Do I Want a Registry Cleaner?
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"My computer seems to get more sluggish. A friend told me to clean my registry. Will that actually help, and how can I do that?"
Cleaning the Registry
Yes, your computer will operate better if you intermittently clean your Windows system registry. But first, let's describe accurately what the registry is. The registry is a database in which Windows keeps track of relationships between hardware and software.
It stocks up all the settings and choices for the operating system, hardware, software, users, and partialities of the PC. The registry manages your system startup alternatives, and keeps track of all software that's installed.
Before the introduction of the Registry in Windows 95, every software package had its own INI files to stock up configuration settings. These files tended to be scattered all over the hard drive, which made them thorny to keep track of. The centralized registry does merge all that information, but it has its own problems. Since it is a single point of breakdown, harm to the Registry can render a Windows system unbootable, and in extreme cases can only be repaired by reinstalling the operating system. (That's why backups are imperative!)
Oh, That Waxy Buildup!
Particularly on Windows 95/98 computers, it's ordinary for the registry to grow very big over time, which tends to slow down the computer's startup and can make it unstable. And even on Windows NT, XP or 200x, you can end up with lots of needless registry entries that are created when you install or remove programs on your computer. Sometimes an "orphaned" registry entry can confuse Windows during startup and cause a holdup. And in general, slimming down your registry will make Windows run faster.
The REGEDIT command will let you to view and edit the registry, but if you don't know what you're doing under the cover, just put down that pull and back away gradually. Specialized programs subsist to look at the registry, contrast what's in there to what's really on your system, and either correct or delete erroneous entries.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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