The Windows registry is a database which Windows uses to store all user and system related settings. Most Windows software also use the registry to store their settings. Most, if not all, of these software packages also do not remove their entries from the registry when uninstalled.
Needless to say, the windows registry tends to be in a mess most of the time.
As a Windows user, you also might have noticed Windows becoming progressively slower as you use it, installing and removing software, going about your daily business. One of the reasons for this is because the Windows registry tends to get bloated with stale entries and such, over time and since it is stored in the memory as long as the computer is being used, it slows down the whole computer.
There are a lot of utilities available to help you clean up the registry and most of them do the job pretty well. One of them that I tried recently (and was pretty impressed with) is Auslogics’ Registry Defrag.
Registry Defrag is a no nonsense, no frills application. Download and install it from the above link and you’re all set (almost).
When run Registry Defrag for the first time, it reads the registry, analyses it and tells you the approximate gains that you’ll get by running the utility.
Once you click on Defrag, Registry Defrag schedules the defrag to take place on the next reboot of Windows. It’ll ask you to let it reboot windows, so that it can work on the registry, without Windows bothering it. Or you can keep working and reboot later at your convenience.
If you’re the kind of user who installs and removes a lot of software and are convinced that reinstalling Windows is the only way to remove the crud, try giving Registry Defrag a try.
Sharninder is a programmer, blogger and a geek making a living writing software to change the world. His tech blog, Geeky Ninja, is where he shares his wisdom, for free !
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