Clean the Windows Registry
A computer’s registry is an efficient way of monitoring the different software and hardware components. It is a database with all the information about your computer and the software that is installed on the computer. It stores the configuration settings of the software, the hardware or any other special settings of the user.
Spyware and viruses can corrupt this registry and when the user removes software, not all programs will remove themselves cleanly and/or completely from the registry.
There are two main ways to clean up the registry:
• Cleaning manually using the Windows Registry. (This should only be attempted by someone who understands what the registry entries mean. Software programs can cease to function correctly if essential registry entries are removed.)
• Using registry cleaning software.
The Windows Registry Editor
• To manually clean your registry using the Windows Registry Editor, first create a backup of the registry, and then remove unnecessary files:
• On the desktop, click the Start button on the left bottom corner
• Click Run
• A new window to “run” commands
• Type regedit
• Click OK
• At the top of the window click File
• Go down to Export
• Type a name for the backup file, and click Save
• After creating a backup of your registry, you can go to the left side of the registry editor window and view how your computer is configured.
• Click on the plus sign to expand a section of the registry editor. A “well-used” area for anyone manually deleting registry files is “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.” This area is used to make registry changes to hardware and software.
Registry Cleaning Software
If you are unsure about making manual changes to their registry there are numerous registry cleaning programs available to you.
These programs scan your registry and remove errors such as missing references to files. They give you a list of results of what entries or safe or not safe to delete and allow you to create a backup using their program. The backup can be easily restored if the system becomes unstable.
