Simviation Forums

What is a registry mechanic, cleaner or fix software? What do they do and is it necessary to run the software? I have not done any cleaning since I loaded my Win XP over a year ago. Which registry cleaner do you recommend?

Bubblehead

Your registry is Windows' central nervous system.

The rule "if it ain't broke don't fix it" was made for Windows' registry.  A single errant modification can render it unbootable.  If you do not know exactly what you are doing DON'T TOUCH IT!

Having been sufficiently forewarned your registry can accumulate a lot of junk that may slow its performance.  There are other, more sophisticated, programs that will clean this junk but until you know what you are doing you can safely run these (in this order):

EasyCleaner from ToniArts.  I run this before I run other registry cleaners.  It's not overly aggressive and you can back up any changes it makes.

NTRegOpt just does what it says it will do - collapses useless hives, etc.  You will notice a 10-20% decrease in your registry size the first time you run this.  After that it will be 2-5%.

Does all this makes your computer run noticeably faster?  Maybe, maybe not.  I think a good defrag is better than all the registry optimizers in the world.

Registry Mechanic

http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/

Does all this makes your computer run noticeably faster?

Not necessarily faster but adds stability.

If you uninstall a program incorrectly it can corrupt registry making it so if you try to install it again it won't work. A registry fixer will fix this, that's why it's a good idea to always run a registry fixer.

Name three recommended registry repair software. What's the best way to back up the existing registry?

Bubblehead

I installed the reistry mechanic and it seemed to have helped. Quesion: when I tried to load the Flight Deck 4 scenery, it kept telling me that it is unable to find FSX in the Windows Registry. I look for the registry for FSX and FS2004 in the REGEDIT but was unable to find it. What does the FSX and FS2004 Registry statement say?


Bubblehead