Registry Diagnosis

Symptoms of a Corrupted Registry Programs crash just as they are starting up, or when they are being shut down. Starting or shutting down the PC seems to take a really long time. Programs freeze, sometimes you can't shut them down even with the Task Manager. Program icons display the wrong graphic for what the icon is actually for. Hardware drivers no longer work - can't scan or print any more, etc. The computer seems to be ssslllloooooooooowwww. Windows Blue-Screen-of-Death errors.

 

A brand new Windows installation is peppy. It starts up and shuts down quickly, programs load quickly, memory usage is minimal and the system is light and agile. But as time goes on, the registry keeps growing in size and accumulating errors from failed installations, program crashes and programs that don't completely uninstall themselves, to name a few causes. The system slows down and errors start to appear - programs start crashing when starting up or shutting down, icons that don't match their programs, or drivers that no longer work.

One simple way to deal with the issues is to simply wipe everything from the hard drive and reinstall Windows again from scratch. It is simple in concept, though not necessarily easy to do. A basic installation can be done in an hour or two, but when you add up the time to back up and restore all your data, update the operating system, download and install the latest versions of drivers, reinstall programs and reconfigure everything, it could take days.

Well, let's not go to that much trouble just yet. Here is a free registry diagnostic that will thoroughly analyze your registry and provide you with a report of the errors it finds. If the registry is in good shape or contains only relatively trivial problems you will have saved yourself a lot of trouble. If it is somewhat more messed up than that, you might consider registering the software and getting it to automatically fix what if finds. On the other hand, if it looks like the registry is beyond all hope of rescue, you might opt for reinstalling the operating system and software from scratch.

Manual Repair of the Registry

Manual repair of registry errors is not for the faint of heart, and should not be attempted unless you know what you are doing. Poorly done, it can introduce additional errors and make things worse. But if you are determined to try (maybe the diagnostic shows only a small number of severe problems that are readily corrected) it can be done using the RegEdit utility. And if you don't know how to start that up, you shouldn't be trying this.

Before making any edits to the registry, please please make a backup of your registry files. Windows XP has the convenient System Restore feature that makes backing up the registry easy. It is accessible from the Help and Support selection on the Start menu. Also, make sure you have downloaded and printed instructions for how to restore the registry before starting, because if the worst happens and your PC becomes unbootable, you're going to need it.

Choosing Registry Repair Software

Someday Windows may come with a basic registry repair utility. For now, users are still reliant on third party software. We recommend sticking to programs and vendors that have an established track record. Our favorite is RegCure.

RegCure Registry Cleaner is a program developed by ParetoLogic Corporation in Victoria, Canada. ParetoLogic employs over 100 people and has won many awards for software innovation and business excellence.

RegCure is freely downloadable and will perform a diagnosis on your computer's registry for free. If there isn't anything seriously wrong with your registry it won't cost you anything and you can simply uninstall the program. If it does find serious errors and you decide it is worth the price to get them fixed, you can register the software at that time.

RegCure also has some nice additional features such as backing up the registry and letting you manage what programs launch automatically on startup.