When do you need to clean or repair Windows registry?
Although fixing your registry won’t be necessary when your system is new, within a very short period, your registry will grow as you install and remove software and hardware. Usually, after six months of regular use, updating software and adding or removing hardware, your PC’s Windows registry will become highly fragmented, with corruptions and errors. It is at this point that a Windows registry fix starts to become essential.
Fragmentation occurs because certain processes continually use the registry to incrementally modify the same values in the corresponding sections of the registry (or hives). Changes to registry entries also modify the size of the files, where the information is stored, and so file sizes may eventually exceed the registry size limits imposed by Windows. At this point any subsequent modifications to the registry will fail. Other common registry errors include:
- Missing, orphaned, broken or bad application/Windows paths, shortcuts and links
- Unwanted browser objects
- Unused or obsolete Start menu items
- Missing or corrupt application IDs
- Corrupt Active X/COM objects
- Unnecessary entries in the recent files list
- Residual and unused files and drivers
- The list is endless
None of these problems is visible unless you access the registry directly. And even then the problems are rarely obvious. Further symptoms of registry problems also include:
- Frequent error messages
- Slow start-ups
- Sluggishness
- Declining performance
- System stalls
- Severe degradation in operating speed
- Unstable and frequent application errors and crashes
- At times, even an inability to start Windows
Registry corruption, fragmentation and errors will affect the performance of a computer, impeding its stability and smooth operation. Since the Windows registry lies at the heart of a PC’s functionality, the corruption of the registry, over time, causes a parallel decline in system performance and, ultimately, possible total PC failure. And it is for this reason that regular registry maintenance or use of a registry cleaner should form a central part of your system security and maintenance program, along with your firewall and anti-virus program.
It is important to understand that trying to fix registry problems after they occur is always more difficult than preventing them in the first place, so prevention is always preferred over working to fix your registry after the fact. Regardless of how long you've owned your system or how it's used, there are many reasons why a Windows registry can become corrupted or littered with errors.
Some reasons why you may find that you need to fix registry issues include:
- you frequently install or uninstall programs
- you delete software that was never really fully "uninstalled"
- you have embedded Spyware or third party programs that revive themselves with each boot
- you have gone through a hardware install/uninstall
- you have unused but undeleted drivers on your system
Registry cleaning in a manual mode is next to impossible for even a computer-savvy user. Therefore, better choose a proper registry maintenance agent which will help you to perform this task. A registry program is a third-party registry cleaner utility that makes it easy for you to remove unwanted information from the registry. Owning a reliable registry program itself makes you a pro at fixing almost all problems related to the registry. The best part is that you get excellent results just in a few mouse clicks. Let’s discuss some of the features of a good registry program and try to establish the need to own one.
A registry program helps you scan your registry, find unnecessary information and delete it permanently from the registry. Removing unwanted information considerably helps you in optimizing the system performance and ensuring an error free system.
A reliable registry program ensures that nothing goes wrong with your system during the process of cleaning the registry. Therefore, it always backs up the registry before making any changes to it. Many advanced registry cleaners also include an undo function along with the full back up feature. Using the undo feature, you can rollback the changes made to a specific key instead of restoring the entire registry.
An efficient registry program enables you to maintain privacy on your system by enabling you to delete all traces of being online and remove all your Internet access history. The program helps you remove all debris from your system, and manage Internet Browser Help Objects (BHOs), program shortcuts, and startup applications. Some advanced programs also help you efficiently uninstall applications.
Using an advanced registry cleaner, you can also defragment your registry to make it compact and easily accessible by the operating system and applications installed on your system. Registry defragmenter makes the registry contiguous and re-indexes the registry files. In other words, defragmenting the registry considerably helps in improving your system’s performance and enhances your computing experience.
To maintain your PC in optimal working condition and keep your PC safe from malicious software, you need to be careful about what you use and install on your system. You must also follow proper procedure to uninstall programs and keep your XP system updated by installing regular security updates released by Microsoft.
You can download a reliable registry programs from the freeware collection in Registry Repair section of this blog,
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