What can go wrong with your computer registry?

The Windows registry is a vital part of your PC. This complex database contains information and settings for all of your software, hardware, users and preferences. When you are using your computer, the Windows operating system refers to this information constantly.

The Windows registry is crucial to your PC’s operation, and errors can cause serious performance problems. Almost every change you make to your computer is recorded in the Windows registry. If you alter something in your user profile, it is stored in the registry. Added or deleted a program? This information is stored in the registry.

Problems with your registry can include:

• Becoming so large that your PC can become unstable and performance will decrease. This leads to confusing error messages and your computer freezing or crashing
• Being cluttered with left-over entries, keys and broken drivers due to installing and uninstalling programs
• Invalid entries in the Dynamic Link Library (DLL). This can cause an application to fail due to a DLL conflict
• Incorrect applications attempting to open at Windows start-up due to poor installation
• Missing font files that can cause errors for applications such as Microsoft Word
• Invalid disk directors in the application path directory, which can cause application failure

A poorly maintained Windows registry can turn it from a clean database into a muddled mess. This can have drastic and frustrating effects on your PC