Evaluating the Best Registry Cleaners for Beginners
The best registry cleaners are, by their very nature, rather technical pieces of software. The average computer user would be hard pressed to explain just what a registry cleaner does, yet alone how. Therefore, it's rather difficult for them to meaningfully compare different software when shopping around for the best. This article will solve that problem for you. It will list the criteria for you to judge the best registry cleaners by. Consequently, you will be able to make an informed decision and judge for yourself which are the best registry cleaners.
Effectiveness
The most important gauge of registry cleaning software is how effective and thorough it is at repairing and cleaning your computer's registry. When evaluating registry cleaners, the first thing you should check for in the documentation is how many different types of registry errors it looks for. There are several different categories of registry errors. Registry cleaners that are best, look for a wider variety of registry errors than other cleaners do. Consequently, they are able to find and repair more problems. At the very least, any decent cleaner should check the following twelve standard categories for errors: *Invalid Shortcuts *Shared Program Paths *Startup Files *Shared DLL Files *Active X/Coms/OLE *Most Recent Files *Font Files *Application Paths *File Associations *Toolbars *Help Files
Registry cleaners that are best, will check more than just these twelve standard categories. If possible, look for a registry cleaner that scans fifteen categories or more, such as: *System Drivers *Shell Extensions *Add/Remove Programs List *Uninstall Entries
Features
Simpler, cheaper registry cleaners repair and clean your computer's registry, and nothing else. The best registry cleaners, on the other hand, are packed with extra features. Some of these features are highly useful, even crucial, while other features are essentially just fluff that has little to do with cleaning the registry. The following features are essential, and should be considered a must-have for any registry cleaner worth paying money for. Scheduler This allows you to set your registry cleaner to automatically run itself and clean your registry once a week (or whenever you choose). As the registry needs to be cleaned regularly, but it's easy to forget to do it manually, a scheduler becomes a vital feature in helping your maintain a clean, stable registry. Backup Restore This feature makes a backup copy of your registry before it makes any maintenance or repairs. That way, if something goes wrong and your registry gets damaged (very rare but known to happen), you can restore the backup copy of the registry and be none the worse for wear. Registry Optimizer This tool reorganizes, defragments, and condenses your registry. This makes the4 registry (and thus your computer) small, efficient, and fast. This feature goes by many other names, such as a Registry Compactor or a Registry Defragmenter. Those are the essential features. There are other features, however, that while not strictly necessary are still nice to have if you can get them. These include: *Automatic Updates *Startup Manager *Disk Cleanup *Anti-Spyware
Simplicity
Most of us, just average ordinary computer users, prefer quick and easy controls reduced to the point-and-click, drag-and-drop level. If there are advanced settings, we prefer them to be safely hidden away on a separate screen where they won't confuse us or get clicked by accident. Even the best registry cleaners can reduce the controls down to “one-click cleaning” which a lot of people like. On the other hand, if you're a techie power-user, speed and simplicity might be of lesser importance to you. Perhaps you value control and precision more, and prefer advanced, technical controls that let you fine-tune the software. Many cleaners have advanced features and controls as well. Whatever your preference, give a higher ranking to a registry cleaner that your are more confident and comfortable using.
Price
Finally, you need to consider the price. A more expensive registry cleaner is not necessarily better, and some of the best registry cleaners are only charge a mid-range price.Keep in mind that a good, quality registry cleaner can add years to your computer's operating life. If you hesitate at the relatively modest cost of a good registry cleaner ($20 - $50), just compare that price tag to the cost of a new computer. You'll find that the cost of a good registry cleaner is a good long-term investment. Now that you know how to evaluate the
best registry cleaners
, check out sites that test and rank different registry cleaners, such as Registry2Aid, and see what they have to say about the different software available on the market.


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