Registry Cleaner Programs - A Review of What, When and How To Use Them

Computer speed has always been a major concern with PC owners, and even more so with new higher power programs demanding more out of today's operating systems. Without cleaning the registry, the computer tends to become bogged down and this in turn, shows up as slow performance. Sometimes this can lead to a computer that just can't seem to get out of its own way!

Of course, this is less than an ideal situation. Not only is a slow running computer annoying, all the added searches it makes the operating system do put an additional, unnecessary strain on the hard drive. When it gets to this point, cleaning the registry with a good registry cleaner is the only antidote.

Not All Registry Cleaners Are the Same

When searching for a good registry-fixing program, it's important to know what features to look for. One of the most important features you should look for is the ability to back up the registry. This is a great feature because if your computer starts acting up after you have an unforeseen event, like a power outage, you can revert to the same exact registry your operating system had when your computer was working properly.

Another good feature to have is a built in scheduler. With this you can back up the registry automatically at different intervals so you'll know there will always be a good copy of your registry somewhere. Also, you can schedule registry repair and scan operations for times when you are not using the computer. This will make sure you are doing regular registry scans and will prevent the registry from ever getting overloaded and over taxed.

Optimize... It's The Only Way To Fly!

One feature I swear by is a registry optimizer. Not too many registry repair programs include this function; but it is well worth having. A clean registry is a necessity, but an optimized registry is a luxury! Whereas a registry cleaner gets rid of unneeded registry entries that just get in the way, an optimizer will work with the entries that are used all the time by putting them in order so the operating system can work through them in a much faster time. What this means in practical terms is your computer will be faster when it has been optimized than it could ever be, even when it has just been cleaned.

This optimizing step was once called compressing, but compressors often cut corners and could possibly delete registry entries you didn't want to delete even if the corresponding function of the entry hasn't been used in a long time. With the new optimizer procedure you won't have to worry about this happening.

Most Importantly

Finally, make sure you get a Vista ready registry cleaner if you are running Windows Vista. Be careful here as there are still a lot of big name registry cleaners that are not Vista ready.

When asked what is the most important computer support software to have installed on the computer, I would still have to say it is a Spyware/ malware cleaner. However, registry cleaners have become a very important support tool as well, especially on the new operating systems, Windows XP and Vista.

These two cleaners work in tandem. Use the Spyware/malware cleaner first and if anything was found and removed, the registry should be scanned and repaired because removed Spyware or malware will leave false entries in the registry.

Article Source: http://www.dummiesguideto.com

The author, Ed Lathrop is a comp TIA A+/Network+ certified computer technician familiar with the operation, repair and upkeep of today's PC's. His sites, Free Registry Repair Compare Website, and Best Antispyware Review rate the latest antispyware and registry repair programs and tells which ones work and which might actually be dangerous to your computer.

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