Cleaning Windows XP Registry? Why Bother?
There is much confusion about the need to clean Windows XP registry, this article provides an overview of the reasons and remedial actions
Introduction to Windows XP registry -Windows XP registry is a core component of PCs. PC user should clean Windows XP registry regularly. The registry is often referred to as the brain, heart soul and mind of Windows by computer Experts. The registry is used by Windows XP to store the devices and file associations of the computer. Registry is also used to store critical information on directories, drivers, Windows applications and much more. Using registry repair software is usually preferable to any manual method, unless users are also experts with Windows XP operating system.
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Are you already Very familiar with Windows XP operating system? – If so, Read on
Taking a backup - When completing any repair process of Windows XP registry, mistakes can be made easily and damage your system further. Therefore, you should always take a backup of your files. Fortunately there are now many proven registry cleaning software available. These tools can find the potentially questionable or unused references, and they prompt the user to review any entry that may cause a problem once removed.
Start menu - To begin cleaning Windows XP Registry manually, go to the start menu, and click on run. Type “regedit” in the text field, and press enter.
HKEY sections - Windows XP registry has many different entries separated in sections namely HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_USERS, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and HKEY_CURRENT CONFIG. There are different entries in each section, which are related to various aspects of Windows XP operation. Click on the + symbol to clean XP Registry. You will notice a + sign alongside the root directory. This will open the more detailed list, more directories to choose from in this section will then be available and will make it easier to find the entries needed to clean up the registry.
Entries causing conflicts - Next step to clean Windows XP registry is to erase the entries which are causing conflicts or are no longer required, such as redundant ActiveX components for example (click on repair activex for more information)
Clean boot records - It is also advisable to clean the boot records. This can be done easily by changing the list of programs that load when the system starts up. Expand the CURRENT_USER and LOCAL_MACHINE directories, you should notice the “Run|” and “Run Once” options. This enables cleaning the registry entries which trigger programs at startup.
Twice a year clean – In order to drive high computer performance, users should clean their registry every six months. This sweeps out the items no longer in use. Machines which are extremely slow usually have a large number of software, or those where drivers are constantly being installed and uninstalled, require more frequent cleanups (click on computer extremely slow for more information).
However tempting a manual clean or repair may be, remember that, using the appropriate registry cleaner to repair windows XP registry is usually a superior solution than attempting this manually . Many programs also prevent data loss by automating backup and also offer optimisation functionality which will greatly improve computer performance.