A registry repair program will take the guess work out of fixing your registry. The Windows registry is where your computer stores information about the configuration of your system, so if your registry fails then you need a registry repair program.

The registry is essential to your computer's capacity to run well, so faulty keys, registry viruses, or fragments can cause your PC or laptop to either slow down or not work at all. If your registry becomes contaminated with a virus or you have lost registry keys, it may require you to do a complete reinstall of Windows.

To prevent this from ever happening, you should of course keep virus protection software running at all times, and you should also make a backup of your registry at least once a year. Your backup copy of the registry can then be used to restore any lost or broken keys.

If that doesn't work though, don't go reinstalling Windows right away, first use a registry repair program and try and fix it. Also, a backup is a great idea even if you use a registry repair program, because what if the program deletes an important registry key that it wasn't suppose to? If you have a backup all you have to do is restore it and you would be good to go.

There are quite a few reasons why you might have to to fix your registry, so let's discuss them now and see what they actually do to your registry.

If you get a virus, that is the main thing that can damage your registry. Several viruses can attack through your registry by creating or changing keys. If your keys ever do get changed by a virus, never attempt to change them back, as this will most likely just damage the registry even more.

Most of the time a broken registry comes from uninstalled programs that actually weren't uninstalled properly. Sometimes people just delete the programs folder or installation file thinking everything will go with it, when in fact you have to use the uninstall feature in Windows or the one that comes with the actual program.

See, since programs create keys in the registry, if you remove a program but not the keys, you will come across errors because Windows will try to operate based upon those keys.

Tracking programs are another way that someone can sneak into your registry and damage it. This kind of program installs itself through internet pages, and then tracks your internet usage and transmits it back to a host.

Tracking programs have registry keys associated with them, some have lots of keys. So to get rid of that tracking program, and make sure that your registry will still function, you have to get rid of all of the registry keys that are associated with the tracking program.

That was just some of the reasons that you might need a registry repair program, so be on the lookup out for them.

Defragmenting data

Defragmenting is when the system will remove blank data and consolidates the remaining information so that there are no blank memory pieces anymore. Whenever new programs or data is put onto your computer, the registry re organizes the keys, so that it reads the information in a correct way for processing.

This will often leave gaps between the data which will slow data processing. That is why you should defragment often and after every time you use a registry repair program.

Windows comes with a defragmenting program preinstalled; you just need to know where it is. To find and use the defragmenting program, follow the directions below.

1. Click "Start" on bottom Windows toolbar, and go to "Programs".
2. Next go to "Accessories", then "System Tools".
3. In the "System Tools" folder, you will see a program called "Disk defragmenter". Click to open it, then run it on your hard drive.

The disk defragmenter is so easy to use, that I don't need to explain to you how to run it, because it will be obvious.