Optimizing the Registry Computer Optimizing in Layman Terms
Page Defrag + NTRegOpt
Supported Windows – Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, NT
I bet some of you just did a double take, and said, Optimizing the what, and why?
So on that note, first things first, is to explain what the Registry is, and why it needs to be optimized and defragged. The Windows registry is a directory which stores settings and options for the operating system for Microsoft Windows(all verisons). It contains information and settings for all the hardware, operating system use, software and programs, users and preferences of the PC, etc. Whenever a user makes changes to Control Panel settings, file associations, system policies, installs or unistalls software, the changes are reflected and stored in the registry. The registry is constantly in use, and because of this, it gets bogged down easily. The effect of this will cause your computer to slow down. Whenever windows does anything such as starts up, opens a programs, goes on the internet, etc, it will read the registry and then process the action. So the bigger the registry file the more time it takes to read and use the information gathered.
For this article I decided I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, numerous people have wrote about these great programs and what they do. So I went to wikipedia and grabbed a bit of text describing the two programs so you get a general idea about what they do. NTRegOpt simply rewrites your registry files, deleting blank spaces in the various files. Blank spaces? As your system uses the registry files, adding and deleting hardware, software and user information, parts of the registry are blanked out as old keys are deleted and new ones added. With a fresh install of XP and all the usual updates and hardware drivers, as much as 5% – 10% of the registry files can be made up of blank sections. Since a normal size registry "file" is in the 25mb to 30mb size, that can mean a fairly large amount of blank space is contained within your registry. Deleting those blank spaces permits Windows to use and read the registry files more efficiently. It is perfectly safe to delete these blank sections, and NTREGOPT does this by rewriting the registry files without the blank areas. In effect, it refreshes the structure of the registry files and compacts it. I have used NTREGOPT frequently, and it is safe to use and no problems will occur. Installation
- Download from http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/NTRegOpt/ntregopt.html
- Run the installation
- Select your prefered language press ok
- Press next on Welcome screen
- Select the destination Location and press next
- Select Start Menu screen press next
- Select Additional Tasks – Creating a desktop icon should be checked, so just Click next
- Click install
- Once it’s done, uncheck Show documentation, and then click finish
Running the Program – Prepare yourself this is a hard one…
1. Welcome! screen appears, press Ok. Once the scan is done restart your computer.
Recommendations for using NTRegOpt Just run this program whenever you want to, or when you feel your computer is slowing down. I personally run this program every couple days. It will not harm your computer, since it only cleans out blank spaces in your computers registry that slow down windows. PageDefrag is a program, developed by Sysinternals (now distributed by Microsoft), for Microsoft Windows that runs at start-up to defrag key files such as the virtual memory page file and the registry files. If these files are defragmented, this may improve performance. Since PageDefrag only affects a small number of files, it takes a relatively short time to run when compared to entire-disk defragmenters like Windows Defrag. PageDefrag does not defragment the contents of the registry files, only the placement of these files on the hard drive Page Defrag Installation
1. Download from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx – Look for Download Pagedefrag, at the bottom of the Page. The file you download is a compressed .zip file. chances are your computer can already open the file. If you do not have a extractor program, then I recommend downloading IZArc from http://www.izarc.org/index.html - It’s my preferred Extractor program.
Using Page Defrag. Once you have the uncompressed / unzipped the file, open file pagedfrg.exe.
2. When the screen opens up, look for Defragmentation Control, and click the dot to the right of Defragment every book. Leave the count down alone. Press ok, and then restart.
This programs works with vista, but you will notice 2 or 3 files that it tries to scan that are no longer there, this is because vista doesn’t use these files. It will continue to work on the other files with no problems. Recommendations for Pagedefrag – This programs runs by itself whenever you turn on your computer or reboot, so its automatic. See Previous Post for Computer Optimizing In Layman Terms
