by Bobby Voyles

Created on: September 17, 2009

It is a common complaint among computer users that, over time, their computer slows down and doesn't seem to run as fast as it once did. Indeed, nearly every computer user is sure to experience this at some point during their lives. Internet browsers load pages slower than before, or programs take longer to start up, and things just seem to be "not right."

Many people will first think "I must be running out of hard drive space!" While this may be the case, it's not always the case (although hard drives do seem to fill up fast!). The more probably problem, however, is that their Windows registry has become full of old files from programs that aren't being used anymore.

Many computer users may not be familiar with what a registry is. The Windows registry is a database where data for each program, user, and setting is kept. Over time, it can get full of data from old programs that aren't really in use anymore, or that have been deleted or upgraded, or from old users who don't use the computer anymore. This old data can kind of "clog" the computer's performance and result in the slow down that people tend to notice.

Now, it's possible to go into the Windows registry and try to delete the old data yourself, but the registry is a pretty sensitive area and if you were to accidentally delete the wrong file it's possible that you could ruin some current programs or even get your computer to the point where it wouldn't start up anymore.

Fortunately, there are registry cleaning programs that will do most of the work for you so you don't have to worry about making a mistake. The first step is to download a Windows registry cleaner. Make a backup copy of your current registry (just in case), then run the registry cleaner. Let it do it's thing, and then afterwards reboot your computer and see how much faster it is. Most people should notice a significant difference in speed; programs should load faster, internet browsers should be a little faster, and things shouldn't be as "sluggish" as they were before. It's generally a good idea to run a registry cleaner every so often if you notice things are seeming a bit slow, or after major changes to your system such as after you install a new operating system (even though the installation should remove all the old files for you, but you never know) or delete an old application.

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