How to tell if your slowing computer is due to a corrupt registry

You hear a lot about how to fix your slowing computer now days.  Ads claim how you can double the speed of your slowing computer and make it run like new all by using a magic piece of software called a registry cleaner.  What is the truth about all of these claims?

Are Registry Cleaners The Answer?

That all depends.  If your slowing computer is due to a corrupt registry then a good registry cleaner will have dramatic results; however, if your slowing computer is due to another problem then a registry cleaner will have little effect.

So How Can You Tell If Your Slowing Computer Is Due To A Bad Registry?

The first thing to check is the physical memory installed on your computer.  If it is less the 256 MB this may be why your computer is slowing.  The next thing to check is how many hidden programs are running in the background of your computer.  If there are a lot, it will slow down your computer.  Next, you need to check the hard drive to make sure it isn't full.  Computers use the had drive to swap out data from the system memory.  If your hard drive is too full, there will not be enough room for this process to take place and this will result in a slowing computer. I go into detail in my blog on how to do this.

There are other things that can slow down a computer but they are comparatively rare.  If you find no significant problems with the checks mentioned above it is time to check out your registry.  You do not want to mess with your registry yourself unless you have a lot of knowledge and experience.  If you mess up your computer's registry, you mess up your computer often time with serious consequences.

Scan Your Slowing Computer

The next step is to scan your computer's registry.  There are tons of free scans you can get on the Internet, but you should not just grab the first free scan you can get since there are also a lot of scams out there.  Some free scans are really malware that will install on your computer and then mimic a true scan that is totally bogus.  Then it will try to get you to buy bogus registry cleaners to cure the bogus problems.  So make sure you use a trusted free scan.  I have a list of some of the best free scans on my blog.

Once you run the scan it will report to you the problems it finds with your computer.  Like I have said before, if a corrupt registry is what is slowing your computer you can then purchase a good registry cleaner and the results will be dramatic.

Free vs. Paid Cleaners For A Slowing Computer

I clean my registry abut once a month just to keep everything in top shape and I can say that buying a good registry cleaner is never a waste of money, but I will also tell you that there are free registry cleaners on the Internet.  Again, I caution you to be very careful with freeware since it can often install spy ware on your computer or worse yet a virus.  If you are going to try freeware registry cleaners, use only trusted ones.

Features are the main difference between the best of the free registry cleaners and the paid ones.  I use to use the free registry cleaners but I have since switched to good paid ones because they clean the registry better and they can be scheduled to automatically clean my registry and keep it in top running condition. 

Visit my blog at SlowingComputer.com and get your PC running like new again.