Clean It Time

What is a registry(first of all)?.I have been getting messages popping up saying my registry was damaged/corrupted and that i need to go to this site or another to download this or scan in order to fix it, (though not since they originally did one night, only once) one after another and until i disconnected the internet. I was wondering is this legit? If so, how may i fix this damaged/corrupted registry. I’m running on windows. Help would be appreciated.

It is definitely not legit..

Registry is the vital part of any Windows-based systems. It contains settings of your system and third party applications installed. In most cases, windows won’t boot up properly or may not boot up at all if the registry has been damaged. You have to restore it from a backup (if there is one) or worst rebuild the whole system.

However in your situation, it does not seem to be a corrupted registry but spyware infestation or purely a series of pop-ups as a result of popup blocker being disabled. As advised by others, best way is to not worry about your registry but to enable the built in popup blocker and then run a number of spyware/adware utilities (combination of adaware and spybot search & destroy has been proven to be effective). If problem still persists after, you may want to post back.

Good luck…

I am currently in college for computer programming, and wish to fix computers locally on the side. What I was planning on doing was running an ad, along with prices offering general PC repair locally on Craigslist. If I was to do this and attract business would I need a DBA or some other kind of license?

You will need a city business license, probably, and you will want to register a DBA name as well.

My computer warns me an adobe file is corrupt and to run the Registry listed above which I may have misspelled. Any information from you wonderful computer people will be so appreciated.

Chkdsk is a utility that can check and repair the disk, and it was developed to find certain errors on the hard disk so that system errors can be corrected. There are limitations to the Chkdsk utility, because it will not fix any errors that are outside of the file system on your computer. If the error is caused by the hard disk and you run the utility, files may be fragmented or corrupted, so only run Chkdsk if you know the problem is with the file system and not the hard disk.

Viruses can be another cause of Chkdsk errors, so it is important to keep your computer free from any electronic infections. The Zobot virus is frequently the culprit, in one of the many variations. This is one of the reasons that anti virus software should always be installed on your system. Just installing this software will not guarantee your computer’s safety, you must run scans regularly, and check for and install any available updates to the virus definition database. The scans of your system should be done at least once a day, especially if you connect using broadband, to quickly detect any infections and remove them.

RUNNING CHKDSK ((for xp and 2000))

1. Click the Start button then select Run
2. In the Run window’s Open box, type cmd or command
3. Click OK and an MS-DOS-style black screen will appear in a new window
4. Run chkdsk by typing one of the the following commands where the cursor is blinking:
a. chkdsk c: /f /r and then press <Enter> (see Notes below)
OR
b. chkdsk c: /f and then press <Enter> (see Notes below)
5. With either command, a message will appear that says:"chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? <y/n>"
6. Type y (for "yes") and then press <Enter> Caution: canceling an already scheduled chkdsk is a giant hassle so be sure you want to run chkdsk before completing this step. For information about how to cancel an already scheduled chkdsk, visit Microsoft® at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158675
7. A message will appear that will say: "This volume will be checked the next time the system restarts"
8. Type exit and then press <Enter> to close the MS-DOS-style black screen window
9. Reboot (restart) the computer as you normally would and chkdsk will automatically begin running after your reboot (restart). While chkdsk is running, you will see a light blue window with a dark blue band at the top and bottom. Chkdsk will display the specific stage it is checking as well as the percentage of completion of the stage. You cannot do anything else on your computer while chkdsk is running. When chkdsk is finished, it will automatically reboot (restart) your computer.

I read that one can mess up one’s computer by running a Registry Cleaner, so I have not installed any yet in my computer. I also read that computers slows down over time and you need a Registry Cleaner to solve this problem. So what is the best course of action. If I need a Registry Cleaner, which are among the best- free or otherwise?

I use Glary utilities a free program that does it all. Cleans temp files, cleans the registry and also defrags. You want to be careful though too agressive programs can cause serious issues. I also have used Ccleaner but find that this runs faster and does not stumble on FF.

My windows XP is running slow and gets hanged sometimes. How do I solve this problem? I heard registry problem can be a cause. If that is so, what can I do to solve the problem? Can Ccleaner be used for the purpose?

Registry is the controller of who is who in a computer, it manages what is installed, what it has to do, when to start etc. So if a registry key is corrupt/missing or manipulated it can cause a lot of side effects for your pc’s health. Some programs can be too much at the computer startup and they hence will cause the machine to be slow as well.

Fixing this Yes can be done by ccleaner for both the registry obsolete keys as well as startup entry’s. They are also a lot of other utility programs that can do the work like reg-cure & ace utilities but only that they are not free. Use Ccleaner and its free.

I use ARO, a utility that cleans my computer’s registry. A network administrator I know said it shouldn’t be used. What do you think? It does a great job getting my older computer up and running.

Don’t use it. More often than not causes more problems, and very rarely improves anything.

See these links:
Ed Bott – Why I don’t use registry cleaners – http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=643]
Registry Cleaner Review = http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Windows/Registry_Cleaner_Review.html

I’m running Windows 7 and I bought Fit-It Utilities 10 Professional Edition but it can’t fix my registry errors. I contacted HP and they said it’s not covered under my warranty and wanted another $169 to fix it or have me spend $200 with the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I have technical ability so if there is a workable solution out there I can implement it. Appreciate any assistance.

Do you mean Fix-it Utilities? Anyway, not a good program and I wouldn’t worry about so called registry errors. It’s kind of a scam. All registry cleaners or registry "optimizers" do is look for obsolete entries that point to files on your computer that are no longer there or were never there (have yet to be created). The fact a registry cleaner says you have errors means very little. Those kinds of programs don’t fix anything, they just delete information they think is obsolete. It all has no effect on performance.

This tune up guide will walk you through the following steps to get your PC running speedy again. Most of these steps take only a few minutes to complete and make a big difference in your computers performance. I have used everyone of these and they all work great.

 

• Registry Cleaner
• Updated Virus Software
• Spyware Checker
• Disk Defragmenter (Defrag)

 

Your computer works hard for you all year, and just like a car it needs periodic maintenance. These four tips will help your computer keep running smooth and behaving like it should. The whole process can be done in under an hour, and most of it can be done while you are multi-tasking and even using under other applications or surfing the web. I do not count the HD defragment process here because that should be done when the computer is not in use as it takes hours.

 

 Ok so without further ado, lets get started:

 

 1. Slow Startups? – Clean that Registry!

 

 Your Windows PC loads a bunch of tiny programs every time you start up the machine. Some of these programs are actual applications and some are little programs used by the system. Every time you install a new program or update your OS you create a new Registry entry. The System Registry is a to do list for your computer. If your PC is a year or older, chances are you have installed (and uninstalled) lots of software, sometimes (like when visiting a website requiring a plug-in or a spyware application) without even realizing it!

 

 The Registry list can get cluttered and filled with bogus, removed and out-of-date entries that the computer has to check every time it starts up. I ran this cleaner on one PC and found over 1900 registry items that were no longer there. For everyone of these items the system has to look and see if the item is where it is supposed to be, then if it isn’t it skips to the next one. A single item doesn’t take very long but they can add up quick!

 

Fortunately the nice people at Eusing have created a free Registry Cleaner. This is from their website:

 

Problems with the Windows Registry are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages. Registry problems can occur for many reasons, including references left behind after uninstallation; incorrect removal of software; missing or corrupt hardware drivers; or orphaned start-up programs. This will significantly increase the Registry size and slow down your computer, because Windows will need more time to load, search, and read data from the Registry.

 

So go download and install Free Registry Cleaner 1.6. To find the link just Google: “Eusing Free Registry Cleaner” After installation the default is to have the program run. The first thing you see will be a prompt window to register and support Eusing software. To register click the registration button and its only $15 for a great handy piece of software. Or you can click the skip button and proceed with trying it out first.

 

First scan your registry and it will show you how many broken entries are there.

 

This may take a while depending on how old your computer is and how many entries you have. After the scan, back up a copy of your current registry (under file menu). Next click Repair and viola, your registry is clean.

 

2. I Spy Evil Software! Spyware Checker

 

Remember that silly free cartoon screensaver you just had to have, or that great “free” music sharing program you installed. Well guess what, there is a good chance that you have installed software that has some nasty secret software in it called spyware! Spyware can send back your private information to people you probably do not want to have it. you may have noticed a bunch of new pop-ups, or your home page has suddenly changed, or maybe you have so many toolbars now you barely have room to view webpages? Time to run Windows Defender, free from.. gasp! Microsoft! That’s right Microsoft is giving away free software, hard to believe I know, but its true. They will check to make sure you are running a valid (eg not pirated) version of Windows before you can download it.

 

3. Is your PC sick? – update your Virus software!

 

Most people who buy a new PC get a trial version of virus software such as McAffe or Norton. These are great products but they do require a registration fee and subscription. So maybe you let it lapse and decided not to pay for it. Well good news again! The wizards over at Grisoft maintain an awesome virus protection application called AVG Free. It updates almost everyday and keeps you up to date with the latest virus definitions. They also offer some other great products such as anti-spam and anti-spyware. Download AVG and run a scan, it will clean up any viruses that have penetrated your system. You can upgrade to the full version which includes a lot of extras for a very reasonable price. To download AVG just Google: “AVG Free”

 

Download and install Windows Defender, then let it update and run, it will make sure no nasty spyware has wormed its way onto your computer. To get the installer just Google: “Windows Defender Download”

 

4. Disk Error Checking – The biggest culprit in slow startups.

 

Disk errors can give you major slow start ups and slow performance running your computer! The solution is hidden in windows, but not too hard to find if you follow this guide. – The primary hard drive of your PC, the one that holds the operating system, is usually the C: drive by default, open my computer and right click on your C: drive and click properties.

 

Now click the second tab “Tools” – The first button is Error-Checking, click “Check now…”

 

Next click the 2 check boxes, Automatically fix errors and Recovery of bad sectors and click “start”.

 

You will get a warning that says the computer cant start the disk check because windows is running, do you want to run the check at next startup – click yes then reboot your PC.

 

5. Defrag

 

This is a super important system tool that has been around for many versions of Windows. As files get copied and moved around your computer they sometimes get broken up into smaller pieces. This can make certain programs or files run horribly slow! You should do a little prep work before you defrag your drive. And because a defrag of a large drive (even 60 gigs) can take several hours! So heres what you should do.

 

“Empty your web browser cache” folder. Remove old windows programs you don’t use anymore (especially old games which take up a lot of room) “How to Add/Remove programs”. Empty your recycle bin. Delete any other old files to make as much free space as possible and so you dont end up wasting time defragging some old dancing baby video you don’t even want. Change your energy saving / screensaver settings not to sleep or shoutdown for at least 4 hours. (Right click desktop > properties > screensaver tab)

 

If your not sure how to do the things listed above, just google the phrase in quotes

 

Ok now I recommend you wait until you are done using your computer for the day, like right before you leave the office or go to bed, before you start your defrag. the defrag tool will use alot of the computers resources so its hard to do other things when its running. Defrag comes with Windows, just go under Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmeter. Click Analyze to see of the computer recommends defragging, if so, continue and it should be done when you get back. Just make sure your done for the day, because its much better to leave it run without pausing, as you may be moving a critical file.

 

Well thats about it, this should make a big difference if you are experiencing slow load times and general PC problems. If you like dthis article, please share it with a friend. You can post this article on your blog or website as long as you leave all the links in place.

 

Annual PC Maintenance © Copyright 2007-2008 – Wesley Warren Wesley Warren is CEO of Vexcom Inc and Webmaster of DesignQuote

 

 

Wesley E. Warren

When a Windows computer has been used for some time it tends to slow down,freeze sometimes and occasionally even crash completely. It may take months or years depending on how much you use your machine but it will happen.

Why is this so? The reason is nearly always a corrupt registry which has become bloated with data and useless files. Every time you install or uninstall a program incompletely, fragments of the program will remain in the registry causing it to become choked with data after some time.

The registry is something which all Windows PCs have. It is basically a database of entries which the operating system uses to run the machine. When it becomes bloated with too many fragments of data the operating system has to find its way through all the excess entries to locate the data it needs to run the computer and programs. This causes a very noticeable slow down and balkiness in the operation of the machine.

The only way to correct this problem is to remove all the unwanted data entries from the registry. All windows PCs have a function called Regedit which is intended for just this purpose. You can access Regedit by clicking START-RUN then typing Regedit in the box. When you are ready to start using Regedit you must first back up your registry so that you can restore it if something goes wrong. This is done by clicking FILE then selecting EXPORT. Name the backup file so that you can find it and save to your desktop or elsewhere.

You can now proceed to go through the registry entries and remove any you do not want. When you examine the registry entries you will see that you are faced with a formidable task. Unless you really know what you are doing it will be obvious to you that you need help at this point. Just remove one wrong entry and you can completely disable the computer which we certainly do not want to do.

Fortunately help is readily available in the form of an online registry cleaner application which can do the job quickly and safely. A good registry repair utility will backup your registry then delete all unecessary entries from the registry. This will easily and safely clean the registry in a matter of minutes and return the computer to being the sweet running fast machine it was before the registry became corrupt.

We purchased several of the most popular registry cleaner applications and tested them to see which was best. We found that they vary greatly in ability to detect errors in the registry. The best registry cleaner applications could detect many more wrong entries than some of the others.

John Mowatt
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/slow-running-computerspeed-it-up-with-registry-cleaner-software-751759.html

This tune up guide will walk you through the following steps to get your PC running speedy again. Most of these steps take only a few minutes to complete and make a big difference in your computers performance. I have used everyone of these and they all work great.

 

• Registry Cleaner
• Updated Virus Software
• Spyware Checker
• Disk Defragmenter (Defrag)

 

Your computer works hard for you all year, and just like a car it needs periodic maintenance. These four tips will help your computer keep running smooth and behaving like it should. The whole process can be done in under an hour, and most of it can be done while you are multi-tasking and even using under other applications or surfing the web. I do not count the HD defragment process here because that should be done when the computer is not in use as it takes hours.

 

 Ok so without further ado, lets get started:

 

 1. Slow Startups? – Clean that Registry!

 

 Your Windows PC loads a bunch of tiny programs every time you start up the machine. Some of these programs are actual applications and some are little programs used by the system. Every time you install a new program or update your OS you create a new Registry entry. The System Registry is a to do list for your computer. If your PC is a year or older, chances are you have installed (and uninstalled) lots of software, sometimes (like when visiting a website requiring a plug-in or a spyware application) without even realizing it!

 

 The Registry list can get cluttered and filled with bogus, removed and out-of-date entries that the computer has to check every time it starts up. I ran this cleaner on one PC and found over 1900 registry items that were no longer there. For everyone of these items the system has to look and see if the item is where it is supposed to be, then if it isn’t it skips to the next one. A single item doesn’t take very long but they can add up quick!

 

Fortunately the nice people at Eusing have created a free Registry Cleaner. This is from their website:

 

Problems with the Windows Registry are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages. Registry problems can occur for many reasons, including references left behind after uninstallation; incorrect removal of software; missing or corrupt hardware drivers; or orphaned start-up programs. This will significantly increase the Registry size and slow down your computer, because Windows will need more time to load, search, and read data from the Registry.

 

So go download and install Free Registry Cleaner 1.6. To find the link just Google: “Eusing Free Registry Cleaner” After installation the default is to have the program run. The first thing you see will be a prompt window to register and support Eusing software. To register click the registration button and its only $15 for a great handy piece of software. Or you can click the skip button and proceed with trying it out first.

 

First scan your registry and it will show you how many broken entries are there.

 

This may take a while depending on how old your computer is and how many entries you have. After the scan, back up a copy of your current registry (under file menu). Next click Repair and viola, your registry is clean.

 

2. I Spy Evil Software! Spyware Checker

 

Remember that silly free cartoon screensaver you just had to have, or that great “free” music sharing program you installed. Well guess what, there is a good chance that you have installed software that has some nasty secret software in it called spyware! Spyware can send back your private information to people you probably do not want to have it. you may have noticed a bunch of new pop-ups, or your home page has suddenly changed, or maybe you have so many toolbars now you barely have room to view webpages? Time to run Windows Defender, free from.. gasp! Microsoft! That’s right Microsoft is giving away free software, hard to believe I know, but its true. They will check to make sure you are running a valid (eg not pirated) version of Windows before you can download it.

 

3. Is your PC sick? – update your Virus software!

 

Most people who buy a new PC get a trial version of virus software such as McAffe or Norton. These are great products but they do require a registration fee and subscription. So maybe you let it lapse and decided not to pay for it. Well good news again! The wizards over at Grisoft maintain an awesome virus protection application called AVG Free. It updates almost everyday and keeps you up to date with the latest virus definitions. They also offer some other great products such as anti-spam and anti-spyware. Download AVG and run a scan, it will clean up any viruses that have penetrated your system. You can upgrade to the full version which includes a lot of extras for a very reasonable price. To download AVG just Google: “AVG Free”

 

Download and install Windows Defender, then let it update and run, it will make sure no nasty spyware has wormed its way onto your computer. To get the installer just Google: “Windows Defender Download”

 

4. Disk Error Checking – The biggest culprit in slow startups.

 

Disk errors can give you major slow start ups and slow performance running your computer! The solution is hidden in windows, but not too hard to find if you follow this guide. – The primary hard drive of your PC, the one that holds the operating system, is usually the C: drive by default, open my computer and right click on your C: drive and click properties.

 

Now click the second tab “Tools” – The first button is Error-Checking, click “Check now…”

 

Next click the 2 check boxes, Automatically fix errors and Recovery of bad sectors and click “start”.

 

You will get a warning that says the computer cant start the disk check because windows is running, do you want to run the check at next startup – click yes then reboot your PC.

 

5. Defrag

 

This is a super important system tool that has been around for many versions of Windows. As files get copied and moved around your computer they sometimes get broken up into smaller pieces. This can make certain programs or files run horribly slow! You should do a little prep work before you defrag your drive. And because a defrag of a large drive (even 60 gigs) can take several hours! So heres what you should do.

 

“Empty your web browser cache” folder. Remove old windows programs you don’t use anymore (especially old games which take up a lot of room) “How to Add/Remove programs”. Empty your recycle bin. Delete any other old files to make as much free space as possible and so you dont end up wasting time defragging some old dancing baby video you don’t even want. Change your energy saving / screensaver settings not to sleep or shoutdown for at least 4 hours. (Right click desktop > properties > screensaver tab)

 

If your not sure how to do the things listed above, just google the phrase in quotes

 

Ok now I recommend you wait until you are done using your computer for the day, like right before you leave the office or go to bed, before you start your defrag. the defrag tool will use alot of the computers resources so its hard to do other things when its running. Defrag comes with Windows, just go under Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmeter. Click Analyze to see of the computer recommends defragging, if so, continue and it should be done when you get back. Just make sure your done for the day, because its much better to leave it run without pausing, as you may be moving a critical file.

 

Well thats about it, this should make a big difference if you are experiencing slow load times and general PC problems. If you like dthis article, please share it with a friend. You can post this article on your blog or website as long as you leave all the links in place.

 

Annual PC Maintenance © Copyright 2007-2008 – Wesley Warren Wesley Warren is CEO of Vexcom Inc and Webmaster of DesignQuote

 

 

Wesley E. Warren