Registry First Aid Review

Clean and Well Organized- an Excellent First-Aid Kit

Submitted by CJPoll on Fri, 2008-12-19 10:01.
Author's Product Rating:
Ease of Use: 
Effectiveness: 
Help/Support: 
The lowest price: 27$
You can buy it at RegNow for that price.
Pros:
  1. Clean and easy-to-use interface
  2. Quick work
  3. No nook or cranny left unsearched
Cons:
  1. Not for multitasking (resource hog)
  2. A little too jumpy about deleting certain keys
Review:

First off, I had a great first impression with the clean, sleek interface. No clutter, just simple and easy to understand basic functions.

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The Check for Registry Errors function was pretty good. I could tell it to look specifically for invalid file associations, paths, DLL junk, and so on, and the ability to choose a system wide or user associated scan is great for those who share computers (Keep those pesky teenagers from corrupting your key registry hives like I did a couple years ago…)

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After making a backup of my registry, the scan went right to work. It finished in 6 minutes (much better than some other registry cleaning programs I’ve used in the past). If that seems too long for you, you can go into the advanced settings and tell it to scan only specific folders for you. Don’t forget to remove the setting to scan all of drive C first!

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The RAM footprint was a bit too large for a 5 MB program: 15 megs! More than my google desktop! Processor usage was usually at about 60-70 percent, dipping as low as 30 for a couple seconds and spending considerable time at 90+. So, while it finished quickly, it’s probably better to schedule for when you’re not around.

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The scan worked very well; a bit too well, to be honest. It tried to get rid of just about every file association I could imagine, so I need to uncheck that option next time. Beyond that, things were mostly smooth. It lets you view results in 3 categories: Category of Error (i.e. file extension error, invalid fonts/files, etc.), Safety Level (potential threat to system integrity if deleted), and by filter. The filter option is a dandy feature, especially when you notice that everything related to a still-functioning program like Microsoft Office is set to be deleted; just filter the office related out, and voila! No scares about making tomorrow’s deadline due to a Word crash.

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The registry defrag function was easy to use and quick, but required a system restart. Some room was saved, but when one has a large hard drive, it’s negligible.

Conclusion:

The registry scan was convenient and easy when it was told what to look for (or not look for, as in my file association case). Some of the advanced features are probably over a basic user’s head, but they provide a great load of customizing service for the technologically savvy. Overall, an excellent product.