Computer question for experts only please.?

Question

What is the registry part of the computer and does it ever need fixing and how do you go about fixing it? Do you need to take it somewhere to have it fixed or is it a do it yourself project? What is it's function?

Answer 1

Hi MissLilly,

Well some of the answers have an inkling of what its about but let me give it a try.

The registry is an area of the Operating System, e.g. Windows XP, that contains all the instructions for your computers hardware and software to run.

It is made up of Folders in a structure that is the same as Windows Explore (right click Start and then Explore). The only major difference to Explore is that the Registry doesn't contain "documents" etc., it only contains instructional and command line info.

If you'd like to look at the Registry you can do so but I don't recommend you "do" anything there regarding any changes whatsoever. To look through the Registry: Click on Start > Run and in the "Open" command box type in regedit and click on Ok.

This will open the registry and you should have 5 "folders" on the top left. You can click on each of these and they will exhibit the subfolders that exist beneath them. As you open the various folders you will see additonal subfolders and some instructional/command info on the right hand side of the screen. You will notice quite quickly just how massive the Registry is. It seemingly goes on forever.

Just close it when you are done looking it over.

The registry is written to each time you install software, open software, open a file, open your browser, and so on. The Registry is constantly being written to as you use your PC and most of that stuff is invalidated or deleted as you close programs, browsers, etc.

However, this whole process of writing to the Registry can leave a lot of fragmented and obsolete instructions and commands behind that are no longer in use and will not be used again. If you were to reopen your browser, new instructions are written to the Registry. So there are commands in the Registry to not only run the basic software, but also commands that are written when you open the browser to do a little surfing.

The same pertains to your hardware. e.g. your video card has instructions/commands in your Registry for it to run properly. All your hardware has commands in there.

So that's it in a nutshell. It's really the "command center" for your PC. Messing around in there can make your PC inoperable or partially inoperable as well as applications may not run, so be careful of what you do to it.

Now: it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to clean up the registry to keep your PC running at its best. Not cleaning it amounts to the same and not defragging your hard drive. It does nothing but slow your PC down. I purchased a registry cleaner about 2 years ago but there are a lot of free ones out there now. A good place to look is http://www.download.com and just search on Registry Cleaner. What I also do on Download.com is before I download and install a chunk of software I see if there are Editors Reviews and/or Users Reviews. This can tell you alot about whether the free one is effective or not.

Well it's a bit long winded but I hope this helps some.

If you need help, drop me an email.

Answer 2

Registry is a place where all of your programs, including the operating system itself (Windows), store their settings. For example, Word remembers the last few documents you were working on. Where does Word store that info? In the registry.

Do you ever need to fix it? No, don't mess with it. All those software packages that claim to "clean up your registry" may actually make things worse.

Why? Just think about it - they come in to someone's house, and without knowing what they do or do not use, they throw some stuff in the garbage! One man's trash is another man's treasure, which is exactly the case here. Noone can tell which registry keys the application uses other than the application itself; third-party software that tries to "infer" that is very likely going to mess things up.

Answer 3

In Windows, the registry could be compared to an index in a book...it keeps track of all the programs and processes that are running or could be run. For amateurs, it's best to leave the registry alone. However, if you want to tune it up, as well as clean up other things on your pc, I'd recommend a free program called "Advanced Windows Care Personal" which you can get at the below link. Just click on the "Get Freebie" green bar on that page to download it, then install it and run it. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

By your query I take it you've been to registry editor. Normally you shouldn't be touching any part of the registry. Having said that, however occasionally you may need to enter the registry editor to do some tweaks to repair some errors or nuisance that might appear in your system through time. But you have to really be sure of what you're doing or you could damage or worse crash the OS.

Answer 5

The registry has all the info needed for your computer to run. It sometimes gets corrupt. There are registy cleaners out there my favorite is Ashampoo Winoptimizer 4 you can try it for free. It has a "Clean regestry" button and it has yet to take anything I don't need out. As a matter of fact I run the Drive cleaner then the regesistry cleaner and my computer runs great.

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_registry

The registry stores information about your computers configure be it thread kill times to extensions.

A good way to clean up your registry (which can increase boot time) is to download Ccleaner (free - http://www.ccleaner.com/) and run it's registry cleaner tool. It will prompt for a backup before it makes any changes. Please save this backup. Even though nothing has ever gone wrong for me, better save than sorry.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

the registry is a file that contains every bit of information about your computer.
it can be optimized and cleaned, but best to have it done using software.

http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-2416861-10403378

Answer 9

Search Wikipedia for Windows Registry

Then, use the free cCleaner to clean yours up (once a month is enough).