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What's the Registry Repair Software Report Definitions?

Automatic Removal

This tool cleans, repairs or removes errors in the registry automatically.

Indicates Registry Severity

This feature identifies how dangerous removing an error file may be to your system.

Individual Undo

This allows you to undo a single deleted action.

Exporting / Importing

This is a means of taking information out of the registry and saving it as a text file. A text file is a harmless format that can also be reverted back into the Registry, if needed. Replacing this information in the registry is called Importing.

Cleanup Internet Explorer

This feature cleans up your Internet activity and Internet settings.

Removes Duplicate Files

Duplicate files are files that have the exact same name, size, update date, time and same contents. Duplicates are deleted with this feature.

Deletes Empty Registry Keys

You can only delete empty registry keys. If the registry key you want to delete contains any keys, subkeys, or values, you must delete them before you can delete the parent key, and this feature helps you do this.

Checks For Hidden Traces of installed software

This feature looks for hidden objects that are sometimes installed from software applications.

Checks Invalid Class Keys

This feature checks for invalid class keys and gives you the option to delete them.

Checks Shell Extension

A shell Extension enables the third-party developer to run his program inside the Shell. Some registry cleaners check for the validity of the shell extension.

Checks Invalid Help Files

Some applications store information help file location data in the registry. This area of your computer may contain incorrect and outdated entries for programs you have uninstalled; registry software cleans these.

Checks Invalid CLSID/ Typelib/Interface Entries

This feature removes unnecessary interfaces, or operating screens, from your operating system.

Checks Invalid Shared/known DLLs

A DLL is a Dynamic Link Library that is shared among applications. Some registry cleaning software will find and repair orphan references to shared DLLs. DLLs hold functions that can be called up by different applications, so if removed, the link becomes invalid and should also be removed.

Dynamic-Link Library, they are routines linked into applications at runtime, that's why sometimes applications don't work and get errors such as x.Dll is missing, DLL's are usually made w/ high-end languages such as C

Checks Com / Activex

Entries in this section contain information about COM and ActiveX programs registered in the system. These are compiled, executable programs; the registry cleaner.

Checks Sound and Appevents

Application events (appevents) that are associated with sound are checked for validity.

Checks Invalid Paths

Registry Cleaners check the validity of the referenced programs to make sure all the paths exist. Otherwise, the entry is invalid and should be deleted (unless the registry repair tool can find an alternate path).

Checks Application Path keys /Orphan References

When a new program is installed, information about its location will be added to this section of the registry. If the application's path is changed or if it is removed at all this entry becomes invalid and should be removed by a registry cleaner.

Many applications store their program's association with their installed directory. Sometimes they are moved to some other location but their associations are not updated and such references keep cluttering the registry. When you launch a program, Windows first searches the application path's section; missing entries increase search time. These items can be repaired with registry cleaning software.

Checks Invalid fonts

Many people install new font faces and remove them later. Windows stores references to each font in the registry. If the registry is not cleaned regularly, Windows font reference data can become jumbled and start showing different font faces than you plan. Some registry software checks for this type of anomaly.

Checks Invalid File Types / Extensions/ Entries

Windows keeps a record of which program to use to open all types of files. For example, Notepad is the default to open basic text files that have names that end with the extension .txt. This relationship between file and program is known as a file association.

Sometimes a file association is created, but its opening program (such as Notepad) is removed or deleted. In this case, Windows cannot open the file. Software that checks for invalid extensions checks that all your files' extensions have programs that match; any deviant files are highlighted.

Checks Shared Folders

This section contains references to shared folders on your computer that hold settings for the folders on your network. If a particular shared folder is deleted or removed, then the reference becomes invalid since it no longer points to a valid location. Checking these folders in order to delete broken links cleans your system further.

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WinUtilities All-in-One Cleaning and Optimization Suite
WinUtilities suite is an award winning collection of tools to optimize and speedup your system performance. this suite contains utilities to clean registry, temporary files on your disks, erase your application and internet browser history, cache and cookies. you can control startup programs that load automatically with windows, find duplicate files, fix broken shortcuts and uninstall unneeded software. other features include secure file deletion, recycle bin shredding, and cleaning tasks scheduling.

WinUtilities Registry Cleaner
With WinUtilities Registry Cleaner for Windows you can safely clean and repair Windows registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks! Fix problems with the Windows registry that are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages.

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How can you backup and restore the Registry?

Windows 95

Microsoft included a utility on the Windows 95 CD-ROM that lets you create backups of the Registry on your computer. The Microsoft Configuration Backup program, CFGBACK.EXE, can be found in the \Other\Misc\Cfgback directory on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. This utility lets you create up to nine different backup copies of the Registry, which it stores, with the extension RBK, in your \Windows directory. If your system is set up for multiple users, CFGBACK.EXE won't back up the USER.DAT file.

After you have backed up your Registry, you can copy the RBK file onto a floppy disk for safekeeping. However, to restore from a backup, the RBK file must reside in the \Windows directory. Windows 95 stores the backups in compressed form, which you can then restore only by using the CFGBACK.EXE utility.

Windows 98

Microsoft Windows 98 automatically creates a backup copy of the registry every time Windows starts, in addition to this you can manually create a backup using the Registry Checker utility by running SCANREGW.EXE from Start | Run menu.

What to do if you get a Corrupted Registry ?

Windows 95, 98 and NT all have a simple registry backup mechanism that is quite reliable, although you should never simply rely on it, remember to always make a backup first!

Windows 95

In the Windows directory there are several hidden files, four of these will be SYSTEM.DAT & USER.DAT, your current registry, and SYSTEM.DA0 & USER.DA0, a backup of your registry. Windows 9x has a nice reature in that every time it appears to start successfully it will copy the registry over these backup files, so just in case something goes wrong can can restore it to a known good state. To restore the registry follow these instruction:

1. Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.

2. Click Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode, then click Yes.

3. Change to your Windows directory. For example, if your Windows directory is c:\windows, you would type the following:

cd c:\windows

4. Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each one. (Note that SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 contain the number zero.)

attrib -h -r -s system.dat
attrib -h -r -s system.da0
copy system.da0 system.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.da0
copy user.da0 user.dat

5. Restart your computer.

Following this procedure will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer.

If all else fails, there is a file on your hard disk named SYSTEM.1ST that was created when Windows 95 was first successfully installed. If necessary you could also change the file attributes of this file from read-only and hidden to archive to copy the file to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT.

Windows NT

On Windows NT you can use either the "Last Known Good" option or RDISK to restore to registry to a stable working configuration.

How can I clean out old data from the Registry?

Although it's possible to manually go through the Registry and delete unwanted entries, Microsoft provides a tool to automate the process, the program is called RegClean. RegClean analyzes Windows Registry keys stored in a common location in the Windows Registry. It finds keys that contain erroneous values, it removes them from the Windows Registry after having recording those entries in the Undo.Reg file. You can download this free utility from our downloads page.

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WinUtilities All-in-One Cleaning and Optimization Suite
WinUtilities suite is an award winning collection of tools to optimize and speedup your system performance. this suite contains utilities to clean registry, temporary files on your disks, erase your application and internet browser history, cache and cookies. you can control startup programs that load automatically with windows, find duplicate files, fix broken shortcuts and uninstall unneeded software. other features include secure file deletion, recycle bin shredding, and cleaning tasks scheduling.

WinUtilities Registry Cleaner
With WinUtilities Registry Cleaner for Windows you can safely clean and repair Windows registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks! Fix problems with the Windows registry that are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages.

Return to Registry Insight

What is the Registry?

The Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows Vista, 95, 98, ME and NT/2000. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Windows Registry.

The physical files that make up the registry are stored differently depending on your version of Windows; under Windows 95 & 98 it is contained in two hidden files in your Windows directory, called USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, for Windows Me there is an additional CLASSES.DAT file, while under Windows NT/2000 the files are contained seperately in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config directory. You can not edit these files directly, you must use a tool commonly known as a "regedit" to make any changes (using registry editors will be discussed later in the article).

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Registry Repair Components

Understanding the tools behind registry repair can help you determine the best course of action if you are having registry problems or system issues. If registry repair is paramount and you don't have the time, experience or patience to work through your registry's issues manually, you may want to consider a registry repair tool such as WinUtilities Registry Cleaner, which is specifically designed to analyze and repair registry issues.

Understanding the Windows Registry

Your system's registry is a central database used to store information necessary to configure the system for preferences, applications, and hardware components. Registry repair and preventative maintenance is important because the registry contains information that is constantly referred to by the system during operation. The more preferences, software applications, drivers, and hardware components that are installed on the computer, the more complex the registry becomes. Registry repair becomes critical when this registry becomes corrupted or littered with keys no longer relevant to your system. The Windows registry is a vital part of Windows and if it is damaged then your whole system may be corrupted.

A Quick Look at Registry Repair Tools

There is a wide range of tools available that can help you repair or work with your system's registry. One of the more important registry repair tools is a registry editor, which you can use to change values in the registry. There is a Registry Editor that comes with Windows, or you can use a third-party registry program such as WinUtilities Registry Cleaner.

Registry repair tools like WinUtilities Registry Cleaner include applications that help you fix the registry after it gets messed up, but they can also help prevent problems from occurring. While WinUtilities Registry Cleaner is designed for registry repair and fixes a wide range of common Registry problems, RegClean (free from Microsoft) is designed to repair registry problems specific to several Microsoft products.

Continue to Registry Cleaners and Tools

For some additional insight into Windows registry repair and how you can tweak your registry for peak performance, please refer to the following helpful links.

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Return to Registry Insight

Registry Cleaners, Fixers and Tools

Registry cleaners are designed to keep your Windows registry in excellent working condition so that your system operates at peak performance. There are dozens of different registry cleaners and tools available for use with the registry, some of which are discussed below.

Registry Editor - An effective registry cleaner?

Registry Editor comes standard with your Windows installation and is sometimes used as a registry cleaner even though it does have its limitations. This program will allow you to make typical changes to the registry. While grouped within registry cleaners, cleaning the registry through this method can become quite tedious. You can add and remove keys and values, change values, or export entire branches of the Registry to a REG file and also import this file later. While the Registry Editor isn't considered to be among the more thorough registry cleaners, it is still a powerful tool capable of handling most jobs related to registry repair and management.

Registry Cleaners or Registry Checker?

Registry Checker comes installed with Windows 98 and this is quite a useful registry cleaner for repairing the Windows Registry. Primarily, the Registry Checker can handle the following:

Backs up and restores the Registry
Scans and fixes a variety of Registry errors
Optimizes unused space in the Registry

Unlike most registry cleaners, Windows 98 actually starts Registry Checker every time you boot the system, at which time it backs up the Registry to what are called "CAB files" (compressed archive files). It is also useful for registry cleaning tasks because it also scans the Registry for errors. If it finds any registry errors then Windows 98 will restart the computer in MS-DOS mode and run Registry Checker to repair the file or restore the backup copy of the Registry. While not as thorough as most registry cleaners, it can be enough for light system users.

RegClean as a Registry Cleaner

Reg Clean is actually a freeware utility from Microsoft that helps to repair a number of registry problems that are somewhat common to Microsoft products. While Reg Clean isn't nearly as thorough or useful as some proprietary registry cleaners such as WinUtilities Registry Cleaner, it does serve the needs of millions of low-risk users. Click here to learn more about RegClean and how it compares to other registry cleaners.

Registry Cleaners vs. The Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit

Microsoft's Windows 98 Resource Kit comes with three MS-DOS registry cleaners and utilities that aren't available on the standard Windows 98 CD-ROM. There is also a resource kit for Microsoft Windows 95, which provides similar registry cleaning utilities. The program will enable you to compare branches from two different stored registries and then list the differences so that you can locate potential discrepancies and errors. Compared to most registry cleaners, it's a bit awkward for registry repair, but it also provides a number of additional functions. For example, you can query, add, update, delete, copy, save, back up, restore, load, and unload keys and values. You can also search for keys, value names, and value data in the Windows Registry. While not ideal for registry cleaning and repair, it does display the values so that you can work to determine the next course of action.

WinUtilities Registry Cleaner - one of the most popular registry cleaners available

With WinUtilities Registry Cleaner for Windows you can safely clean and repair Windows registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks! With this complete registry cleaner solution you can easily fix and prevent problems with the Windows registry that are often the root of sudden crashes, error messages, and performance degradation.

For some additional insight into Windows registry cleaners, registry repair, and how you can tweak your registry for peak performance, please refer to the following helpful links.

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