But Seriously, What’s A Registry?
The Registry is a very important database that resides within your Operating System; It contains vital information on all the settings, preferences, etc. on hardware and software installed in your rig. When it comes to programs, the Registry also maintains data like the location of the program, what is required to launch the program, what sort of resources it needs from the computer, and so on and so forth. The Registry is what enables the Operating System to know which applications are installed, and what the individual settings for each one are; Of course, developers are free not to use the Registry and use alternative methods or create their own files to do all of this, and many choose to do so – especially in cases where settings and preferences need to be imported, exported and easily applied to another installation of the program (even on another computer). Devs can also use a mix of both – video games, for example, use both their own files and the data within the Registry Database, since that makes it easier for them to store larger volumes of program-generated data (like savegames and such) without bloating the space they use in the system drive.
#That Sure Makes It A target;
Now, because all of this info is stored together in the exact same place with the exact same protection, that makes it a juicy bullseye for any virus, which, if it can penetrate into the Registry, is able to infect any and every one of these programs with ease. Remember, the words “virus” as it applies to computers has a lesser-known acronym – Vital Information Resources Under Siege, and the Registry has the most vital information contained within your computer. Many types of Malware, therefore, goes straight for the Registry for one reason or another, and getting their grubby little mitts inside can do some serious damage, which may not even be immediately visible. Registries can also become corrupted by normal means, like if you delete a program’s installation without uninstalling it, which, since it will not remove it from the OS Registry, will not remove references to the program’s location, launch information, etc. If you try to uninstall the program after that, it may be unsuccessful because when the OS tries to find the program’s installation files based on the Registry, they won’t be there. Similarly, if you try to reinstall the program, the system may prevent you from doing this, because the according to the Registry the application is already installed. What a mess, right? Essentially, you will delude your computer to keep on thinking it has that program installed, and that’s not nice; I would never do that to my beloved Jasmine. However, if you do end up with a corrupted Registry – thanks to malware, improper uninstallation, whatever – don’t worry about it, it can be fixed. That’s what Registry Cleaners are for.
#Registry Cleaner
Registry Cleaners do pretty much exactly what their name says – they clean up your Registry and remove unnecessary information from the database. They kick out viruses and put an end to their siege. They clear out inconsistencies and get rid of redundant items. Not all Registry Cleaners do the job well. Or at all. There’s a lot of programs out there claiming to be Registry Cleaners that do everything except what they’re supposed to do. In fact, some can be straight-up harmful – until 2008, several websites offered a shockingly popular clean-up tool called “Winfixer“, which was eventually discovered to be a scareware/malware designed to infect computers and get people to pay money to clean it up. It was shut down, but similar scams do exist out there in the net. Beware. There are number of registry cleaners on the internet, and that’s for sure that choosing it won’t get easy. Most of them just spam your whole desktop or laptop computer and take the existing problem to another level where you can’t go back. On the other hand if you pick a perfect software from a well known brand, then it’s quite possible that you will fix the problem right after on the first ‘PC Scan’. Also, Registry Cleaner isn’t something you need to (or should) run on a regular basis. You may be wondering: if that’s the case, then what good is a Registry Cleaner? Just like an anti-virus, a good Registry Cleaner works best not by slashing away at everything that’s infected, but by actively monitoring your system to make sure it doesn’t get a problem in the first place. Prevention is better that cure, right? That applies to tech too, not just medicine. The Registry Cleaner will prevent data corruption so radical measures don’t become necessary. As usual, yes, we do have recommendations for you. Here are a couple of Cleaners that work very well and don’t cause problems: Top 1st Zookaware What’s better than a program that just keeps your Registry safe? How about one that keeps out malware, spyware, unauthorized installations, junk files, registry errors, and on top of all of that goodness; Goes ahead and tracks and monitors every single cookie stored in your system just for good measure? As mentioned, a good cleaner prevents Registry Corruption, and Zookaware does exactly that and covers all the bases.
There’s also a 60-day money back guarantee, which we heartily approve of because money back guarantees tell you how much faith a developer has in their product, and Zookaware’s people are clearly proud of theirs. The easy catching of errors also boosts boot time and OS speed, and Zookaware further allows you to permanently delete any files you don’t want (really permanently delete, to the point they can’t be recovered, even using the methods we covered in our earlier article) without hassle. If that’s not icing on a cake, what is? Top 2nd CCleaner Now, not everyone wanting a Registry Cleaner will have the same needs. Or the same budget. Piriform, the developers of CCleaner, understand that better than anyone. As a consequence, CCleaner comes in two different flavors: a pro version with advanced features, and a “Professional Plus” bundle which does everything the other two do as well as disk de-fragmentation, file recovery, and even hardware inventory. This makes managing drivers and such a lot more feasible, and the file recovery feature will let you recover any accidentally deleted data without any third-party Data Recovery programs. The pro and plus versions have full monitoring of the Registry and the system in real time, and the auto-update feature will make sure you never miss an update, installing it on Piriform’s release day. Once again, this will speed up your computer and OS without any kind of undue fuss. So, keep your Registry clean, keep your system problem-free.
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