# Registry Life: User's Manual How to Work with Registry Life Registry Cleanup Registry Optimization Backups ## How to Work with Registry Life When you start Registry Life, it runs a quick scan of the registry for errors and checks if registry optimization is required. As a rule, the quick scan takes less than a minute. The results of the scan are displayed as information blocks in the central area of the program window. If the results of the scan show that registry cleanup or optimization is necessary, the user can start these operations by clicking the links in the corresponding information blocks. Another way to start registry cleanup or optimization is to use the panel in the left area of the program window. The main functions are highlighted in bold print. ## Registry Cleanup ### Why You Need Registry Cleanup When you install new applications, the Windows registry grows in size because installed applications add their data to the registry. Even if you uninstall a program using its own uninstall feature, some information still remains in the registry, and it has a negative impact on the system performance. In addition, over the course of time, the registry accumulates more and more keys, which contain old and invalid information. These keys may cause unstable performance of applications and the operating system in general. Invalid records are accumulated in the registry, which slows down the repsonse of the registry when it is addressed. And the registry is addressed constantly by the computer when the system writes new data to it or reads from it. Regular registry checks using appropriate utilities let you avoid the problems mentioned above. For example, you can use the registry cleanup tool of Registry Life to quickly check the registry data for correctness, removing invalid keys and values, thus restoring efficient registry performance. ### Performing Registry Cleanup Registry Life offers a wizard which easily guides you through registry scanning and the fixing of any problems found. This function is easy to use even without having much experience in working with such software utilities. To start the registry cleanup click Registry Cleanup on the left-hand panel of the main program window. In the window that opens, click the Start button to begin the registry scan. When the scan is over, you can review the results and fix any problems by clicking the Fix button. Once the registry problems have been fixed, the program creates a backup which can be restored, if necessary. ## Registry Optimization The registry optimization feature allows you to defragment and compress the files which the system registry is stored in. ### Why You Need Registry Defragmentation As you use the computer, applications address the system registry by reading and writing data to it. When new information is added to the registry, the system partially rewrites registry files to disk. This may result in fragmentation of registry files, when different parts of a file are recorded in different disk sectors. What does fragmentation of files result in? To read information from the fragmented file, the system requires more time than for reading the file recorded on disk sequentially. Registry Life offers the registry defragmentation tool that enables you to fix this problem. The program records each registry file sequentially on disk, thus eliminating the problem of fragmentation. ### Why You Need Registry Compression The operating system has a peculiarity. When a key is deleted from the registry, it is only marked as deleted but remains in the registry. This peculiarity ensures fast access to the registry. If the key is only marked as deleted but not actually deleted, we can gain on time. In other words, the operation will be performed much faster. However this mechanism has one drawback. If deleted keys remain in the registry, they do not reduce its size. Information about deleted records can be stored in the registry for a long period of time. Deleted keys that remain in the registry is only one of the problems which you can eliminate by compressing the registry with Registry Life. The registry may also contain redundant data, which can increase the registry size. Compression can help to reduce the size of the registry on disk considerably. ### When You Should Optimize the Registry It is recommended to optimize the registry regularly. The frequency of optimization depends on how often the computer is used. It is recommended to optimize the registry after deletion of redundant registry records (e.g. after registry cleanup). After deletion of data from the registry, its physical size on disk often remains the same due to the reason described above. Optimization helps to clean up the registry from this redundant information. Optimization is also useful after completing operations that write much new information to the registry. For example, optimization is required after installation of a large application as the registry gets fragmented. Fragmentation slows down the response of the registry when it is addressed. However the optimization feature in Registry Life allows the user to run complete defragmentation of the registry, eliminating the problem mentioned above. ### Performing the Registry Optimization To run optimization, click Registry Optimization on the left-hand panel of the main program window. It is strongly recommended that you close all other running applications before performing registry optimization. This is important because Registry Life locks registry files during optimization, and other applications may run incorrectly and be unable to save their data to the registry. Reg Organizer's Registry Optimization tool is easy to use. In the Registry Optimization window, just click only the Perform registry optimization button to begin this procedure. When optimization is over, the program displays the results and suggests rebooting Windows. The system must be restarted instantly after optimization as registry files remain locked. Therefore it is impossible to write new information to the registry until the computer is rebooted. ## Backups Registry Life allows the user to roll back changes perfomed by the registry cleanup. To roll back changes, click Backups, which can be found on the left-hand panel of the main window. To restore a backup, select it in the Backups window and then click Restore Selected. Old backups can be deleted. To delete a backup, select it and click Remove Selected.