registry mechanic

If you're experiencing startup errors, programs not working properly or general crashes and freezes of your machine, then the likelihood is that you've got some errors in your registry. Your registry contains some of Window's most important components which form the backbone of many programs. If any of these entries get corrupted or damaged, Windows can start to malfunction in all kinds of erratic ways. Fortunately there are several tools out there designed to search and destroy such errors, or at least repair those registry values that have become damaged. Here are 5 of the best:

Registry Mechanic - One of the best all-round registry optimisers and cleaners RegCleaner - Simple but fast and effective registry cleaner

RegCure - One of the first truly effective registry cleaners and optimisers

RegSeeker - Shows in detail what's wrong or infected in your registry Free Window Registry Repair - A simple but solid starting point for registry problems

Registry errors are one of the main reasons for system crashes and poor PC performance. Your registry contains important information about your computer’s configuration and many malware or spyware programs can corrupt it. There are a number of commercial programs which can help such as Registry Mechanic but fortunately there are also a few free programs to help you.

One of the most downloaded is RegSeeker which as well as cleaning your registry, can also display information such as startup entries, installed applications and much more. You can perform searches within your registry and also tweak it to optimise your operating system and get rid of broken shortcuts.

Another excellent free alternative is EasyCleaner which searches specifically for obsolete backup and temp files that may be cluttering your registry. EasyCleaner can also go a bit further in managing startup programs, invalid shortcuts and your add/remove software list.

If speed is a major issue, then try Advanced WindowsCare. This goes beyond simple registry cleaning and tries to specifically target registry bottlenecks that are slowing down your PC. Finally, if there’s an awkward registry entry that you simply can’t remove, then HijackThis is sure to get rid of it. However, you must be very careful when using it as it allows you complete manual access to your registry and removing the wrong entry could end up corrupting your operating system!

Corruption is not just something isolated to politics. It's also something that can affect your PC and ruin your hard drive or files for good. The scary thing about it is that it can happen at almost any moment. Particularly if you've got an old hard drive or you've suffered from a virus at some stage, there's a good chance that files could corrupt meaning that you simply can't open them anymore.

There are many tools out there however that can help you rescue corrupted files and drives, depending on the file type and how badly damaged they really are. One of the most powerful is Magic Recovery Professional which works on all NTFS drives which is so through, that it's even used in criminal investigations to ascertain exactly what may have corrupted a drive and to repair it. It's not only hard drives and files that corrupt however - your registry can also corrupt which can cause general problems with your PC such as slow performance, frequent crashes and program errors. If you think that some of your registry entries may be damaged, Registry Mechanic is widely recognised as one of the most powerful and effective registry scanners and repairers.

One of the most common types of file to corrupt are Microsoft Word files and there's nothing worse than spending hours or even days on a document to find that you can no longer open it. Word Repair can't guarantee to recover your corrupted Word Files - in fact it only works in around 50% of cases - but it's definitely worth a shot if the worst has happened to you. Another frequent victim of corruption are PDF documents and if you're receiving a message that your PDF file is unreadable or may be corrupt, then PDF Repair is your answer. Finally, if your precious photos that are seemingly corrupted and no longer readable, Digital Photo Recovery 3 is a free tool which can help you recover corrupted photos on both your hard drive and removable memory cards.