Using A PC Registry Cleaner
Run a Registry Scan and Repair
- Firstly download the PC Registry Cleaner and install it. This is very easy and takes little time.
- Close all open applications including those running in the system tray. This avoids the problem of open applications making changes to the registry whilst the registry scan is taking place.
- Leave the Registry Cleaner to run its registry scan. Do not touch the PC whilst this is happening. The time taken varies from product to product and the state of the registry being scanned.
- Once the registry scan is complete have a look at the report. Registry Cleaners use different terminology but will indicate which errors are important and give you the option to leave them alone. If in doubt just accept the programs suggestions.
- Just to be doubly safe create a System Restore Point or use a utility like ERUNT (although Vista and Windows 7 users must read the FAQ).
- You can then click the “Repair” button (or similar). At this point you will be advised that Registration is required before a repair can be run. This is made easy – provided you have a credit card to hand. Once through this step you can run the registry repair tool. Again you should leave the PC alone to get on with this.
- Once the repair is complete check the PC over. Do all the programs still run? Reboot and see if it is faster.
- Monitor the PC over a few days to see if any problems come to light. If so you can use the PC Registry Cleaner to restore the previous registry. You will need to run the scan again but restrict the changes made. Seek support from the program vendor at this point.
- Sometimes a PC Registry Cleaner will install itself in the system tray but this is not necessary, even if it just to look for updates. It is not worth running a registry scan more than once a month and although some programs have automatic schedulers it is probably better to run scans manually.
If you were to run a registry scan with multiple Registry Cleaners the result would be that each would report a different number of errors. In fact the numbers would differ a great deal. This is because each registry repair tool has its own definition of a problem and some include things that are minor housekeeping rather than real problems. Each vendor will also have to decide how “aggressive” the program should be in cleaning the registry. As there is no way of absolutely defining what is an error, the more “aggressive” the program is the higher the risk of problems afterwards. The point to take away from this is that it is not a case of the greater number of errors reported the better!
See:
Will Registry Repair Software Fix Windows Registry Problems?
If I Clean My PC Registry Could I Damage My PC?
Also note that with a PC Registry Cleaner installed it is still essential to have an anti-virus program see “Do I Need Registry Software and Anti-Virus Software?“
