Computer Registry - How To Clean Up Computer Registry?

If you arrive to this article I believe that you already know that most of your computer problems or errors are originated from the registry of your system. I wonder if you have asked people: "how to clean up computer registry?". Before cleaning up your system you have to know that there are two major causes of the errors, which will affect your PC's performance.

• Unclean registry happens if you delete a software manually without going through the process of uninstallin which is why there are unused files/data that saturate your registry. If you have done this a lot of times, you will notice how it affects your computer.
• Registry Crash could be a much greater problem. One of the possible causes is incompatible hardware driver. Sometimes, forcing a software to install even though an error message occurs during the installation, could be the problem as well. this might lead to a more serious problem, which we know as blue screen of death

It is important to note that even though you always do proper process to keep your registry clean and safe, your computer will still slow down gradually. This happens if you have used your PC/laptop for months and you never do a regular maintenance.

Windows has its own maintenance programs such as disk defragmenter or disk clean up, which can certainly help you keeping your computer registry organized.

By doing maintenance regularly, your computer should perform better. However, organized does not mean clean.

When you do the maintenance regularly with windows tools, all of unused files are kept together in a particular space of your disk, so to say. If you never perform the maintenance all the files are spread all over your system.

You may have noticed that there are many registry cleaner software available on the market, which are created to help you clean the essential part of your system. You may perform the scanning every day to make sure your computer never runs slow again and you do not have to be frustrated with the errors again.

There are some versions of registry software that provides many features with your purchase. The features such as built-in scheduler, junk files cleaner and more are given to you in order to make it more convenient for its users.

You are advised not to make a buying decision too early. You might end up buying the registry software that is not in the best quality.

Feel Free to visit How to clean up computer registry to read details about the reviews of several best registry softwares and their features.

Article source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Computer-Registry---How-To-Clean-Up-Computer-Registry?&id=897606

Free Registry Cleaner Download

Most of this generation people use computer on a daily basis and feel the frustration when their computer starts to slow down or show up many errors. You feel annoyed and are unable to finish your works on time, play your game comfortably, or do anything on your computer. The most common and major reason that ruins your computer's performance is the system registry. Most of the errors are caused from your unclean registry. That is why a lot of people try to fix their system by downloading free registry cleaner.

Registry is the core of your system, in which all information are stored as algorithm. It does not only contain the software information but hardware as well.

The more frequent you install and remove a software, the worse your registry becomes. Of course it is not wise to stop removing the software you have installed. Maintain your registry on a regular basis is the solution to that kind of problem. Another way is to format your hard drive and reinstall the system once every year. But you do realize how inconvenient it would be plus you do have important data stored in your hard drive.

There are a lot of free registry cleaners that you can download to test if the problems on your computer are fixable. Once having the registry cleaner installed on your computer you can just simply scan your computer to address what problems may have affected your computer's performance. Most of them are fixable, of course after you have fixed the problems, you are advised to do a regular maintenance.

Registry Easy and Reg cure are two popular cleaners. Both of them have a user friendly interface that allow their users to maintain their system with only a couple of simple clicks.

You should have known how much it costs to have a computer technician fix your computer. If you can do it yourself easily in less than 3 minutes, why do you have to pay other to do it for you? Check out the best software review at free registry cleaner download.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Free-Registry-Cleaner-Download&id=904028

6 Reasons to Clean Your Windows Registry

You know that registry is the most influential part of your windows operating system. You also know that you have to keep it running smoothly in order to prevent any problems that may occur with your operating system. However, it is often that people ignore it. Let me highlight 6 Reasons to clean your Windows Registry.

• Reason # 1: Prevent Registry Bloating
  By regularly cleaning your registry, you are preventing the accumulation of unused/unwanted junk data within it. Having a compact and stable registry presents you an error-free computer that you will enjoy for a long time, you will as well notice how your computer performance improves significantly.
• Reason # 2: Remove Corrupt Registry Entries
  Registry is the most accessed component in your system. That is why the chances that errors might occur are very high. The errors occur because of the corrupted and incorrect entries as well as fragmented files. A cleaner tool makes your system more stable, which will prevent further errors as it is easier to access.
• Reason # 3: Boost System Performance
  A clean registry is easier to access. The easier it is to access, the faster will your system run.
• Reason # 4: Fix Windows Errors
  Many Windows errors such as DLL errors, driver errors, ActiveX errors, and code errors or even the infamous blue screen of death can be fixed by cleaning up and repairing it. Thus, when you clean up and fix it, you are fixing your PC/laptop by resolving many of these errors. That is why a periodic registry cleanup becomes a very important activity in maintaining a system that is free of errors.
• Reason # 5: Improve System Efficiency and Stability
  When you found that your computer speed is degrading, your system suddenly freezes, Windows error messages occurs frequently, or your system crashes, you should clean your registry before your system goes beyond repair. Therefore, you are advised to improve the system efficiency and stability before those problems happen with regular maintenance.
• Reason # 6: Get Rid of Malware
  There are hidden and embedded malware registry data in your system, which often go undetected by anti-virus and anti-spyware utility, This is exactly when the cleaner comes to save the day, it helps you to get rid of malware because they can scan deeper into your system.

I hope you enjoy the article as much as I enjoy writing it. You are invited to visit my site and grab a free PDF that contains ten tips to keep your computer running smoothly and safely at 6 Reasons to Clean Your Windows Registry

Article source : http://ezinearticles.com/?6-Reasons-to-Clean-Your-Windows-Registry&id=907201

RegCure Review

Windows are still notorious for accumulating huge amounts of obsolete and invalid entries in the registry. That is why people are trying to protect and prevent these problems. Today there are a lot of registry cleaner programs available on the market either free or paid, unfortunately there is no perfect one that can really clean your registry as a whistle, but do not lose hope because there are some that are close to being great.

Regcure is one of them, it is a simple yet powerful software. It can significantly save your time because it provides an easy interface that even a non-techie can use. Once the program starts you can scan for 11 different types of registry entries, which include left behind software uninstall, shared DLLs, application paths, startup items, program shortcuts, COM/ActiveX entries, empty registry keys and others of less importance like file associations and Windows Fonts .

You are allowed to do a schedule scanning that simplifies your every day activities, you do not need to worry about your windows' registry anymore since you have set the programs to run automatically. However, you still have to do some simple clicks after the scan is finished such as fixing your registry.

You can as well manage your start up. Selecting which programs to run when the system starts is a very good alternative to boost your PC performance. This saves your system from being bombarded by the programs that you do not even need.

I think you have heard of windows tool called system restore, regcure has a similar tool that creates a restore point for you registry whenever you want. In case something might happen to your registry such as unwanted deletion or system errors, you can easily restore from the last restore point you created.

Similar like other registry cleaner, it also provides a backup mechanism for any repaired files so that you can easily recover any changes if required and junk files cleaner that you can use to remove the files that you no longer need, such as cookies, temporary internet files, your windows temporary files, and much more.

RegCure ran very fast, in under only 3 minutes! This is the fastest registry cleaner ever.

Cure Your Registry and boost Your Computer's Speed Today

Disk Clean up For Windows

Disk Cleanup Utility

To keep a PC running smoothly, regular maintenance is critical. Many users shy away from maintenance tasks, thinking it is a long, drawn out manual affair, but the Disk Cleanup Utility can easily determine which files on a hard drive may no longer be needed and delete those files. In addition to freeing up potentially significant amounts of hard drive space, using Disk Cleanup on a regular basis can significantly improve system performance.

Starting Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is available on both Home and Professional versions of XP. The utility can be accessed in any of the methods listed below.

• Click Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup
• Click Start | Run and in the Open box type cleanmgr and click OK
• In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Use the drop down menu arrow to select the drive you want to clean.

Click [OK] and Disk Cleanup will analyze the selected drive to determine the amount of space that can be freed.

Note: Be patient. Analyzing the drive can be a lengthy process depending on drive size and contents.

Once the drive analysis is complete a list of file categories will be presented for your selection.

Instead of automatically proceeding with cleanup once the drive analysis is complete, Disk Cleanup allows you to review the categories of files that can be deleted. Click on any of the categories to display more information relative to that category in the Description section of the window. If you're unsure if you want to delete the files in a category from the description, use the [View Files] button. A complete list of files scheduled for deletion will be displayed in Windows Explorer. Use drag and drop to move any files you want to save to a safe location and leave the category selected. If all the files are to be saved, close the window and then remove the checkmark from the file category so it will not be included in the disk cleanup. After all the categories have been reviewed, click [OK] to begin the disk cleanup process.

File Categories in Disk Cleanup Utility

There are a number of different types of file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when it performs the initial disk analysis. Depending on the individual system, you may or may not have all the categories listed below. An excellent example of this would be Backup Files from a Previous Operating System. If a clean install of XP was performed then this category will not exist. It pays to click on each of the categories and note that the [View Files] button can change depending on the category selected.

• Downloaded Program Files

These are ActiveX controls and Java applets downloaded from Web sites that are temporarily stored in the Downloaded Program Files folder. It's not program files or zip files that you have downloaded from other locations.

• Temporary Internet Files

This refers to Internet Explorer's cache of Web pages that are stored on the hard drive for quicker viewing. None of your personal web settings are affected by selecting this category, nor does it delete any cookie files.

• Recycle Bin

The main thing to be aware of in this category is that it only refers to the Recycle Bin for the selected hard drive or partition. This is important since XP uses an individual Recycle Bin for each drive and partition, not just one as is the case in some Windows versions.

• Temporary Remote Desktop Files

These files are the result of using the Remote Desktop utility. If you repeatedly use Remote Desktop with the same computer or group of computers, leaving these files intact will maintain the speed of future connections. Deleting them will necessitate downloading the remote systems icons and wallpaper the next time a connection is established.

• Setup Log Files

These are really pretty useless unless you have a specific reason to go back and see what occurred during XP setup.

• Backup Files For Previous Operating System

I mentioned this category earlier as one you may not have, but if you did upgrade from a previous Windows version and selected the option to be able to uninstall XP, it may well exist. It takes some major hard drive space to copy all the files necessary to back up a previous system's core files, drivers, etc. This entry can range anywhere from a few hundred megabytes up to a gigabyte, so unless you are still considering dumping XP this is a good category to select.

• Offline Files

Users with slower dialup connections and those using laptops frequently make websites they use often available offline. Depending on how many levels deep you save the sites, they can eat up gigabytes of hard drive space very quickly. Worse than taking up space, the sites often contain outdated information. A good candidate for deletion.

• Compress Old Files

Unlike the other categories, Compress Old Files doesn't delete any files from the drive. It compresses files that Windows hasn't accessed for a specified period of time. The files are still available, but there will be a slight increase in access times because the files will be decompressed the next time they are accessed. Note that when Compress Old Files is highlighted an Options button appears. Clicking it will allow you to set the number of days to wait before an unaccessed file is compressed.

There may be other categories that appear in your Disk Cleanup window, but in all cases, highlighting the item will display an explanation of the category in the Description area.

More Options Tab

In addition to the categories that appear on the Disk Cleanup tab, the More Options tab offers additional opportunities for freeing up hard drive real estate. There is nothing on this tab that isn't available elsewhere within XP in stand alone fashion, but having them grouped here does serve as a convenient reminder.

In Windows XP there are three choices available on the More Options tab: Windows Components, Installed Programs, and System Restore.

• Windows Components

The Cleanup button in the Windows Components section launches the Windows Components Wizard. Select a general category of components and drill down using the Details button to locate the desired Windows component.

• Installed Programs

The Cleanup button in the Installed Programs section opens the Add/Remove Programs dialog box. Any installed program can be removed by selecting the individual program and clicking the Change/Remove button. You cannot batch programs together to be removed. Each removal operation must be treated as a separate entity.

• System Restore

Clicking the Cleanup button in the System Restore section opens a dialog box where it asks if you are sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore point. The difference between using this option and going directly to System Restore is that you have no option to selectively delete restore points with this method. It's "all but most recent" or nothing when accessed via Disk Cleanup. Click Yes or No depending on your choice.

Post Disk Cleanup Procedures

Using Disk Cleanup will almost certainly rid your system of a substantial amount of unneeded files. You could stop here and not suffer any ill consequences, but there are a lot of gaps and empty spaces on the hard drive where the files were removed. This would be an excellent time to run Disk Defragmenter to organize the hard drive into contiguous sections. The hard drive heads will spend less time seeking all the pieces of a file and you'll see another performance boost.

Disk Defragmenter

Disk Defragmenter Utility

As advanced as hard drives have become, one item they are not very good at is housekeeping, or maybe that should be drive keeping. When files are created, deleted, or modified it's almost a certainty they will become fragmented. Fragmented simply means the file is not stored in one place in its entirety, or what computer folks like to call a contiguous location. Different parts of the file are scattered across the hard disk in noncontiguous pieces. The more fragmented files there are on a drive, the more performance and reliability suffer as the drive heads have to search for all the pieces in different locations. The Disk Defragmenter Utility is designed to reorganize noncontiguous files into contiguous files and optimize their placement on the hard drive for increased reliability and performance.

Accessing Disk Defragmenter

Disk Defragmenter can be opened a number of different ways. The most common methods are listed below.

• Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter
• Start | Run | and type dfrg.msc in the Open line. Click OK
• Start | Administrative Tools | Computer Management. Expand Storage and select Disk Defragmenter

The first two methods take you to a standalone window containing Disk Defragmenter. The last method opens Microsoft Management Console and displays Disk Defragmenter as one of the snap-in modules. In all cases, a window similar to the one below will be displayed.

When Disk Defragmenter first opens (Fig. 01) you'll see a list of the hard drives displayed at the top of the screen. The Estimated Disk Usage Before Defragmentation and Estimated Disk Usage After Defragmentation will be blank until a drive is selected and the Analyze button is clicked. In the screen shot above, I've already analyzed the drives as evidenced by the Session Status showing as Analyzed and the Estimated Disk Usage Before Defragmentation area containing a graphical representation of the drive fragmentation.

After the Analyze button has been clicked and the process completes the window shown above (Fig. 02) opens with a brief recommendation of what action Disk Defragmenter thinks should be taken regarding the drive. It's important to note that this is just a recommendation based on the percentage of fragmented files to total files and doesn't prevent the drive from being defragmented if you feel it needs to be done and might improve system performance. If you want to go ahead and defragment without more information, click the Defragment button. If you're in agreement with their recommendation and don't want to defragment, click the Close button. Click the View Report button to view a more detailed drive analysis.

An Analysis Report contains quite a bit of additional information about the selected drive. The report shown above (Fig. 03) details the File Fragmentation status of drive WXP02-D. The top pane provides Volume information, and as you can see there are 3,851 fragmented files. This may not seem like many fragmented files, but consider that this is only a 20GB drive, which is very small by today's standards, and that 81% of the total drive space is currently unused. Look at the Average Fragments Per File number of 1.04 and this tells you that approximately 4% of the files on the drive are in two or more pieces. My experience has been that when this number reaches 1.05 the message in the quick analysis window (Fig. 02) will recommend defragmenting the drive. The bottom pane, Most Fragmented Files, lists the files in descending order that are the most fragmented.

In spite of the recommendation not to defragment this particular disk, I went ahead and clicked the Defragment button. The results of that choice are shown above (Fig. 04) in the Estimated Disk Usage After Defragmentation section. The graphical representation clearly shows that not only have the red lines depicting fragmented files been eliminated, many of the contiguous files indicated by the blue have been repositioned toward the beginning of the drive, reducing the amount of searching the drive heads have to do to locate a file. The drive in this example is not a system drive, nor does it have a paging file which would be indicated by the lime green Unmovable Files color.

After the defragmentation process completes, clicking the View Report button will bring up the Defragmentation Report (Fig. 05). It takes the exact same form as the Analysis Report (Fig. 03) but shows the post defragmentation results. The Total Files and Average File Size remain identical, but notice that Total Fragmented Files and Total Excess Fragments have been reduced to zero (0) and the Average Fragments Per File is now 1.00, indicating most or all of the files are contiguous. In addition, there are no files listed that did not defragment.