Windows Vista
registry contains a large, complex, and hierarchal database
with numerous keys, subkeys, and their individual values. These
keys store information related to user preferences, hardware
and software setup, and system settings.
Windows
registry contains following five root keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
(HKLM): Contains configuration information
related to software programs and hardware devices
installed on your system.
HKEY_USERS
(HKU): Stores configuration information
related to all user profiles on the system. This
key has a specific template, which is used by your
system to create new user profiles.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
(HKCR): Stores information related to
protocols, file types and extensions, and classes
on your pc. This key is a duplication of the HKLM
key. It displays information in the HKCR
subtree.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
(HKCU): Stores information related to
desktop settings, variables, environment user
folders, variables, and other settings for the
current user. It is also a replica of the HKU key.
This key extracts information from the HKU\Security
ID key of the user logged in on the system.
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
(HKCC): This key stores important
information related to hardware configuration for
the current user. This key takes information from
the
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\CurrentControlSet\Hardware
Profiles key.
What
Causes Registry Problems With A Vista
PC? The registry of your Windows Vista
PC may expand due to many reasons. Excess data
accumulation is one of the primary causes of registry problems.
The registry of your Windows Vista PC may overgrow in size due
to:
Installation
of new programs Any new
installation/uninstallation adds a large number of
entries to your system’s registry.
Orphan keys on
the system You may leave behind
several orphan keys and vacant spaces while
uninstalling large applications from your system.
As a result, a large number of obsolete and
unwanted keys get entered in the windows
registry.
Registry
cleaning Sometimes, you may
leave several holes and empty spaces behind while
scanning and repairing your registry. These keys
may keep piling up and may cause poor system
performance.
Use Internet,
e-mails If you are regularly using
Internet or emails, you may unintentionally add
malicious and corrupt entries in your system’s
registry. This is because Internet is full of
malware programs, such as viruses, worms, spyware,
Trojans, adware and they can prove detrimental
to your pc.
Frequent
system-breakdowns
You may experience a system breakdown due to
corrupt registry entries. In fact, a corrupt
registry can damage various faulty applications,
ActiveX components, DLLs, device drivers, and other
files.
The registry of
your Vista PC may expand and get damaged due to the
problems specified above. Let’s find an effective way to deal
with registry errors and problems.
Fixing
Registry Problems Though you can manually fix the registry
problems by using the “regedit” tool on your system, but it is
a complex method that can generate lots of errors on performing
an incorrect step. If you want to maintain a healthy,
error-free registry, you must look for a simple, effective, and
advanced registry fixing software that allows you to perform
several other registry maintenance tasks.
A good registry
repair tool such as RegCure (free download) or Registry Easy (free
download) allows you to
schedule a scan and repair your registry by performing few
simple steps. You can even customize your scan and look for
specific problems. In addition, you can use a registry cleaning
tool to defrag the registry and restore the files in case
anything goes wrong with the registry cleaning
process.