Error in Registry – Causes and Fixes

Some applications don’t open? Boot up and shut down time is way too long than what it should be? These symptoms more often than not indicate error in registry.

What is the registry?

The registry is a centralized database on a Windows computer that is used to save configuration settings of different software and hardware installed on your system in the form of keys, subkeys and their values. We can think of these keys as various available folders. Values as files stored in these keys. These values and key entries usually correspond to applications or specific functions the operating system performs.

How error in registry occur

Anything we do with our PC has a corresponding entry in the registry. Uninstalling or installing a program, deleting a folder, renaming something, browsing the internet, all these have associated registry keys and values. Normally, when a program is uninstalled, the associated registry entry must be deleted. Also, when something is renamed, old values are supposed to be changed in the registry. When this does not happen, error in registry occurs.

Over time, these errors grow because registry gets filled up with a large number of obsolete and redundant registry values and also gets fragmented; basically, becomes dirty, in a sense. These errors start interfering with the normal functionality of a system and therefore, cause noticeable changes and system errors.

Another common cause of registry errors is computer crashes or forced PC shutdown through the hardware power button when updates are being written to the registry. This generates corrupt registry values. These corrupt values may or may not be fixed when the computer is switched on or when the application writing the values is relaunched. The impact of these corrupt values depends on the nature of the values being written and whether or not they are linked to a large number of applications on your computer.

Downloading freeware and unsafe internet practices make your computer quite vulnerable to attacks, leading to the installation of spyware and other harmful software. These malicious software programs may add embedded keys to the registry that cannot be removed manually. These registry errors may also cause serious harm to a system.

File associations may change, some applications may not open, and the system may freeze too often or in extreme cases may refuse to boot up.

Fixing registry errors

The best way to fix these errors is to use a good registry cleaner. These cleaners observe trends in the registry patterns and help remove obsolete and redundant registry entries. Many good, even free registry cleaners are available on the internet. However, caution is advised while choosing a good registry cleaner tool. You must check compatibility with the operating system because different versions of Windows use different methods to interact with the registry. An incompatible registry cleaner is the worst that you could do to yourself. Damage if done, may be irreversible in nature.

Good practices involve shutting down the computer in the right way and not trying to tamper with the registry values if you don’t have the required expertise. Using a good registry tool to scan and fix registry errors and also keeping the system virus and spyware free, helps in maintaining a healthy registry that leads to better computing experience on the whole.