Computers and Technology

Is your computer slow? Do you have problems with it freezing up completely? Do you sometimes get the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death"? That one can be especially troubling, as I'm sure you can attest to if you've ever had the misfortune of witnessing it. Thankfully, with the advent of Windows XP, and now Windows Vista, computer problems such as slow computers and crashing computers have been reduced dramatically. However, for many computer users they are still an expensive and vexing problem.

Do want to fix a slow computer? If these computer crashes happen to you on a regular basis you know how frustrating they ca be. In addition they can cost you vital time and money. If you've ever lost important work or research, you know that feeling all too well. If you've resorted to saving your work constantly, or backing up your computer hourly instead of daily or weekly in order to prevent lost data or wasted hours, you're probably wondering what the cause of your troubles are. The natural reaction of many when faced with a slow computer or Windows system crashes is to curse the boys of Redmond, or Bill Gates himself, and dutifully start over again.

Most of these problems actually have a common cause. Weather you're having problems with a computer that's running much slower than it did when it was new, or going off into it's own world every once in a while, the problems you are experiencing can probably be traced back to problems in your computer's Windows registry. If you've never even heard of a Windows registry, don't feel bad. Many normal computer users haven't either. The registry is usually the province of computer repair technicians and software geeks.

The registry is where your PC stores the settings it uses to function. The registry is actually a large (probably too large) database of options, settings and preferences. The registry has different areas known by the geeks (don't laugh, they are the only ones that can help you now!) as registry keys. They registry keys are actually divided even further, to make things easier to navigate. If you've ever seen error messages containing the term "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT" or "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", that's why.

The Windows registry is tied in to all your operating system software, applications and hardware components. As you can see, the capacity for the registry to create all kinds of havoc is huge. A few minor errors can bring your machine to a screeching halt. The problem is that many people's computers don't have a few minor errors; they have hundreds of both major and minor errors.

Where do these registry errors come from? Well the fact is that many people bring them on themselves in a way. Incorrectly loading or deleting software and applications, downloading files, connecting to p2p networks, changing network settings, and other daily computer operations can affect your computers registry. In addition, many people load up their computers with a myriad of applications. Some combinations can cause registry conflicts, especially with the number of different applications many people insist on using.

You know the result; a slow and unwieldy computer at best, and a PC that crashes with regularity at worst. Rather than bringing your productivity to a standstill, you should probably look at having your registry repaired. Thankfully, registry repair is possible. Most likely the vast majority of your computer's problems will be relegated to the distant past by some tinkering with the registry keys. You've got some options for getting your registry repaired. You can go down to your local computer repair shop. If you've got a technician there you have a good relationship with, chances are he can fix things up for you in an afternoon. Hey, maybe you can even get that new video card you've been lusting after.

Another option is to run some registry repair software. This is basically what your computer repair tech will be doing. You're lucky though. These days some pretty competent registry repair software is available to the average computer user. You don't have to be a tech to use these packages. They are extremely easy to use. In most cases, you simply install the software, and press "start". You'd probably have to be a computer tech to actually understand what the software does, but that doesn't really matter, does it? As long as your computer is back to running fast and not crashing, you'll probably be happy, right?