Registry is very important in Windows because it is a directory which stores information and settings for all the hardware, operating system software, most non-operating system software, users, preferences of the PC and etc. Problem with registry is it can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. Whenever we install software and uninstall it, most of the time the registry entries being added by the software is not removed. That’s why when you reinstall the software again, you’ll notice that all the settings are still there!

Here is a free, small, popular and pretty good rated Windows registry optimizer that I found which is really easy use. Just one click and it’ll optimize your Windows’ registry.

NTRegOpt is a registry compactor that improves system performance. The program works by recreating each registry hive “from scratch”, thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously modified or deleted keys. Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive (as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the minimum size possible.

I’d advice you to close any running programs before optimizing your registry with NTRegOpt. After installation, run NTREGOPT shortcut from desktop or start menu. You’ll be prompted a small welcome screen with the message “This program optimizes the registry files of your Windows NT/2000/XP system. Click OK to start the process.” Although it did not mention Vista, but NTRegOpt official website stated clearly that it supports Vista. I’ve also tested it on Vista and didn’t encounter any problems.

Next you’ll see the NTRegOpt is optimizing your system’s registry with the progress bar.

Once NTRegOpt has finished optimizing your registry, it’ll give you a summary on the percentage of registry size reduction. Click OK to restart your computer to use the optimized registry.

NTRegOpt comes in setup version and also a portable version. NTRegOpt is less than 150KB and it works on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. Just make sure you run NTRegOpt with proper administrative privileges and turn off User Account Control when using it on Windows Vista. Great tool to keep your computer in tip top shape.

[ Download NTREGOPT | Portable NTREGOPT ]

Technorati Tags: registry, optimize, performance, tweak, defrag