A clean Windows registry can improve the performance PCs running older versions of Windows.
The registry is a catalog of what is on your PC. And it is also like your PC's logbook
in that entries are made during the operation of your PC and when you use the programs
you have on your PC.
Spammers use networks of PCs to send spam email. These PCs are called bots and have
been taken over many times by programs injected into the registry.
After a program starts, changing the registry is not difficult.
Looking at the registry is easy. There is a system utility that Microsoft provides that comes
with the Windows operating system. This program is RegEdit and lets you
see the registry in a way similar to how you look at files on your hard disk -- hierarchically.
Displaying data in a tabbed window, MSConfig.exe gives you an interface to check or uncheck
programs and services you want to start (or not) at the time your PC boots up.
While MSConfig lets you decide whether you want to start a program or not, frequently
that's not the choice you're looking to make.
Programs running on your system and Windows use the registry as a big dropbox or locker.
And just like at institutions with lockers you will usually find a lost and found box because
things get put in lockers and never retrieved. People leave and forget their stuff.
So someone goes through all the unused lockers and gathers up the stuff for lost and found.
Well that's what it takes for the registry as well. When programs are uninstalled, they don't
always take everything out of the registry. To have a clean windows registry you might
need to download and run a registry cleaner to have it police your registry.
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