If you are wondering if you should try to use a Microsoft registry cleaner on your computer, considering the following:

Microsoft registry cleaners do a great job of improving the overall performance of your computer, as well as the speed at which it operates. A Microsoft registry cleaner will get rid of the temporary files that have a nasty habit of clogging up your system. This is something that is very common among computers that run any kind of Windows operating system. If you have been using your computer for quite some time and it seems to be running slower, or is crashing on a regular basis, using a Microsoft registry cleaner will fix the problems.

Registry entries that are obsolete can also cause a lot of problems in your computer, and subsequently you! Registry entries are no longer needed when they conflict with software and hardware already on your system. This also happens when the entries become damaged. If you use a Microsoft registry cleaner, you will find that the entry that is causing all the problems on your system can be removed by just clicking a button.

Registry errors also cause many system freezes and crashes. If a registry file is conflicting with software already on your system, that could be what is causing the problems. Try using a Microsoft registry cleaner. It should clear up errors in a quick manner, and you can also schedule regular checkups to make sure registry errors do not happen again in the future.

In previous articles, we've looked at how the registry works along with the issues that can arise when it becomes corrupt. Although manual troubleshooting can be effective, sometimes it may be necessary (and easier, and less time consuming) to use automated tools to do the job for you. One such category of tools for repairing your registry are known as registry cleaners (aka registry scanners).

In the basic sense, what this software does is compares each registry entry against the list of installed software, drive folders, hardware drivers, etc. to see if they exist. Any entries found to be invalid are presented to the user to be either fixed or ignored. Once the invalid entries are fixed, this helps the PC avoid unnecessary lookups for software/hardware/folders that no longer exist, thus increasing the PC's efficiency.

Depending on the vendor, this software can also do a number of other functions that can also help to increase your PC's effectiveness. Most registry cleaners will also perform the following functions:

Create regular registry backups.
Review Internet Explorer settings (and any additional add-ons that are installed) and verify that they are working.
Remove invalid shortcuts.
Scheduling scanning capabilities
Assist in managing startup programs

There are a number of good quality registry cleaners on the market today. In most cases, this software will allow you to download an evaluation copy to scan your machine. If any problems are found, the user then has the option to purchase the software to correct the errors. Users should avoid using so-called "freeware" utilities to do this. Typically, these freeware programs can come laden with embedded spyware or adware which only end up compounding the problem instead of fixing it. In this situation, the old adage "you get what you pay for" once again rings true.

Good quality registry cleaners can, most always, do a better job than manual troubleshooting. In most cases you can have your registry backed up, scanned and repaired within a matter of minutes or even seconds. Also, at any point, you can revert to a previous registry backup, if necessary.

Once you've scanned and cleaned your registry, now what? We for starters, to avoid repeating this situation in the future there are some preventative maintenance steps you can follow:

- Run regular registry scans
- Run regular registry backups
- Only install software from reputable sources
- Keep Windows Update turned on
- Keep software patches, services packs up to date
- Run up-to-date anti-virus and firewall software

Following these steps can save you a lot of time and frustration.

From the Windows 95 version, Microsoft introduced this technique of keeping the system information in a registry also known as system database. Prior to Windows 95, these data were stored in the INI files that were randomly stored in the hard disk. It made the operating system slower as it took more time to access these data. But the introduction of system database file solved this problem and made the operating system much faster and efficient.

How the registry errors get accumulated?

Whenever we make changes to the PC settings through the control panel, install or uninstall a program and add or remove hardware components the Windows system database gets modified and new entries are generated. All these entries are not used by the system, especially the outdated entries are of no use and they only make the database file heavier in size and clog it up. Besides, the embedded keys that are generated by the malware programs, stains of faulty installation and fragmented entries all these add up to the registry errors.

Why do we need a registry cleaner?

With all these wrong entries within the Windows registry, the system gets slower as the operating system takes more time to retrieve the required information. If these errors are not cured with a registry cleaner from time to time the PC becomes prone to frequent problems. Moreover, with the entries made by the malware programs in the registry your PC is also vulnerable to further threats of the malware attacks.

Therefore, it is very much important that you clean the system database on regular intervals. There are so many sources on the internet from where you can download a free registry fix program. All you need to do is scan the system database with the software and it will remove all the errors without modifying the valid entries. You can also schedule the scanning process that will further relieve you from running the scan every time. With the advanced software you can also back up the registry file to restore in case of any problem.

The easiest way to repair a corrupt Windows Registry that bogs down your PC and causes your applications to crash is by using a good Registry fixer. But because there are so many Registry repair tools around, you may have a hard time choosing the right one. In this article, we take two popular Registry products for a test drive, and see which one is best for repairing a corrupt Windows XP Registry.

For this review, we chose RegCure Registry Optimizer, and Max Secure Registry Cleaner. Both are reputable software programs with abundant features, and a price that won't burn a hole in your pocket ($29.95).

Let's see how well they do in our tests, shall we?

Hardware and OS configuration

Both products were tested on a fast Lenovo ThinkPad T61 laptop, which boasts an Intel® Core™2 Duo 2.60GHz CPU. However, this machine had Windows XP installed for over two years at the time we did the test, and was getting real sluggish due to numerous errors in the Registry. An ideal machine for Registry repair!

Which one digs deeper to discover all possible Registry problems?

How thorough the software scans your Windows Registry is a critical factor. We performed a deep scan with both tools, and here are the results.

Max Secure found 697 problems, while RegCure uncovered 759 errors on our laptop. Which means RegCure is roughly 8% more effective in identifying problems in a Windows XP Registry.

How much time each product needs to perform a scan?

Another thing to consider when choosing a Registry fixer is speed. By our reckoning, the best tool should be able to complete a deep scan for all kinds of Registry problems in under two minutes, assuming you have hundreds of errors in your Registry. The results of our speed test follow.

RegCure completed the auto-scan in 2 minutes and 11 seconds, while Max Registry needed 1 minute and 57 seconds to finish the scan. Go Max Secure! However, considering RegCure found 8% more errors, both programs performed roughly the same, as a 14 second difference is insignificant.

Which one fixes Registry errors better?

Finding all Registry problems and doing it fast is just half the battle. A good tool needs to fix each and every problem it finds. To create a fair testing environment for this test, we first backed up the complete Windows XP Registry, ran RegCure, told it to fix all problems, rolled back the Registry to the "before" state, then ran Max Registry, and compared the results.

Here's where RegCure really shines. Out of 759 errors it had identified, the software managed to fix the all. A subsequent scan found no Registry problems. After we restored the Registry, Max Secure did a very good job too, but couldn't fix 7 errors. On a second take, though, Max Registry did clean the up, which is good.

So which one is the best Registry Cleaner?

That's really up to you to decide. In our experience, RegCure did a better job in fixing Registry errors. However, it may have performed differently under different conditions, or on a different machine. Both programs are very intuitive and easy to use, and have all the features a good Registry tool needs, including full Registry backup and restore.

We will continue to test both RegCure Registry Optimizer and Max Registry on other machines and publish the test results, so that users can make an informed decision when choosing the best Registry Cleaner for Windows XP.