Windows XP registry repair manual
Posted on September 16th, 2008 in Registry cleaners | No Comments »
Before I explain how to repair your Windows XP registry, I want to explain how the registry works and why it is necessary to perform registry maintenance.
What is the registry?
Basically you must see the registry as a database with information about your PC. The Windows Operating system stores all kinds of different information in this database. It stores hardware information in the registry, like for instance what kind of printers you have installed and on what port it’s connected. Also it stores system information about Windows itself like what patches are installed. And then it also keeps track of programs installed and what kind of settings you set for them.
Each time you start up your PC, Windows will read the registry and process these settings. Also when you change settings, plug in new hardware or install new software this information will be written to the registry.
Registry errors and performance
Unfortunately these entries in the registry are not always properly removed, causing performance degradation or failures like system errors. This is because invalid entries exists in their registry due to software which is no longer used or software which was not properly removed. As you keep on installing and uninstalling programs the register will get bigger and it will take Windows longer to load or cause problems because it cannot find certain entries.
The solution
Unfortunately it is very hard to find all invalid entries in the registry and its not advisable since you might damage it by deleting necessary entries. If you want to do it yourself please make sure that you backup the registry first, so that in a case of an emergency you can restore it. With registry cleaning software you can successfully purge these entries from the registry resulting in better performance and a smooth running pc. Most registry repair software offer automatic backups of the registry and easy restores.
To read our review of the best registry cleaners click here!