Jul
09

Essential Windows Registry Maintenance Tips

admin Articles 2009-07-09

Everybody knows that the Registry is a vital Windows component. If it becomes corrupt, you are bound to start getting serious problems with your computer. That’s why it’s so important to keep the Windows Registry healthy and optimized.

1. First of all, make regular backups of the Registry. Just like any other backup it will offer you some comfort, because you will be able to restore the Registry in case something bad happens to it.

2. Keep the Registry clean. You don’t want it to get cluttered with empty keys and missing references, because that can cause problems, such as slow and freezing computer. You can use our free Registry Cleaner to do the job.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner

Also keep the Registry as compact as possible, so that the disk space taken up by the Registry is optimized too.

3. Another thing worth doing is disassociating the .reg file extension from the Registry editor. This will help protect you from malware. By default .reg files are opened by regedit.exe, so it’s quite easy for malware to mess up the Registry. On the other hand, if .reg files are opened with Notepad by default, you are safe.

In Windows XP:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and go to Tools
  2. Select the File Types tab and  find the .reg file extension
  3. Select it and click Change
  4. Select Notepad as the default program to open .reg files and click OK

In Windows Vista:

  1. Click Start and select Default Programs
  2. Select Associate a file type or protocol with a program
  3. change-default-programs-vista
  4. Find the .reg file extension and click Change Program
  5. Open Other Programs and select Notepad
  6. Click OK and then Close

Remember that keeping the Registry well optimized prolongs your computer’s life and makes it run faster and more stable.

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Address: http://www.auslogics.com/en/blog/2009/07/essential-windows-registry-maintenance-tips/
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9 comments until now

  1. Ashish Kalmegh @ 2009-07-11 02:31

    I never thought about changing the fie extension of registry file .
    But your explanation gave me the right path .
    Thanks

  2. teratips @ 2009-07-12 14:18

    this is great and amazing, thanks

  3. admin @ 2009-07-12 22:27

    @Ashish No, it’s not about changing the file extension – it’s about changing the program that opens the file by default :)

  4. Phaoloo @ 2009-08-09 10:39

    Really helpful tips, but I don’t wanna play with my registry, it’s quite dangerous for me.

  5. Catalin Condrea @ 2009-11-16 19:05

    I want to congratulate you for having done an excellent program, 100% professional and first class in this category. For years I used Eusing Free Registry Cleaner, but now I maintain my computer using Auslogics Registry Cleaner. At first scan, he found 1,076 registry errors. Checking them, I found that indeed the software is accurate and reliable: none of the entries was not extra – all were targeted. Using this software with Disk Defrag, any computer user will have a clean, healthy and effective system. By the way, your advice on the .reg file association is welcome. That is what I call a professional website. Thank you Auslogics!

  6. Liz @ 2009-11-17 05:47

    @Catalin Condrea Thank you!

  7. T Massara @ 2009-11-20 11:06

    I hope not to bother, but I have a question: is Auslogics Registry Cleaner able to detect and repair the registry keys that contain embedded-null characters? I asked this because, following the reading of articles on the internet, I used RegDelNull exactly for this purpose and he found two such keys – HKLM \ SECURITY \ Policy \ Secrets \ SAC and HKLM \ SECURITY \ Policy \ Secrets \ SAI. These registry keys that contain embedded-null characters are undeleteable using standard Registry-editing tools. Before using RegDelNull, I used Auslogics Registry Cleaner to optimize my system. It is possible that these two keys have not appeared in the list of problems because they are perfectly normal and belong to Microsoft … What is your opinion? Have a very nice weekend!

  8. T Massara @ 2009-11-20 11:27

    I forgot to mention that those two registry keys still “live”. :) I have not deleted them because I think they are there for a specific purpose, with no connection with rootkit or something …

  9. Liz @ 2009-11-23 05:08

    @T Massara Thank you for your question.
    Auslogics Registry Cleaner doesn’t delete such keys because there is no real need for that. As for the keys you found, most likely they were created by drivers or system services, so don’t delete them. Hope this helps.

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