In selecting registry repair software that I would recommend, I reviewed a number of the well known programs. I found very few without some serious negative issues. TuneUp utilities is one of the best of breed.
Overview
The program presents a well organized start screen which divides Windows maintenance into 6 parts;
1. Increase Performance - Speed is provided by defragmenting the hard drive which speeds reading and writing to the disk, removing unnecessary programs which waste your computer power, accelerating surfing, compacting the registry to accelerate access and optimizing memory.
2. Free up disk space - Unnecessary files and Windows function related garbage is removed. A disk space utility shows which directories and files are using the most space in a convenient pie chart format so that the user can quickly remove what he/she doesn't need.
3. Maintain Windows - This set of operations insures trouble free performance by providing for registry repair and removal of unneceary temporary files.
4. Solve Problems - In this section a disk doctor is provided to check the file system. The repair wizard diagnoses and repairs computer and display problems. The undelete utility gets back those files that you might have unintentionally deleted.
5. Customize Windows - Tweak the look and feel of your system to your taste.
6. Additional Tools - File shredding (to make certain files impossible to read by anyone else), system process monitoring (see whats running and using system resources), registry direct editing and uninstall utilities are provided here.
All operations are backed up and a rescue center is provided to restore the system in the event of any problem.
Registry Cleaner
TuneUp Utilities is the most sophisticated and professional system tool set that I have seen to date. The registry cleaner lives up to these high standards.
The registry cleaner is started from start screen in the Maintain Windows section. This section shows a brief summary of the status of all maintenance items. This includes a summary of the last cleanup, the space freed by deleting temporary files etc.
Once you start it, it begins with a brief descriptive screen which summarizes the operations of the cleaner. The cleaner will remove all unnecessary, obsolete and damaged information from the registry. Once this is done, system freezes and bugs will be reduced and performance will be improved. The rescue center is available here if needed.
A screen then appears which offers the choice of complete or selected item repair of the registry. The user can decide to only fix particular issues and has full control of every detail.
If complete is selected, it starts running immediately. A list of the different types of registry checks to be done is displayed. A flashing arrow next to an item in the list shows the type of fix currently being checked.
Once the scan is complete, a summary page with counts of each type of error appears. You can click on any of the types and get the details of the errors found. You will generally not be interested in fine details but if there are certain items that you don't want touched, you can prevent them from being changed here.
Some changes may cause new changes to need to be made so that another run through of the cleaner is needed. The program keeps track of these items and will prompt you when another shorter rerun is needed.
As mentioned before, TuneUp utilities backs up before making any changes. If necessary, the rescue center can be used to restore the system to the original state.
Summary
TuneUp utilities provides a superior set of programs to manage all aspects of Windows maintenance. The registry cleaner is especially elegant and powerful. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and you will find that running other registry cleaner programs will come up with a new set of errors for each of a series of runs. TuneUp utilities comes up clean with no issues after a cleaning has been done indicating the thoroughness of this operation. This program is highly recommended.
David Freitag
The Computer Doc
To get more detailed information about the TuneUp Utilities including a video of the registry cleaner visit http://www.ask-the-computer-doc.com/tuneup-utilities.html
To learn exactly how I help users get the most out of their computers and solve their problems visit http://www.ask-the-computer-doc.com
