A Guide To Clean Windows XP Registry

Windows XP uses registry to store all the devices plus file associations of the computer. It is also used to store critical information regarding directories, drivers, Windows applications plus many more.

How To Clean Windows XP Registry

To clean windows XP registry, you first need to open the registry editor, and these are the steps to do it:

1. Click on the Start Menu at the bottom left of your screen
2. Click on Run.
3. Type in regedit in the text field box
4. Press Enter.

There are plenty of different entries in Windows XP registry, and each is organized into five primary sections:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• HKEY_USERS
• HKEY_CURRENT CONFIG

There are different entries in each section, and they are related to various aspects of Windows XP operation.

To clean windows XP registry, click on the plus sign that you see next to the root directory. This will open up the more detailed list, plus there will be more directories to select from in this section. This will make it easier for you to find the entries that you will want to clean up the registry.

It would be recommended to invest in a third-party registry application to assist you to clean windows XP registry. There are plenty of programs that slow down the system, and some even have a backup feature so that the content can be retrieved easily in case of critical error.

The next step to clean windows XP registry, is to delete the entries that may be causing the conflict or are perhaps no longer required. This can be completed by pressing the delete key, or by choosing the delete entry after right clicking on the mouse.

It is also recommended that you should also clean the boot records by changing the list of programs that load up when the system starts up.

1. Click on the CURRENT_USER plus LOCAL_MACHINE directories till you reach the Run and RunOnce option.
2. You can clean the registry entries that cause certain programs to run when computer starts here.

It is advisable that you clean windows XP registry eight times every three months, as it sweeps out the items no longer in use. For computers with many software or where drivers are constantly being installed and uninstalled, more frequent cleanups might be required.

When carrying on the process to clean windows XP registry, you can make the entire system temporarily inoperable. Registry is an important component, and if you modify, delete or move any wrong Registry file, it might result into a big problem. Therefore, please make sure that you have backed up your system. There are plenty of registry tools available that can find the potentially questionable or unused references, and they ask the user for any entry that may cause the problem if removed.

Are you experiencing registry problems? Is your computer running slowly? If you answered yes, then I would strongly recommend that you check out Registry Easy. This award-winning Windows Registry Cleaner includes fixing ActiveX errors, registry errors, system crashes, slow PC performance, computer freezing, Javascript errors, hardware malfunction, blue screen, Vista XP 2000 98 and ME Issues and more. Click here to go check it out now.