If you need to repair the registry in Microsoft RegClean is one of the registry cleaners on the market that you can use to do the job.

Why would you need to repair the registry?

Registry repair is necessary if your computer is running very slow, the start ups and shut downs take forever, and it freezes at random times.

What does the registry do, and why does it get corrupt?

The registry stores files that Windows constantly accesses in order to run programs. Simply put, if your Windows PC did not have a registry, it would cease to operate. All kinds of files are stored in the large database, and new files are placed inside the registry all the time. This happens even when you are going from web page to web page. But because so many new files are stored inside it, the registry eventually gets way too big, and that is when you start seeing all the system problems that we mentioned above.

What Do I Need to Do to Fix the Registry?

You can try to fix the registry on your own, but if you do this, you are taking a big chance. Registry repair is very delicate, and it is easy to make a costly mistake. Your best bet is to get a registry cleaner that will perform a scan of your computer, find errors, help you remove them, and this type of software will also work to keep future errors from causing problems down the road.

In this article, we are going to discuss how registry repair programs work, with an emphasis on RegClean. This product was developed by a company called 2Squared Software. RegClean is relatively new, at least compared to other registry cleaners.

Let's look at the characteristics of registry cleaners such as RegClean. XP, Vista and other Windows platforms rely on the registry in order to operate. Windows would not run if it were not for the registry. All kinds of files are stored in this giant database, and new files are being added all of the time. This happens when you add new software and hardware programs to the system, but it also occurs each time you check out a website. Because of this, the registry just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and eventually it gets so big and bloated that other applications will slow, and your computer will suffer a number of problems. These issues include freezes and crashes, slow start ups and shut downs, and web surfing that moves at a snail's pace.

A registry cleaner will scan your PC and find errors and corrupted files, giving you the option to get rid of them. The best registry repair programs will also shut off programs that you never use and are only wasting system resources. Also, the best registry cleaners will let you schedule future scans. You also want a program that is easy to use, and provides reliable customer service, just in case you encounter any questions or problems.

Popular software products such as RegCure Registry Cleaner are often plagued by software piracy, which, unfortunately, is very common these days. Many people may unknowingly commit copyright infringement acts by downloading license keys from shady sources on the Internet, which is both a personal risk, and a criminally punishable offense in most countries, including the US and Europe.

Read this article to make sure you know about the risks and threats involved in downloading illegal copies of computer software such as RegCure Registry Cleaner, before you get into trouble without even realizing it.

What is software piracy?

Internet software piracy is one of the most common type of copyright infringement today. It includes practices and activities which involve unauthorized copying or downloading of computer software. If we take RegCure as an example, downloading or uploading copies of this software using BitTorrent or other P2P technology such as eMule or Kazaa constitutes piracy, as does downloading illegal license keys for RegCure.

What are the legal risks of software piracy and why should you care?

As stated above, software piracy is a criminal offense punishable by law in most countries. Because software piracy is widespread, vendors and copyright protection organizations are pushing harder and harder to combat it.

In the past few years there have been quite a few high-profile cases of lawsuits against users downloading or distributing software illegally. A recent example involves 26-year-old Daniel Dove convicted by the federal jury for both felony copyright infringement and conspiracy. Dove now faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the US Department of Justice. Other persons involved in this case plead guilty, served several months in prison, and paid fines of $3,000.

What you should know when using P2P to avoid legal charges

What many users don't know, is that P2P technology like BitTorrent makes it incredibly easy to track the IP address (and often the postal address and other personally identifiable information) of the unsuspecting user. Which means downloading RegCure license keys from illegal or shady sources puts people at risk of being identified and charged.

What is even more dangerous, is that peer-to-peer technology by its very design makes every user a distributor of the item being downloaded, since every file is "seeded", that is, shared, at the time of download. And since distributing illegal software is a more serious offense than simply downloading it, to avoid civil or criminal charges users should stay clear of untrusted download sources.

What are other threats of illegal downloads?

Many sites that distribute illegal license keys for software such as RegCure will try to hijack your browser, or install spyware or adware on your PC. A machine can be completely compromised and becomes a "zombie", which means it can be used to send spam, worms, and other malware and infect other PCs without the consent or knowledge of the PC owner.

P2P software is often guilty of the same thing. The notorious Kazaa software, according to Wikipedia (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa#Bundled_malware), includes 2 spyware, 3 adware, and 3 hijackers, which are secretly installed on the user's machine without the possibility to uninstall.

How to stay safe

To be safe, users should stay away from untrusted sites that offer to download illegal copies, keys or licenses for popular software such as RegCure, and install a reputable antivirus and antispyware application to help prevent attacks on their PCs.

MSConfig is a utility program for Windows PCs. It allows you to view and edit many different settings related to your PC's operation. Many of these settings reside in the registry of your PC. The registry is a database that was created by Microsoft a number of years ago to provide a place to store information about the hardware and software configuration of your PC.

MSConfig is more than just an editor of these settings. After you have made a change using MSConfig it monitors the changes you have made and controls the startup of your system based on these changes.

1. Locate your Windows menu, then click "Start" (or the Orb if you are using Windows Vista).
2. At this point click "Run"
   If you do not have a "Run" option? Search the internet for how to enable the "Run" option on your start menu.
3. Type "msconfig.exe" (without the quotes) and click "OK".

If that does not work for starting up MSConfig, it may not be on your PC or it may not be in the search path for executing programs. You might try looking in this directory: c:/windows/pchealth/helpctr/binaries (forward slash should be replaced with backslash, ezinearticles doesn't seem to like backslashes) with File Explorer or My Computer. If you find it you can just double-click on the "exe" file to start it. If you do not find "MSConfig.exe" on your machine, then go to Microsoft's website and do a search for "msconfig.exe". Download the appropriate version for your version of Windows.

After MSConfig starts up a window is displayed containing tabs for setting different options. On machines running Windows such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP the window display six tabs: "General", "SYSTEM.INI", "WIN.INI", "BOOT.INI", "Services" and "Startup". On Windows Vista machines the window will display five tabs: "General", "Boot", "Services", "Startup", and "Tools". Microsoft is moving away from using the "SYSTEM.INI" and "WIN.INI" files with Vista. The "SYSTEM.INI" and "WIN.INI" tabs have been removed and a new tab "Tools" is shown. One minor annoyance is that this window is not resizable.

Click the "Startup" tab. This window displays information which comes from different places, but much of the information is from the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run (I have replaced the backslash with a forward slash in this key, ezinearticles does not seem to like backslashes) key in your registry. As I mentioned earlier, the window is not resizable, but at least the columns are resizable. And since some registry keys are quite long you may have to enlarge and reduce the columns to see all of an item. The items that are registry keys (e.g. starting with "HKLM") could be edited with a program called RegEdit, but that can corrupt your registry if you make a mistake.

With MSConfig you will notice that there are checkboxes next to the startup items. Caution! If you are uncertain what these items represent, then just look! If you uncheck an item, it will not be run at the next startup. Unchecking an item does not remove it from your system, it just disables it. If you uncheck an item and click the "Apply" button, MSConfig will prompt you to restart your system or exit without restart. One item that I frequently uncheck are programs that bug me to do an update. These reminder programs consume memory and sit ion my system tray unnecessarily. Apple Quicktime and Adobe Reader are two examples. If you have unchecked any items, then MSConfig will monitor your system at startup thereafter and prevent them from running. One slightly confusing aspect of MSConfig's operation is that it will present you with the option to restart your system or exit without restarting each time your system starts. Ordinarily you will click the exit without restarting option.

If you wish to restore your system to regular operation, then just re-check any boxes you unchecked, click the "Apply" button and MSCOnfig will not run at startup.

Before you download a free registry cleaner maybe you should read this!

On PCs running the Windows operating system, the registry is a database within a set of files that stores

information about programs that are loaded on your Windows PC as well as Windows itself.

In addition the registry contains information about machine and user configuration settings. Programs add information to the registry as they are installed. During regular use of many programs they will store information in the registry as well.

For example, I am sure a number of the programs you use remember the most recently used files. This frequently shows up as a list underneath the file menu for the program. It is common to store this list of files in the registry. Each time the program starts

it retrieves this list from the registry and displays it for you. As you access new files it adds them to the list and stores them in the registry. And as a result, over time the registry becomes larger. Often programs don't properly remove data from the registry during use. Frequently when programs are uninstalled the program may leave information in the registry. Running registry cleaners on later versions Windows systems such as Windows XP or Windows Vista may not result in a measurable performance gain, but older versions of Windows such as Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME may benefit from reducing the size of the registry. However, even if you do not realize a performance gain from a registry cleaner, there is something to be said for "cleaning up" the registry. But some programs use the registry for surreptitious purposes. Viruses, adware, spyware, and

malware may put information in your registry that will, at best, annoy you, and

at worst cause harm to your computer system or steal valuable personal information. The registry is also used by the Windows operating system when the system starts up. The registry contains information about which programs and services the system will run at startup time. If a virus, adware, spyware, or malware program infects your computer, it may insert information into the registry to start up each time you run your computer. Sometimes it is difficult to detect. And even the most knowledgeable of users will

sometimes find it hard to identify legitimate entries in the registry from bogus ones. Most anti-virus programs will scan the registry for viruses, but may not attempt to detect adware, spyware, and some malware.

Free Registry Cleaners There are some free registry cleaners available, but beware. Some alleged registry cleaners

(masquerading under a number of different names) are in fact malware. Be sure and thoroughly check out any freeware registry cleaners before you unleash them on your system. Even if it is free, or maybe especially because it is free, only download software written by reputable vendors. And only download software from reliable websites. You may have to do some internet searching to verify the credentials of the software and sites, but the effort spent can save you much grief and heartache. If your browser (e.g. Firefox and Internet Explorer) has security settings to check websites, make sure you turn on those options before visiting websites and downloading software. There are also toolbars for your browser that can warn of malicious websites.