PC TOOLS SOFTWARE Registry Mechanic 4 review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 18 Mar 2005

Price when reviewed: (around £16)

Reviewed By: Andy Gibbons

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

The Windows Registry is the central repository for information crucial to the running of your PC.

But, despite improved built-in tools for its management and backup within Windows itself, an unkempt Registry can all too often be the source of poor stability and speed issues.

Registry Mechanic 4 promises to give your Registry a thorough spring-clean, removing all manner of problems such as invalid references, redundant start-up items and missing DLLs, giving you a quicker and more stable system.

In Quick Scan mode, a very fast detection algorithm is used to look for problems. It's much quicker than the Registry repair modules in many system utility suites and automatically backs up the Registry before scanning starts. Once it's complete, a brief summary of the problems found is displayed and these can then be repaired quickly and automatically.

For an even more thorough job, there's the option to perform a Deep Scan. This provides more comprehensive analysis and can cross-reference errors against a database of known problems as well as apply a number of its own tweaks for improved system performance.

Full compatibility with Windows' System Restore feature is assured and previous backups can be restored with ease. One year's worth of free online updates and support are included. A network-ready variant, which will allow remote administration, is promised for later on this year.

We were greatly impressed with Registry Mechanic's speed, effectiveness and usability, but its biggest problem is that any system utility suite worth its salt will do all this and a whole lot more besides. It's therefore difficult to see just who would buy this when an integrated suite would offer better value.

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