Cleaning the Windows Registry in an essential part of computer maintenance because having a clean Registry means having a fast and stable computer. A great way to get rid of Registry junk is to run Auslogics Registry Cleaner – a totally free Registry maintenance tool.

What is the Registry?

Windows Registry is a database that stores Microsoft Windows settings and options. It contains all the information for all hardware, operating system software, other software, and user settings – for example, all user profiles, the applications installed, the type of documents they create and so on.

Why Clean the Registry?

The Registry is one of the most vital and the most vulnerable to errors part of a computer. Programs access the Registry thousands of times per second and new registry entries are created whenever new software or hardware is installed. Most programs delete their entries when they are uninstalled, but some applications leave a lot of their registry keys behind. That’s how invalid entries mount up and the Registry becomes cluttered with unused and corrupted keys and references. As a result the system needs more time to access the Registry and find the entries it needs, which causes dramatic computer slow-downs.

Among other things that can lead to Registry problems are poorly written applications, incorrect program uninstalls, and bloated browser cache. All this can cause system errors, crashes, and failures. That’s why it’s extremely important to keep the Registry in top form by regularly cleaning all the junk and fixing all the errors that accumulate over time.

How to Clean the Registry?

Cleaning the Registry is now as simple as opening a Word document. All you have to do is launch Auslogics Registry Cleaner, select the categories to scan, scan the Registry for errors, and fix them. Of course you could do it the hard way and delete what you think is not needed manually, but that is really dangerous, because you can delete files that are needed by the system to boot and work properly.

Backup First!

Always backup your Registry before cleaning it. That way you will never have to worry about software accidentally deleting a valid entry. Use the Restore changes radio button in Auslogics Registry Cleaner to undo any changes made by the program. Also you can backup your Registry manually. Read this article to learn how to do it on an XP system.

Clean the Registry regularly – for example once a month – and your computer will run fast and stable.

This post is an attempt to help all those customers who now and again come to us with this very question. Below is the list of things you could try in order to resolve the computer freezing issues before running out and buying a new, faster computer.

I assume you have already tried running Auslogics BoostSpeed and fixing registry errors, removing junk files and defragmenting your hard disk drives. This will most likely be your first and only required fix to bring your computer back to life. However if this doesn’t help, read on.

Upgrade RAM

If your computer is slow (but not freezing for long periods of times), this can be caused by low system memory (RAM). The amount of RAM you need depends on the operating system. Click on Start (or Windows Orb), then right click on the “Computer” item in the Windows Start menu and select “Properties” (Windows Vista/Windows 7). You can get system information from Auslogics System Information, as well.

Obtaining System Information

If you’re running Windows XP or Windows 2000 you must have at least 512 MB of memory on your computer (note that 1 GB equals 1,024 MB of memory). Windows Vista and Windows 7 users will need at least 1 GB of RAM for comfortable work, better yet upgrade it to 2 GB. Having 3 to 4 GB installed may be useful if you work with image processing, 3D animation or CAD software. Upgrading RAM is best left to a professional unless you’re comfortable opening up your computer.

Scan for Viruses and Spyware

Nothing (not even increasing computer memory) will speed up your computer if it is infected with certain viruses or spyware. Be sure to scan your computer with the latest antivirus / antispyware solutions.

You can try antivirus programs such as AVAST! or AVG (they both have free versions). There isn’t a single solution that can detect all viruses and spyware.  I used to run AVAST! on my PC, however have uninstalled it after it failed to detect a virus. Don’t trust one single program and run a few. Also download and run PC Tools ThreatFire. This program can detect “trojans”, which is a special kind of spyware that hides itself from normal antivirus scanners.

Note that some  antivirus/antispyware programs are resource hogs themselves, especially those that are “all-in-one” solutions. They monitor everything that’s happening on your computer and can therefore slow it down considerably. Try uninstalling your all-in-one solution to see if your PC gets much faster.

Disable “Resource-Hungry” Programs

As you keep on using your computer and installing new software, programs get added to your computer startup list. This means that at any given time Windows may be running dozens of programs it doesn’t really need. Some of them are “resource-hungry”.

To find out which of the programs are using up the resources, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard (all three at the same time) and then click on the “Task Manager” (alternatively, use Ctrl+Shift+Esc instead). In Task Manager switch to Processes tab, then click on the “CPU” column header. This will show all the CPU hungry processes on top of the list. If you’re running Windows Vista or a newer version of Windows you might want to click on the “Show processes from all users” button /checkbox at the bottom of the Task Manager window. Ignore “System” or “System Idle Process” and look for all processes that take up 10% or more CPU. These are the ones that slow down your computer. You can also try sorting the processes by memory, as huge memory usage can also slow a computer down.

Now, try running Startup Manager (part of BoostSpeed) to disable startup programs you don’t need. Startup Manager will show you the program description (and a link to Internet description for more details). Disabling a startup program is safe because you will be able to enable it back. If you’re an experienced user you can try running msconfig (click Start, Run…, then type msconfig and then hit Enter) where you can see more advanced options.

Hardware Problems

Sometimes computer just freezes even though programs use very little system resources. This can indicate a hardware problem. Here’s a short list of likely hardware issues.

• Bad or corrupt RAM (causes sudden system reboots or freezes)
• High CPU temperature (causes sudden system shutdowns, system refusing to boot up, beeping)
• Bad drivers (they can cause a Blue Screen or Death, or a sudden system reboot)

Troubleshooting these problems goes beyong the scope of this post, but we will get back to this in later posts.

When Nothing Else Helps

If none of the steps above helped you, you can still fix the problem by methodically removing the installed software one by one. To do that use Uninstall manager in Auslogics BoostSpeed or click Start, then Control Panel, then click on “Uninstall a program” (it can also be called Add and Remove Software, etc). Start by removing the least necessary software programs and see if your computer gets better as you go. This will allow you to find out which of the software programs caused the freezing problem. If nothing else helps, you can resort to simply re-installing Windows. Unless the problem is related to hardware faults or inadequate computer specification, this solution will most certainly help.