How Registry Cleaners Work
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Registry Problem Causes
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Windows' registry is an ever-changing database comprising the heart of your operating system. Everyday computing can cause registry problems over time because outside forces are constantly adding entries to and deleting from the database, such as:
Installing and uninstalling application software and peripheral devices like printers and scanners.
Downloading e-mail attachments with viruses.
Browsing the Internet.
Crashes from application software.
Installing application software with bugs in it.Third-party registry cleaners delete duplicate and unwanted entries, as well as orphans left from incomplete software uninstalls. Cleaners also tidy up the database and keep it clean. Note: If your computer is several years old, any registry cleaner can only do so much to improve speed and performance. Hardware limitations may hinder the results.
What Needs Cleaning
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A corrupt registry may lock up your computer and display the Windows "Blue Screen of Death." Cryptic error messages could appear that relate to ActiveX, DLL, .exe, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. Your computer may seem sluggish and Internet browsing may be slower. Other hardware, such as a printer, may seem to malfunction.
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Get Clean
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Registry cleaners, also known as PC tune-up tools, are plentiful on the Internet for download. Most run a free scan of your registry before you buy so you can see how many problems they find. Different cleaners count "errors" in different ways. A single error fragmented across different sections of the registry may count as one error or several, depending on the cleaner.
A cleaner's speed is no indication of its power or thoroughness. A good cleaner will not ask you to tell it what to fix after it scans your registry, but make repairs automatically.
To assess a cleaner's effectiveness, note the number of errors found, then the number of fixes made. If the figures are close, the cleaner is pretty accurate. If fixes are far fewer than errors counted, the cleaner either counts fragmented errors separately, or doesn't fix everything it finds. Run multiple scans in succession. If the cleaner keeps finding different errors, it's not thorough. It's also OK to run multiple registry cleaners for maximum scrubbing, but don't be alarmed if they reveal different types of problems. Each cleaner has its own error detection methods.
Good Cleaners
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Before making any fixes, a cleaner should back up your current registry and make it easy to restore if anything goes wrong. It should let you schedule regular registry scans, run them automatically, and automatically fix whatever it finds. It should also defragment your registry, pulling all the data together and putting it in order on your hard drive so your computer can access the registry more quickly and easily.
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