I love the "Undo Close Tab" option - it is pure genius!!
Working With The Registry: What You Should Know
September122007Working With The Registry: What You Should Know
What is the Registry?
The registry is used by Windows systems to store all hardware and software configuration information. The registry was introduced with Microsoft Windows 95 to discontinue the use of different INI files to store configuration information. These INI files not only cluttered the system, but also consumed a lot of space on the hard disk and slowed down the PC.
The registry on a Windows system is the central point of all operations that take place on the computer. It helps in preventing unnecessary clutter of INI files on the computer and considerably enhances system performance.
The windows registry has a hierarchal tree-like structure and comprises five root keys—HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR), HKEY_CURRENT_USER HKCU), HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE HKLM), HKEY_USERS HKU), and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG HKCC). These keys are further divided into subkeys, sub-subkeys and values. To view the registry tree, run the “Regedit” command and open the Registry Editor window.
As you work on your PC, the registry keeps building up as subkeys and values are added to and removed from it continuously.
Although useful, the registry has its own share of problems. The registry is accessed to perform each and every operation on your Windows PC, and over time the registry attracts a lot of unwanted information. Frequent program install/uninstall, web browsing, and other daily activities leave behind a lot of unwanted, obsolete, redundant, and incorrect information in the registry. This unwanted information eventually corrupts and fragments the registry. This, in turn, generates frequent system errors, such as runtime errors and DLL errors. To prevent these computer errors and to help maintain a healthy registry, it is important for you to regularly perform registry cleanups and backups.
How to Perform a Registry Cleanup
The registry tree is quite complex, comprising thousands of keys and subkeys. Therefore, it is quite difficult to perform registry cleanup using Registry Editor because it does not provide any specific feature to perform registry repair. The only thing that you can perform using Registry Editor is to search for a specific type of error key and delete it manually. The chances of error in this method are quite high and you may end up in a deeper mess if you accidentally remove or edit an important key.
Therefore, the best and simplest way to perform a registry cleanup and repair is to use a registry cleaner tool. You can easily search for and download a tool from the Internet that meets your requirements and is compatible with your operating system.
Registry cleaners are usually GUI-based and are user-friendly utilities. They provide you with simple options that help you perform a thorough scan of your registry and list all the error entries. You can then manually go through each error and select the ones you want to remove. You may also choose to allow your registry cleaner tool to automatically fix all the identified errors.
Registry cleaners also enable you to defragment and compress the registry. This helps to improve the data access time and thus enhances your computer’s performance.
Due its importance in normal functioning of your PC, it is a good idea to make regular registry backups. If you have a backup, you can easily restore your registry if it gets corrupted. 99% of all registry cleaner tools come with a registry backup feature. Therefore, you can use the feature included in these tools to maintain regular backups of your registry. In fact, it is recommended that you make a backup of the registry before performing any scan and repair using a registry cleaner. This way, if something goes wrong, you can easily restore your old registry.
You can also backup the registry using the Registry Editor. To do this, in the Registry Editor window, on the File menu select Export. Enter the name of the backup file in the File name box. Next, in the Export section, select All to backup the complete registry, or select the Selected branch option to backup just a particular part and enter the name of the branch or key you want to export in the given text box. Next, select the Save button to create the registry backup file.
You should perform regular registry cleanups and make registry backups to maintain a healthy, error-free computer.
