Today, more and more people are using their computers for everything from communication to online banking and investing to shopping. As we do these things on a more regular basis, we open ourselves up to potential hackers, attackers and crackers. While some may be looking to phish your personal information and identity for resale, others simply just want to use your computer as a platform from which to attack other unknowing targets. Below are a few easy, cost-effective steps you can take to make your computer more secure.

• 1. Always make backups of important information and store in a safe place separate from your computer.
• 2. Update and patch your operating system, web browser and software frequently. If you have a Windows operating system, start by going to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and running the update wizard. This program will help you find the latest patches for your Windows computer. Also go to www.officeupdate.microsoft.com to locate possible patches for your Office programs.
• 3. Install a firewall. Without a good firewall, viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and adware can all easily access your computer from the Internet. Consideration should be given to the benefits and differences between hardware and software based firewall programs.
• 4. Review your browser and email settings for optimum security.
  Why should you do this? Active-X and JavaScript are often used by hackers to plant malicious programs into your computers. While cookies are relatively harmless in terms of security concerns, they do still track your movements on the Internet to build a profile of you. At a minimum set your security setting for the “internet zone” to High, and your “trusted sites zone” to Medium Low.
• 5.Install antivirus software and set for automatic updates so that you receive the most current versions.
• 6.Do not open unknown email attachments. It is simply not enough that you may recognize the address from which it originates because many viruses can spread from a familiar address.
• 7.Do not run programs from unknown origins. Also, do not send these types of programs to friends and coworkers because they contain funny or amusing stories or jokes. They may contain a Trojans horse waiting to infect a computer.
• 8.Disable hidden filename extensions. By default, the Windows operating system is set to “hide file extensions for known file types”. Disable this option so that file extensions display in Windows. Some file extensions will, by default, continue to remain hidden, but you are more likely to see any unusual file extensions that do not belong.
• 9. Turn off your computer and disconnect from the network when not using the computer. A hacker can not attack your computer when you are disconnected from the network or the computer is off.
• 10. Consider making a boot disk on a floppy disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised by a malicious program. Obviously, you need to take this step before you experience a hostile breach of your system.

A keylogger is a program that runs in your computer’s background secretly recording all your keystrokes. Once your keystrokes are logged, they are hidden away for later retrieval by the attacker. The attacker then carefully reviews the information in hopes of finding passwords or other information that would prove useful to them.

For example, a keylogger can easily obtain confidential emails and reveal them to any interested outside party willing to pay for the information.

Keyloggers can be either software or hardware based. Software-based keyloggers are easy to distribute and infect, but at the same time are more easily detectable. Hardware-based keyloggers are more complex and harder to detect.

For all that you know, your keyboard could have a keylogger chip attached and anything being typed is recorded into a flash memory sitting inside your keyboard. Keyloggers have become one of the most powerful applications used for gathering information in a world where encrypted traffic is becoming more and more common.

As keyloggers become more advanced, the ability to detect them becomes more difficult. They can violate a user’s privacy for months, or even years, without being noticed. During that time frame, a keylogger can collect a lot of information about the user it is monitoring.

A keylogger can potentially obtain not only passwords and log-in names, but credit card numbers, bank account details, contacts, interests, web browsing habits, and much more. All this collected information can be used to steal user’s personal documents, money, or even their identity.

A keylogger might be as simple as an .exe and a .dll that is placed in a computer and activated upon boot up via an entry in the registry. Or, the more sophisticated keyloggers, such as the Perfect Keylogger or ProBot Activity Monitor have developed a full line of nasty abilities including:

• Undetectable in the process list and invisible in operation

• A kernel keylogger driver that captures keystrokes even when the user is logged off

• A remote deployment wizard

• The ability to create text snapshots of active applications

• The ability to capture http post data (including log-ins/passwords)

• The ability to timestamp record workstation usage

• HTML and text log file export

• Automatic e-mail log file delivery

All keyloggers are not used for illegal purposes. A variety of other uses have surfaced. Keyloggers have been used to monitor web sites visited as a means of parental control over children. They have been actively used to prevent child pornography and avoid children coming in contact with dangerous elements on the web.

Additionally, in December, 2001, a federal court ruled that the FBI did not need a special wiretap order to place a keystroke logging device on a suspect’s computer. The judge allowed the FBI to keep details of its key logging device secret (citing national security concerns).

The defendant in the case, Nicodemo Scarfo Jr., indicted for gambling and loan-sharking, used encryption to protect a file on his computer. The FBI used the keystroke logging device to capture Scarfo’s password and gain access to the needed file.

We have all heard the term Trojan Horse, but what exactly is it? A Trojan Horse is a destructive program that masquerades as a harmless application. Unlike viruses, Trojan Horses do not replicate themselves, but they can be just as destructive. One of the most dangerous examples of a Trojan is a program that promises to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses into your computer.

The Trojan can be tricky.

Who hasn’t been online and had an advertisement pop up claiming to be able to rid your computer of some nasty virus? Or, even more frightening, you receive an email that claims to be alerting you to a new virus that can threaten your computer.

The sender promises to quickly eradicate, or protect, your computer from viruses if you simply download their “free”, attached software into your computer. You may be skeptical but the software looks legitimate and the company sounds reputable. You proceed to take them up on their offer and download the software. In doing so, you have just potentially exposed yourself to a massive headache and your computer to a laundry list of ailments.

When a Trojan is activated, numerous things can happen…

Some Trojans are more annoying than malicious. Some of the less annoying Trojans may choose to change your desktop settings or add silly desktop icons. The more serious Trojans can erase or overwrite data on your computer, corrupt files, spread other malware such as viruses, spy on the user of a computer and secretly report data like browsing habits to other people, log keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, phish for bank account details (which can be used for criminal activities), and even install a backdoor into your computer system so that they can come and go as they please.

To increase your odds of not encountering a Trojan, follow these guidelines.

1. Remain diligent

Trojans can infect your computer through rogue websites, instant messaging, and emails with attachments. Do not download anything into your computer unless you are 100 percent sure of its sender or source.

2. Keep your operating system up-to-date.

If you are running a Microsoft Windows operating system, this is essential.

3. Install anti-virus software.

It is also important that you download any updates frequently to catch all new Trojan Horses, viruses, and worms. Make sure that the anti-virus program that you choose can also scan e-mails and files downloaded through the internet.

4. Install a firewall.

A firewall is a system that prevents unauthorized use and access to your computer. A firewall is not going to eliminate your computer virus problems, but when used in conjunction with regular operating system updates and reliable anti-virus software, it can provide additional security and protection for your computer.

Nothing can guarantee the security of your computer 100 percent. However, you can continue to improve your computer’s security and decrease the possibility of infection by consistently following these guidelines.

It’s not an easy task keeping out security threats such as viruses out of your computer system. In order to accomplish this, you need a strong antivirus program and a good firewall. A firewall is one of the first things I download onto a clean PC. Without it you are vulnerable to hackers as soon as you connect to the internet.

As firewalls go, the one from Zone Labs is one of the most trusted brands in Internet Security for good reason. Their top product, a firewall program that can deliver the goods is ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite from Zone Labs. Simply put, does a great job of preventing bad things happening to your PC.

ZoneAlarm has received more review recommendations that any other Internet-security software suite because of its superb firewall and antivirus protection. It blocks pop-up ads, protects against identify theft and provides adequate spam filters that are flexible. It even beats the market leader, Norton Internet Security, which is often criticized for excessive system drag.

Its newest version includes these additional features:

•Triple Defense Firewall to prevent spyware from sending your information across the Internet. It also makes your computer invisible to anyone on the Net.

•Smart Defense Advisor which can automatically adjust your security settings for maximum protection against the latest virus and spyware outbreaks.

•Advanced Identify and Privacy Protection to prevent your personal data from leaving your computer without your approval.

The bonus for the average user who cringes at the idea of setting-up one of these systems is that the interface is easier to understand and use in comparison to most if its competitors. If you choose to venture beyond the out-of-the-box default settings, and install a more elaborate filtering, know that this will require some additional time to set up on your part.

Overall, ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite is a user-friendly, comprehensive security solution that will have your computer safe from Internet hazards and cyber criminals within minutes of installation.

Get the most secure firewall with identity and privacy protection by downloading ZoneAlarm Pro today

Who hasn’t received an email directing them to visit a familiar website where they are being asked to update their personal information? The website needs you to verify or update your passwords, credit card numbers, social security number, or even your bank account number.

You recognize the business name as one that you’ve conducted business with in the past. So, you click on the convenient “take me there” link and proceed to provide all the information they have requested. Unfortunately, you find out much later that the website is bogus. It was created with the sole intent to steal your personal information. You, my friend, have just been “phished”.

Phishing (pronounced as “fishing”) is defined as the act of sending an email to a recipient falsely claiming to have an established, legitimate business. The intent of the phisher is to scam the recipient into surrendering their private information, and ultimately steal your identity.

It is not at easy as you think to spot an email phishing for information. At first glance, the email may look like it is from a legitimate company. The “From” field of the e-mail may have the .com address of the company mentioned in the e-mail. The clickable link even appears to take you to the company’s website, when in fact, it is a fake website built to replicate the legitimate site.

Many of these people are professional criminals. They have spent a lot of time in creating emails that look authentic. Users need to review all emails requesting personal information carefully. When reviewing your email remember that the “From Field” can be easily changed by the sender. While it may look like it is coming from a .com you do business with, looks can be deceiving.

Also keep in mind that the phisher will go all out in trying to make their email look as legitimate as possible. They will even copy logos or images from the official site to use in their emails. Finally, they like to include a clickable link that the recipient can follow to conveniently update their information.
The simple way to check the legitimacy of the link is to point at the link with your mouse. Then, look in the bottom left hand screen of your computer. The actual website address to which you are being directed will show up for you to view. It is a very quick and easy way to check if you are being directed to a legitimate site.

Finally, follow the golden rule to stop phishing.

Never, ever, click the links within the text of the e-mail, and always delete the e-mail immediately.

Once you have deleted the e-mail, empty the trash box in your e-mail accounts as well. If you are truly concerned that you are missing an important notice regarding one of your accounts, then type the full URL address of the website into your browser. At least then you can be confident that you are, in fact, being directed to the true and legitimate website.

It‘s a good idea to make regular backups of all your important computer data and a registry backup is no exception. The registry is an integral part of your Windows system, which stores important information about your computer and installed software programs.

Therefore, it makes sense to make a backup once in while in case something goes wrong with it. Making a registry backup is therefore essential because every program that you install will mean changes to the registry and badly written software can cause major problems with it.

Making a backup of your registry is a great idea if this happens to you.

• You install a malware program that takes control of your web browser.
• An installed application is causing problems now but was working fine when you created the backup.

Making a regular registry backup (say once a week) could save you many problems along the way and it is easy enough to do with a commercial registry cleaner, which will do it automatically.

If you don’t have a registry cleaner program though, you can use a program called Regedit, which comes installed with Windows tself.

To start Regedit this is what you must do;

• Click on the Start button, which should be on the left of your Windows taskbar.
• Click on Run…
• In the box that appears type regedit and then press the Enter key.
• A window will now appear with the title ‘Registry Editor’.
• Click on the File menu, and select Export.
• Choose the location where you wish to save the registry backup file.
• Type in a name for the file.
• Click on the Save button.

You now have a backup of your Windows registry! Easy wasn’t it?

By the way, registry backups can be many megabytes so after a while delete some of the older backups to save disk space.

Now you might be asking; “How do I restore the registry from a backup?”

Once again, this is quite simple.

• Find the backup file you saved earlier.
• Double click on it.
• You will then be asked if you are sure if you want to add the data to your registry.
• Click on Yes and the registry will be restored automatically.

As you can see, making a registry backup with Regedit is safe and requires no great knowledge of using a Windows PC.

Final words about the registry…

Many people have no idea what the registry is or even how to view its contents, which is good in a way because it stops them from making changes to the data held inside. One little mistake in editing the registry could stop your computer from starting up so don’t make manual edits to the registry unless you know exactly what you are doing.

If you want to keep your registry in optimum condition at all times consider using a reliable registry cleaner program instead which will also make a backup for you.

Spyware programs can accomplish a multitude of malicious tasks. Some of their deeds are simply annoying for the user; others can become downright aggressive in nature. These unobtrusive, malicious programs are designed to silently bypass firewalls and anti-virus software without the user’s knowledge.

Once embedded in a computer, it can wreak havoc on the system’s performance while gathering your personal information. Fortunately, unlike viruses and worms, spyware programs do not usually self-replicate.

How Do You Get Spyware on Your PC?

Typically, spyware originates in three ways. The first and most common way is when the user installs it. In this scenario, spyware is embedded, attached, or bundled with a freeware or shareware program without the user’s knowledge. The user downloads the program to their computer.

Once downloaded, the spyware program goes to work collecting data for the spyware author’s personal use or to sell to a third-party. Beware of many P2P file-sharing programs. They are notorious for downloads that posses spyware programs.

The user of a downloadable program should pay extra attention to the accompanying licensing agreement. Often the software publisher will warn the user that a spyware program will be installed along with the requested program. Unfortunately, we do not always take the time to read the fine print. Some agreements may provide special “opt-out” boxes that the user can click to stop the spyware from being included in the download. Be sure to review the document before signing off on the download.

Another way that spyware can access your computer is by tricking you into manipulating the security features designed to prevent any unwanted installations. The Internet Explorer Web browser was designed not to allow websites to start any unwanted downloads.

That is why the user has to initiate a download by clicking on a link. These links can prove deceptive. For example, a pop-up modeled after a standard Windows dialog box, may appear on your screen. The message may ask you if you would like to optimize your internet access. It provides yes or no answer buttons, but, no matter which button you push, a download containing the spyware program will commence. Newer versions of Internet Explorer are now making this spyware pathway a little more difficult.

Finally, some spyware applications infect a system by attacking security holes in the Web browser or other software. When the user navigates a webpage controlled by a spyware author, the page contains code designed to attack the browser, and force the installation of the spyware program.

This is how Spyware watches you..

Spyware programs can accomplish a multitude of malicious tasks. Some of their deeds are simply annoying for the user; others can become downright aggressive in nature.

1. Monitor your keystrokes for reporting purposes.
2. Scan files located on your hard drive.
3. Snoop through applications on our desktop.
4. Install other spyware programs into your computer.
5. Read your cookies.
6. Steal credit card numbers, passwords, and other personal information.
7. Change the default settings on your home page web browser.
8. Mutate into a second generation of spyware thus making it more difficult to eradicate.
9. Cause your computer to run slower.
10. Deliver annoying pop up advertisements.
11. Add advertising links to web pages for which the author does not get paid. Instead, payment is directed to the spyware programmer that changed the original affiliate’s settings.
12. Provide the user with no uninstall option and places itself in unexpected or hidden places within your computer making it difficult to remove.

Common Spyware Programs

Here are a few examples of commonly seen spyware programs. Please note that while researchers will often give names to spyware programs, they may not match the names the spyware-writers use.

CoolWebSearch, a group of programs, that install through “holes” found in Internet Explorer. These programs direct traffic to advertisements on Web sites including coolwebsearch.com. This spyware nuisance displays pop-up ads, rewrites search engine results, and alters the computer host file to direct the Domain Name System (DNS) to lookup preselected sites.

Internet Optimizer (a/k/a DyFuCa), likes to redirect Internet Explorer error pages to advertisements. When the user follows the broken link or enters an erroneous URL, a page of advertisements pop up.

180 Solutions reports extensive information to advertisers about the Web sites which you visit. It also alters HTTP requests for affiliate advertisements linked from a Web site. Therefore the 180 Solutions Company makes an unearned profit off of the click through advertisements they’ve altered.

HuntBar (a/k/a WinTools) or Adware.Websearch, is distributed by Traffic Syndicate and is installed by ActiveX drive-by downloading at affiliate websites or by advertisements displayed by other spyware programs. It’s a prime example of how spyware can install more spyware. These programs will add toolbars to Internet Explorer, track Web browsing behavior, and display advertisements.

How can I prevent spyware?

Ther’s a few things you can do to prevent spyware from infecting your computer system. First, invest in a reliable commercial anti-spyware program. There are several currently on the market including stand alone software packages such as Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware or Windows Antispyware. Other options provide the anti-spyware software as part of an anti-virus package.

This type of option is offered by companies such as Sophos, Symantec, and McAfee. Anti-spyware programs can combat spyware by providing real-time protection, scanning, and removal of any found spyware software. As with most programs, update your anti virus software frequently.

Internet Explorer is often a contributor to the spyware problem because spyware programs like to attach themselves to its functionality. Spyware enjoys penetrating the IE’s weaknesses. Because of this, many users have switched to non-IE browsers. However, if you prefer to stick with Internet Explorer, be sure to update the security patches regularly, and only download programs from reputable sources. This will help reduce your chances of a spyware infiltration.

And, when the Spyware just won’t go?

Finally, if your computer has been infected with a large number of spyware programs, the only solution you may have is backing up your data, and performing a complete reinstall of the operating system.

Remember when you first bought your powerful new Windows PC and how programs just popped up onto the screen in an instant? Ah, those were the days. But have you noticed that for some time that initial zip seems to have gone to be replaced by sluggish and frustratingly slow performance?

Unless you have a serious problem is not the hardware that is usually slowing our PC down, but useless digital data from programs that have been loaded since you first bought your PC.

Is your PC clogged with digital dust?

One of the main culprits for slow PCs is the registry that resides deep inside your computer settings which helps Windows to keep track of thousands of bits of data that are vitally important for your PC to operate at optimum efficiency. Some of these bits of data are unfortunately left behind when you make changes to your software and begin to clog up the registry.

Just like the carburettor on a car, when the registry is clogged with digital debris then the machines performance suffers dramatically. Like most things though, DIY registry repairs can leave you in a worse mess than you started with and you need the services of a real expert to tune up your PC properly.

Get an expert to clean your registry.

No, you don’t need to shell out for a computer expert to clean your registry - just get an easy to use software utility called a registry cleaner. Much cheaper too.

A registry cleaner is a bit like a highly trained mechanic; it can diagnose problems such as application runtime errors, slow application startup times, slow Windows start-up, extremely slow shut down, inability to resume from computer sleep and more.

No need to get your hands dirty editing the registry manually.

With a good registry cleaner you will find the difficult and highly technical process of cleaning up your registry a piece of cake. With a quick scan and the click of a button, a registry cleaner will automatically remove all the leftover data clogging up your computer’s registry.

The result is a fully optimized registry that will make your computer run faster and less prone to computer crashes.

How do you choose a good registry cleaner?

The problem with registry cleaners is that there are so many to choose from.

Some are great, some are good, some are OK and some are downright dangerous fakes that are Spyware in disguise.
Not only will these Spyware fakes change important computer settings to stop you removing them, but they might also collect personal information such as credit card numbers.

They don’t call it Spyware for nothing.

Leaving Spyware in the digital dustbin where it belongs, let’s look at what features a registry cleaner should have for it to do a first-class job of cleaning up your registry.

A good registry cleaner should find and fix these registry problems...

Invalid paths
Missing fonts
File types
CLSID
DLLs
Sound
Help files
Shell extensions
AppEvents
Class Keys

It should be easy to use

The best registry cleaning utilities should have a user-friendly interface that keeps you informed at all times during a scan. It should be easy to understand even for users who know little about computers.

It should be safe to use

Many people will be understandably nervous that, by using a registry repair program to alter the registry, they might mess things up. Thankfully, the best registry utilities will allow you to make a registry backup before any changes are made. This means that the registry can be restored in the highly unlikely event that something goes wrong.

It should have good help documentation

(The less computer jargon the better it is for us humans to understand.)

Good customer support if problems arise in use.

(Easy to contact and quick response to all user enquiries)

Recommended Registry Cleaners

With so many registry cleaners available it is difficult to test every single one of them. In fact, many of them are basically the same software but simply rebranded under another name. The best ones, though, are stand-alone products designed with quality and effectiveness in mind.

The following ones fit most of the important criteria with some having a few more features than the others have, but all will do a good job of fixing your registry. They use the most advanced repair technology and are generally safe and easy to use.

Read reviews of these registry cleaners right now, with the rest coming soon.

Registry Cleaner Reviews

• RegCure Review
• RegistryFix Review
• Error Nuker Review
• RegClean Review
• RegSweep Review

Upcoming reviews…

• RegistrySmart Review

The Windows registry is the storehouse of all the important information about hardware and software that Windows needs to keep your computer working efficiently.

The registry is such a vital part of your Windows operating system that one must not underestimate the importance of choosing a good registry repair program to help you to repair it when things go wrong.

Reasons why the registry can corrupted and cause problems.

If you are like most Windows users then you probably install and uninstall programs such as utilities quite often just to try them out, or install new drivers for some hardware device. The trouble is, every time you make changes to your software or hardware then the registry gets a new entry added to it. You might think that by uninstalling a program that the uninstaller would cleanly remove the information about it that was stored in the registry, but very often this does not happen.

The net result of all this installing and uninstalling is that the registry will have a build-up of useless data that will slowly degrade the performance of your computer. Registry problems cause slow startup times, sluggish performance and even serious operating system errors that can cause malfunction of software, hardware, and even loss of important data.

The dumb way to repair your registry.

It is possible to manually edit the registry yourself to remove any empty or invalid keys and data but this is time-consuming and requires expert knowledge so that you don’t delete anything of vital importance to your computer systems proper functioning.

If you are inexperienced then it is easy to delete or change something, which could then make your computer behave erratically or become completely unusable. The best advice is to leave manual registry editing to real computer experts.

For those who don’t have the knowledge (or nerve) to edit the registry manually themselves the best option is buy a registry repair utility that will scan your registry and, if necessary, remove all invalid entries that have been left behind.

Why registry cleaners are the best way to repair your registry.

A registry cleaner is small software utility that will automatically scan your entire registry and find all the unused and invalid entries. It should then report on all the problems it finds and let you decide whether to delete all of them or just a certain selection. It is important to choose a good registry cleaner that can make a safe backup of the registry before you allow it to make any changes.

Using a registry cleaner will help to keep your computer functioning correctly and help it to run at optimum performance at all times. There are many registry repair utilities available and some are better than others so choose one that has the most useful features.

Some features come as standard with all registry cleaners but some are optional and may be useful extras. Here are some important features of a good registry cleaner…

The ability to backup and restore the registry

Any registry cleaner worth buying will do an automatic backup of your registry before scanning for errors and repairing your registry. This is a vital safety precaution that you must not overlook.

The ability to find various registry problems.

Not all registry cleaners do a perfect job of finding problems and they should be capable of finding and fixing errors such as:

• Empty registry keys.
• Corrupt files.
• Spyware entries.
• References to uninstalled software.
• Incorrect program shortcuts
• Invalid Shell Extensions and Class Keys

Other useful features in a good registry cleaner.

Intuitive interface:

A well-designed interface will keep you informed of the scan progress at all times and allow you to make important decisions along the way if necessary.

Startup Manager:

If you find that your PC is slow at startup it could be due to applications being launched automatically when you first start your PC. Many of these extra programs are not even necessary and will use up memory and slow down your PC dramatically.

A registry cleaner that includes a startup manager will let you choose to prevent all non-essential programs being loaded at startup, giving you a much faster startup time.

Automatic scheduler:

It is easy to forget to maintain your registry until it starts to cause you problems so the best registry cleaners will have an automatic schedule option that you can set to scan your registry. With this option you can set it to run a scan on a regular basis to keep your registry optimized at all times.

Automatic or manual registry repair:

This feature will allow you to choose whether you want the registry repair utility to automatically find and fix all registry problems without your intervention or prompt you to make decisions on what errors to fix during the scan. A nice user interface makes this so much easier too.

Customizable:

The best registry repair utilities can be customized to fix only certain errors and ignore any that you deem are unimportant. In effect this means that they should let you create an ‘ignore list’ so that they will only scan for and fix the problems you decide on.

A good registry repair utility will do safely in seconds what would take you ages to do manually and without the worry of making mistakes that could spell disaster for your PC.

A highly recommended utility that does everything necessary to repair a faulty registry is RegCure.

Download the free scan tool to check for registry problems by clicking on the button below.

The registry inevitably needs editing after some time to help your PC run more efficiently - and you can do it manually if you have the know-how and the nerve. Be warned though that making manual edits to the registry can have drastic consequences if you make a mistake, which is easy to do.  Some people do hack the registry  successfully but  it is  a  dangerous thing to do for the average computer user.

Before you even think about trying to edit the registry, it will help to have a little background information on what the registry is and why it will need editing at some stage.

What is the windows registry?

The Windows registry stores settings and options for the Microsoft Windows operating system for 32-bit versions, 64-bit versions and Windows Mobile. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, operating system software, most non-operating system software, users, preferences of the PC, etc.

Whenever a user makes changes to Control Panel settings, file associations, system policies, or installed software, information about the changes is stored in the registry.

Why is the Windows registry necessary?

The Windows registry was introduced to tidy up the excess of INI files that had previously been used to store configuration settings for Windows programs. These files tended to be scattered all over the system, which made them difficult to track.

Why the registry needs cleaning

Eventually, the registry will need cleaning of redundant information that was left behind after frequently installing and uninstalling programs. Just because you have uninstalled a program doesn’t mean it has been completely removed from your PC because references to it may still be cluttering up the registry.

These references should be removed or your registry will start to fill up with useless information that can cause problems with the smooth running of your computer. To remove these you can edit the registry yourself manually with a built-in Windows utility called regedit.

The dangers of manually editing the registry

You can edit the registry manually in Microsoft Windows by running regedit.exe or regedt32.exe from the command line. However, careless registry editing can create more problems than it solves, often leaving you with no option but to reformat and reinstall Windows. Thus, performing back-ups of the registry is highly recommended.

Why you must use registry cleaner software

Many optimization utilities known as registry cleaners are now available to safely repair the Windows operating system registry.

Registry cleaners, or registry cleanup software, can improve the performance and reliability of computers by ridding the registry of unnecessary and fragmented files, which can reduce the need for more manual maintenance.

Due to the sheer size of the registry database, manually cleaning up debris and invalid entries would be impractical, so registry cleaners are essentially tools that automate the process of looking for invalid entries or broken links within the registry and removing them.

A good registry cleaner will make a safe backup of the registry before making any changes to it. This is an important safeguard in the unlikely case that anything goes wrong during the registry cleaning operation.

It is highly recommended that you use a registry cleaner unless one you have knowledge of registry workings or wish to learn more about the registry.

Do you still want to risk manually editing the registry?

A quick look at the complex structure of the Microsoft Windows registry here should make you realise why manually editing the registry yourself is a difficult task and why a registry cleaner has to be your solution to registry problems.

Seriously, do you really want to take the risk of trying to hack your registry (and your PC) when there are so many good registry cleaners available that will safely do the job for you in minutes?

That’s the reason why you should get a good registry cleaner if you are having problems with your PC.

RegCure is a safe and top-rated registry cleaner and you can get a free scan by clicking the button below right now.