Another Day With My PC

It has been a month since my blog went live. In almost all of my entries, I have emphasized the importance of optimizing your computer in order to fully enjoy its potentials or capabilities. However, is the task of making your PC a lean, mean office (or gaming;) machine that simple?

If you’ve read an ad by an optimization tool-maker, you might think that cleaning Window’s registry is as easy as cleaning your room. I did. So instead of relying on such an application, I decided to do it myself. Reckless? Maybe. But peeking through the registry file is not that difficult. In fact, it’s just like opening a Microsoft Word file. It doesn’t contain binary codes or any other esoteric number combinations. You could even actually read the lines written therein.

I went through the contents of the file and tried to find out which lines were unnecessary. My computer was really a slowpoke back then and a free online scan revealed that my registry was indeed clogged by needless instructions. In case you don’t know, a registry contains information or directives that the computer frequently refers to in order to function properly. So what would happen if your unit follows pointless instructions? Well, I’m sure you’ve already guessed it right. Your PC would be busy doing loops instead of running the applications that you want. Worse, it may even execute instructions that could lead to the destruction of your files.

I realized quite belatedly that an unaided examination or repair of one’s registry is a dangerous and suicidal act:( It nearly killed my PC since I removed the wrong set of instructions. As a consequence, it refused to boot properly anymore. Luckily, I had a back up of the file that I modified. Despite the fact that I’m quite knowledgeable with computers, the complexity of the registry overwhelmed me. The seemingly simple task turned out to be a complicated undertaking.

Moral lesson here? Don’t tinker with your registry if you don’t know anything about it. Even programmers like me rarely dare do so. There are many registry cleaners that are available in the market that can spare you the trouble of having to go at it with your bare hands. These cleaners will basically browse through the registry and rid it of redundant lines, and more importantly, of malicious instructions.

As each computer is unique, so is its registry. It’s not your average .dll or .exe file where you could just easily replace it if it gets erroneously modified or corrupted. It’s definitely not an inconsequential file. Remember that this is the file that the computer frequently refers to when running applications. Needless to say, your PC will become a lame, paralytic duck if this file gets damaged.

Registries are the favorite targets of hackers since they can easily take over your system through these files. Invest in a good registry cleaner and check it frequently for unauthorized modifications. You won’t be able to fully enjoy or appreciate the power of your system if it’s busy executing erroneous instructions.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 7:25 am and is filed under RegCure, PC Optimization . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.