.
Growth of the registry at an exorbitant rate can saturate it with redundant files and corrupt it. The majority of PCs are full of corrupt and hidden files that can lead to numerous errors and bugs in your system and damage the registry.
Corrupt and damaged registry entries can make your PC slow and full of error messages. Your system may suffer from frequent crashes, stop errors, and may also become unbootable. This makes it very important for you to periodically scan and clean the registry. Regular registry scans and repairs help in ensuring a healthy registry by keeping it free from obsolete, redundant, and invalid entries.
Performing Registry Repair
One of the best methods to perform registry repair is by using registry cleaner and registry repair utilities. You can search for and download various Windows registry repair pro utilities from the Internet to scan and fix registry errors. Windows registry repair utilities scan the registry hive and identify the causes leading to registry crashes.
They help you in safely and efficiently removing unnecessary and obsolete entries from the registry. They also help you clean the registry to improve your systems overall performance and stability. Many registry repair utilities also provide options to scan and clean the registry to remove the entries made by malware, such as Spyware and Adware.
Most of the registry repair utilities come with a user-friendly graphical interface that can be easily used by both advanced and novice users. Registry repair utilities help in removing the clutter from the registry and optimize it to ensure smooth functioning of your PC.
To sum up, we can say that loads of unnecessary and redundant information stored in the registry can considerably deteriorate your system’s performance. Regular registry scans and cleanings using registry cleaner and registry repair utilities can help you keep the registry healthy and free of errors. Additionally, regular antivirus and malware scans and security, software, and hardware updates also help to ensure an error free computing experience.