The Windows Registry stores settings and options for Microsoft Windows. Over time, the registry gradually grows in size and gets cluttered with invalid and obsolete data.
PC Cleaner can help you clean and optimize your registry to improve the performance of your computer. From the registry menu you can also create customized registry scans and backup and restore your registry.
Registry Scan
In the Registry Tab, choose the Scan now option to search the registry for items to clean and optimize. PC Cleaner will show you the number of items found in the following ten categories:
Software locations – programs listed in the control panel that are no longer installed or have other configuration problems.
Shared/known programs – pointers to files in use by more than one application that no longer exist on your system
File associations – file types pointing to programs that no longer exist on your system.
Com/Active X – invalid Com or Active X entries in the windows registry can cause application failures, system crashes or information loss.
Interfaces/Types – programs with the relationship between interfaces and annotation types can result in program errors.
Startup programs list – shortcuts in the startup menu pointing to programs which no longer exist.
Uninstall entries – invalid entries typically due to incorrect installation or uninstallation of applications.
Help and resources – references to help files and resources that are no longer available.
Fonts and sounds – missing or incorrect font or sound files that can cause errors in applications.
Temporary registry values – these add clutter to the registry and can be safely removed.
To get more information on the items found click on the red underlined text showing the number of items detected for that particular category.
Select the Fix Now button to clean and optimize your registry.
Registry Options
Customized Registry Scan
By default all the registry areas are selected for scanning. To exclude certain areas from future registry scans:
- From the registry menu click on “Customize your registry scan”.
- In the customize registry scan window uncheck the box next to any area of the registry which you do not wish to include in future scans.
- Click Save to save your changes.
Registry backup and restore
PC Cleaner makes it very safe and easy to clean and optimize your registry. However, if you ever find that the removal of any registry items has caused certain software programs to stop running correctly or if your computer is taking an excessively long time to boot you can always revert your computer back to the last known good configuration using the backup and restore features.
From the registry menu click “Backup and restore your registry”.
Options on the backup menu include
Create system restore point – create a backup of your current system configuration which you can revert too should you experience any problems after removing registry items. This feature is available to anybody using Windows 7, Vista, or XP. Once you create a system restore point you can access it by going to Windows Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore.
Backup registry – create a backup copy of your current registry which you can revert too should you experience any problems after removing registry items. Click Backup Registry and select the areas of your registry which you wish to include in the backup.
Restore from previous backup – we recommend you use caution when restoring the registry as it can effect the operation of different software products on your computer. From the backup menu click “Restore from previous backup”, select the backup you wish to restore and click restore.