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| Where's the PC Performance I Paid For? |
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A fast computer becomes slow: it's unavoidable…
Even though the computing world has brought us convenience and lightening-fast results,
computers themselves still aren't perfect; they slow down over time and most people think there's nothing they can do to stop it. The reason for this slowdown is the
Windows Registry, a storehouse for all of a PCs internal instructions. Over time, the Registry can become weighted down with redundant entries, causing computers to become slow and
suffer errors.
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| Is my PC Over-Due For a Tuneup? |
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Just like a car, computers need routine maintenance…
When you install and un-install programs, the files are altered and removed, but this
isn't necessarily the case with Registry entries. Usually day-to-day computing activity leaves residual data in the Registry that - over time - presents a computer
with conflicting commands. The results from this redundant data can be error messages, slow performance, or other problems. Without repair, the computer may
continue to degenerate.
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When a Computer runs Windows™, it implements a Windows Registry. This is an intricate library used to house
hardware and software configurations, user
preferences and setup information. |
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 What is the Windows registry?
We're all familiar with a computer's File System; the hierarchy of drives, directories, and individual files that organize the programs on a computer. Have you ever wondered though how all of the files know how to relate to one another? Well, there's also a massive hierarchy of commands and instructions that governs how a computer acts. It tells programs how to relate to one another, where to find resources, how to interact with hardware, and how to display user preferences This command structure is the Registry. It's similar to the File System except, instead of files, it has instructions. These Instructions are called Registry Entries.
What is Registry Corruption?
With all of the commands and priorities being held in the Registry, it's easy to see how having an unclear set of instructions can cause problems. What if you've got two Registry Entries that give a program conflicting commands? What if you have a program that needs to access certain resources, but the Registry doesn't know where to find them? When these things happen the result is a host of applications that don't know how to behave. When Registry Entries become unnecessarily altered, removed, or duplicated, it can cause problems.
What are the Symptoms of a Corrupted Registry?
SYMPTOM 1 is computer slowdown. If programs try to open but get conflicting orders, it takes a while. Remember that a computer, unlike a person, doesn't necessarily give up trying to do something when it finds out that it can't do it. It keeps trying, and everything you subsequently ask it to do is put in a waiting line. We all know what this feels like. It takes forever to do anything: open a folder, play a game, close applications, boot up and shut down.
SYMPTOM 2 is an ensemble of glitches and errors. If you ever wondered where those unintelligible error messages come from, the answer generally has something to do with the Registry. Video Errors, Parser Errors, File Cannot be Found Errors: They occur when the computer tries to do something that it no longer has a set of instructions for. If, after trying, it just fails to do it altogether the computer gives up and returns an error message.
SYMPTOM 3 is the most dreaded: computer freezes and crashes. If issues in the Registry persist for long enough, it's an indication of compounding corruption. The PC, faced with commands it can't process simply locks up or the program you're using crashes.
How did I Get These Registry Issues?
When a program is un-installed, it usually leaves Registry entries behind. Those entries have no purpose, but they linger on. If a newer version of the program is later executed, it puts a duplicate entry into the Registry. Later, when it accesses that command, it doesn't know which instruction to follow, the old one or the new one. Hence, the normal acts of installing and un-installing software can add invalid data to the Registry. Adding and removing hardware, changing user settings, adjusting user profiles, all of these day-to-day actives create a cumulative littering effect in the Registry.
| Signs Your Registry has Corrupt Entries |
Common Causes of Registry Issues |
- • Those Miscellaneous Windows Errors
- • Computer Freezes
- • System Crashes
- • Hardware Incompatibilities
- • System Slowdown
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- Frequent program installation
- Frequent addition of hardware
- Poorly written application installers
- Updated Driver Redundancy
- Faulty un-install processes
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Can I edit the registry myself?
While editing the Registry by hand is certainly doable, it's not recommended simply because there is so much sensitive data to work around. To compound matters, the Registry's hierarchy isn't organized by intuitive names like the file system's. Often the different entries are simply set in numeric lists that can have over a thousand items! Users are often unprepared for the tedious task of sorting through hundreds of entries looking for a single instance.
There are plenty of risks involved with repairing the Windows Registry, don't exacerbate them by trying to repair the issues yourself.
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