Computer Clean Up

Computers have added a lot of positive changes to our lives and yet, they have also provided a lot of frustration and headache. Computers need routine maintenance and upgrades in order to keep up with changes in software. Computer problems can be reduced with some straightforward tips and a little computer clean up.

The System Registry

Your computer stores settings and options for the Windows operating system in a database referred to as the system registry. If the word database is new to you, do not worry, knowing how a database works is not crucial. Any time a modification occurs with your computer this database is changed to reflect the changes.

You may be wondering what information is stored in the registry. Keeping it short and to the point: everything. When you add or remove an application (we will get to the problem of removing programs in a minute), change account options, add or remove a user, change system policies or adjust settings in the control panel Windows will put this information in the registry. The system registry frequently contains invalid or corrupt entries leading to issues, some files that are most frequently causing problems are library files (DLL’s), program files (EXE’s) and device driver files.

A registry that has no errors and is in good shape will help your computer run at its best. Odd errors, problems for no obvious reason and a computer that is slowing down are all symptoms of an unstable or damaged system registry. This is when the head banging usually starts.

Removing applications can regularly create issues in the registry simply because the Add/Remove applications does not always do a very good job. Sometimes, entries in the registry and even files are left behind. These “orphan” entries can lead to problems later on.

Fortunately there are a number of ways that you can reduce these problems. The first thing to do is to run the Disk Defragmenter program that comes with the Windows operating system. Files often get broken down into smaller pieces as your computer installs programs, running a defragmentation program will reassemble the files. Even though this does not directly effect the registry, it helps to increase the speed at which your computer can access the files on the hard drive making your computer a little faster and is a excellent start. It is not a bad idea to get into the habit of running this every week, you can even set it up to run automatically.

Okay, the next item to tackle is the registry itself. To fix computer errors related to the registry, you need to do routine registry scans so that all the unwanted data can be detected and removed. Although Windows comes with a registry editing program, trying to clean up the registry manually is an overwhelming task. Without previous experience with the system registry it is a good idea to leave it alone.

There is a way to do this computer clean up that is painless and easy – the registry cleaning tool. There are several different applications out there to do this but in general they will perform various registry maintenance tasks such as deleting duplicate files, deleting orphan entries, scanning and repairing many computer and registry errors as well as performing registry backup.

A lot of computer errors are caused by virus programs and spyware. Viruses add malicious code and files to the system which can not only affect its performance but also steal confidential data, and transmit it for malicious use. To fix computer errors due to spyware and virus, use updated antispyware and antivirus tools.