What to Look for in Registry Repair Software

This article will utilize the format of our registry repair software reviews to outline the factors you'll need to consider when shopping around for a registry repair solution for your PC.

General/Intro:
This is where we'll give you our overall impression of the registry repair product, including a broad description of its primary attributes and/or drawbacks.

Features:
This is where you'll find the real meat of the review. The list of features will tell you exactly what you can and can't expect from each registry repair solution. What type of files and what sections does each product scan? DLL shared files, ActiveX, orphaned references, file extensions, application paths, sounds, fonts, shared folders?

Can it fix/repair errors or merely remove/delete unwanted files? Can you manually correct individual errors or does the program handle it automatically in one fell swoop?

Does it scan for obsolete shortcuts? Does it scanning for missing entries or only invalid ones? Does it remove adware and spyware? Does it identify and delete duplicate files?

Below, we've listed some of the more common (and beneficial) features you should take into consideration when shopping for registry repair solution:

Automatic and/or Manual Removal

Progress Bar - or some other indication of how far along a scan in progress is coming
Scheduler - for setting up one-time or recurring scans in advance
Startup Program Manager - for adding, deleting, enabling, and disabling startup programs
Add/Remove Software List Manager - for managing the programs on your Add/Remove Software list
BHO Manager - for managing Internet Explorer settings such as user preferences, browser settings, cache, browser history, temp files, cookies
Defrag and/or Compress Registry - taking the disparately spread fragments of related files and reintegrating them in a natural and seamless stream once; closing gaps in your registry
Export/Import - as a text file

System Requirements:
Only PCs running some version of Microsoft Windows will be served by the software reviewed in this website. That means Mac-addicts and Unix-users are out of luck here (is there even a Mac Registry? We think not.) Make sure the registry repair solution you buy supports the version of Windows you have, otherwise you'll either need to purchase a different registry repair product or upgrade to a newer version of Windows.

Almost all the products we've reviewed support Window 98, Me, 2000, and XP at least.

Ease of Use:
How comfortable are you tooling around in your Windows registry? If you're like most of us, you're going to need all the help you can get. Under this heading you'll learn if a particular registry repair program utilizes a user-friendly Wizard-style interface to take you by the hand through the process or a dry, utilitarian Windows-like interface that assumes you know what you're doing.

Are the features well organized on the page? Does the product include sufficient user guides, tutorials, troubleshooting tours, etc.? Can you customize the look and feel of your interface and/or the sections you scan?

Customer Support:
Most of the companies offering registry repair products offer email support - either by posting their tech support email address or supplying a query-ticket system. But is it free? Or does the company charge for support? If it's free, for how long? And what'll it cost you after that?

Some companies go above and beyond the call, offering toll-free telephone support and, a few, even live web chat.

Safety:
Have you read our article on Windows registry safety yet: Caution: What You Must Know Before Starting Any Windows Registry Repair? If not, go read it now - do not pass Go; do not collect $200. (and save yourself at least that much).

Under this heading you'll find out if the registry repair program offers the minimum Backup and Restore features. Backup enables you to back up all the data in your registry before making any changes to it. Restore allows you to correct errors made during registry repair by enabling you to reset your registry's configurations to the way it was when you backed it up.

The safest of registry repair products, in our opinion, offer Automatic Backups so you don't even have to remember to do it.

Other possible safety features include the ability to undo individual actions, risk meters evaluating the threat level posed by each error, and suggestions on how to handle each one. At least one company even offers to burn a bootable backup CD should everything come crashing down (heaven forbid!)

Free Scan?:
Almost every registry repair product we've reviewed offers a Free scan (though some call it a Free Download or a Free Trial). Many consumers find these Free offerings shady because they're inevitably incomplete, insufficient, and require "upgrading" to the paid version of the software (or "unlocking" it) to get any real benefit out of it.

Here's our piece on the subject - you should know ahead of time that these Free Scans are generally just that - free scans. You'll get to see the registry repair program's unique interface as it scans your registry for errors, and you'll get to see (at least partially) how they display results. Do not expect to also be given the facility to fix those errors for free - why ever would they do that? Then you wouldn't buy the software.

Some registry repair products will actually fix a select number of errors (5 total or 3 at a time for 10 days or all errors in 1 registry section only). But while these companies offer you the more generous of before-you-buy "free samples", it doesn't mean the actual registry repair software is better.

Price:
What's most important to note here is whether the fee is a one-time fee or a recurring (subscription-based) fee, and whichever type it is, what is included with the cost.

Scant few of the registry repair products we've reviewed offer "bonus gifts" with your purchase and those that do should still be evaluated based on the quality and appropriateness of their registry repair solutions for your system. Don't get enticed by a free

Refund Policy:
Does it have one? What is it? Good to know.