REGISTRY MECHANIC 8
Reviewed September 2009
| What’s It Do?
Registry Mechanic promises to safely clean, repair, and optimize the Registry with a few mouse clicks. Problems corrected are a common cause of crashes, slow performance, and error messages, often created with left-behind Registry entries after uninstallation of programs or incorrect software removal, missing or corrupt hardware drivers, or orphaned startup programs. Registry Mechanic can scan the entire Registry for a list of errors found, then allow the user to select those to be cleaned, or automatically repair all entries. A backup of repairs can be made for easy recovery from any changes if required. Does it do what it promises? Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): Registry Mechanic offers a wide variety of services designed to keep the computer running well. Most seemed to perform as promised, or at least do no harm. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): Registry Mechanic claims to be "an advanced Registry cleaner for Windows® that can safely clean, repair and optimize your Registry in a few simple mouse clicks". It seems to fulfill that function for users who want a turnkey solution to optimizing their computer. I prefer a program which will provide more information about what changes will be, or have been, made on my system and in this respect, this program falls short. Finally, many of the accessory functions this program seems to provide are simply links to functions built into Windows; I find that they pad this program without adding much value. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: This program comes highly recommended by many for its efficiency and stability in cleaning the Windows Registry. I found that it does an adequate job, but I did not find it to be as thorough as other Registry cleaners that I use. I also had some problems with my computer after running Registry Mechanic, that were not duplicated by the other Registry cleaners on my system. Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: Yes and no. Yes, in that it does clean the Registry of errors, but no in that it does not clean all errors from the Registry. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Yes. Registry Mechanic is a computer maintenance tool that provides a single application to do most of the regular maintenance needed to keep one's computer working well. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: Yes. The web site claims that the program will Clean, defrag and compact your Registry to optimize your PC for better performance. The program actually offers additionally tools that go beyond this, but this is the core of the program and it performs these tasks flawlessly. Was it easy to install? Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): It was easy to install, but at times rather annoying. People wishing to try this software program before buying it are informed in the End User License Agreement (EULA) that the version they download is only partially functional and that the user is entitled to no technical support until the license fee has been paid. The EULA to which I had to agree also stipulated that PC Tools may limit the functionality of the Software upon the expiry of any subscription period or maintenance period unless you purchase a new subscription or maintenance contract. Once I agreed to the somewhat troubling terms of the EULA, I was able to install the program. I indicated that I did not want the program to start automatically at Windows startup, but my wishes were ignored. WinPatrol alerted me to the fact that Registry Mechanic was trying to put itself into the Startup menu. I told WinPatrol not to permit that. Also, Registry Mechanic informed me that once it was installed, it would check for updates and then scan my Registry. There was no way I could tell it not to scan my Registry at that time. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): Installation was fast and easy. The license agreement is more detailed than most programs we review. It limits use to a single computer. It has the unrealistic restriction of permitting only a single backup copy (so technically, every time you back up your hard drive after the first time, you are violating their license agreement.) Beyond limiting one's ability to receive updates after a one-year term, the license agreement gives the company the right to limit the functionality of the software after that period. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: : Yes. It was a standard Windows installation procedure that allowed me to put the program in the location of my choice. It also allowed me to choose where to put shortcuts on my desktop and quick launch, and added a shortcut folder in the start menu; but, Registry Mechanic assumed that I would want it to run when I start up my computer (I do not), and would have installed this option without informing me, or asking my permission. Fortunately, with the aid of WinPatrol, I was able to disallow this feature. The user should always be given the option whether or not to include programs in the start-up procedure; those making that assumption for me always leave me with a negative first impression. The EULA (End Users License Agreement) is longer and more legalistic than many, which certainly discourages people from reading it carefully. The first six paragraphs are all in uppercase, normally considered shouting, and considered to be poor "netiquette" (Internet etiquette) A further discouragement is the first paragraph of the License agreement itself, which, amongst other things defines "Oceania" by listing two continents and 31 different islands or island groups -- leaving me wondering, why the Geography lesson? Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: Yes, the 7.67 MB downloaded exe file installed without any complications or conflicts. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Yes. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: Yes. It was a moderate sized 7.8MB download but one that occupied an inexplicably large 21.40MB on my hard drive. It did, however, take under ten seconds to download with my connection, and installed easily using a standard installation wizard. The registration procedure was equally simple and went quite smoothly but with one exception (see below). The EULA (End User License Agreement) was fortunately also available on the Web site and thus printable, allowing it to be read carefully before downloading. Bravo to the developer for this customer consideration. The EULA was straightforward with less legalese than is sometimes seen, and offers some solid guarantees (in addition to the standard disclaimers of responsibility). Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion between the EULA and the Web site as far as licensing. The EULA states that the license is only for a single computer, really unacceptable when many people have both a desktop and notebook. On the other hand, the Web site states that the license is good for three computers which, if true, would be an extremely liberal licensing policy and one that is commendable. I do also applaud the fact that I was given the option as whether I wanted a desktop icon. Finally, the program does not uninstall as cleanly as it should and leaves Registry entries, which can plague the customer who is trying to upgrade from a previous version with an expired license. As a result, it would not allow me to reregister the newest version and continued to popup a "subscription expired" notice. I had to manually remove the necessary old Registry entries to register the newest version. I have had this problem repeatedly over the years and have reported it to technical support (who always provides a quick a solution), but this really needs to be addressed. Good points. Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): One strength of Registry Mechanic is that its Registry cleaner is quite fast. I ran several tests comparing it to JVPowerTools2009's Registry cleaner, and Registry Mechanic tended to complete a scan 20-25% faster. Of course, while noticeable, this was usually just a matter of seconds: 120 seconds vs. 150, for example. Registry Mechanic also operates with admirable caution. I was concerned at first that the program didn't offer to back up my Registry before making changes. JV2009 always asks me whether I want it to make a backup. It turns out that Registry Mechanic always makes a backup, but it doesn't make this fact as apparent as JV2009 does. Registry Mechanic also offers a setting to have a System Restore Point made before any Registry repair. I'd prefer to see this as an option available for a specific repair rather than as an always or never decision, but at least it further demonstrates Registry Mechanic's caution. Although I was most interested in the Registry cleaner, Registry Mechanic offers a variety of other services as well. I found a few quite useful. For example, the section Optimize Your System includes a button that will start Windows' Disk Defragmenter. I don't defrag my hard drive all that often, and so I tend to forget where to go to find the defragmenter. I'm happy that Registry Mechanic gives me ready access to it. The Optimize Your System section also includes a list of running processes. While I can easily get such a list by calling up Windows' Task Manager, I often have a hard time going through the list to find which processes are currently using my computer's CPU; by contrast, the list in Registry Mechanic highlights the current active processes and puts them at the top, making it easy to see which processes are using what percentage of the computer's CPU. The Optimize Your System section also provides information about the computer's operating system, how much disk space the computer has and how much it is using, how much RAM it has, the CPU make and speed, and more. Another service Registry Mechanic offers to provide is compacting the Registry. I had never compacted my Registry, but I was attracted by Registry Mechanic's claim that compacting optimizes the Registry by removing gaps and wasted space, thereby improving system performance. I decided to give it a try. It first analyzed the Registry and, after a few minutes, told me that I'd save 1.41 MB out of 62.6 MB or 2%. I told it to proceed, and it did. I can't say I noticed any improvement in my system performance, but perhaps in a Registry with more gaps and wasted space, compacting may make a more noticeable difference. Registry Mechanic also provides somewhat more direct access to a wide variety of Windows features, such as System Restore, Event Viewer, Device Manager, and Windows Update, to name just a few. The $29.95 purchase price entitles the use of Registry Mechanic on three computers, a somewhat more generous arrangement than many software developers offer. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): Registry Mechanic seemed to run in the background quietly and without obvious interference with other programs. It is difficult to assess this with certainty because there has been some flaky behavior of other programs and devices installed on my system, but I have no way to directly attribute this to Registry Mechanic versus another source. There are numerous functions that can be activated by clicking on menu-driven options from the main program screen. "Scan your Registry" looks for broken or invalid Registry items and offers to fix them. I found the details of each item found to be a bit sketchy. Correcting all of the errors did not seem to affect the functioning of my system either way. "Compact Your Registry" is designed to make your Registry file size as small as possible. As with other Registry programs, this function probably improves one's system at some theoretical level but likely makes no real-world difference. According to the detailed help on the Web site, ' "Optimize Your System" applies a set of tweaks and patches directly into the Windows Registry that are designed to improve system performance.' I generally dislike "black box toolsets" which make a series of changes to your system but give little or no description of what will be done. In this case, there is a description of the changes if one digs far enough. It is not listed on the active program screen nor in the help function, which can be called from the program; however, clicking on the link inside the help file will call up a more detailed help document from the Web site. The "Optimize Your System" section also allows you to schedule or run a defragmentation. This appears to be just the defragmentation function already built into Windows. There are also a number of sections that generate system reports. One of them was very similar to Windows' Task Manager. Others gave information about the system's resources usage, drive space, and computer profile; while accurate, I did not find any novel or particularly useful information here. "Tuneup Your Services" is another area where a preset solution packages can be applied. As stated earlier, I tend to dislike this type of solution, as I favor the style, which gives me a description of each item along with the pros and cons and allows me to change the items, which apply directly to my system. Of note in this section, the recommended solution allows the Telnet service and Messenger service to "run when required". Both of these have been cited in other sites as services, which should be turned off on most systems. To their credit, this section also has an option to restore one's services to their last known good configuration. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: In spite of my complaints about the EULA, I was pleased t that the purchase of this program allows the user to install it on three computers. This is much more in line with the normal needs of users, who often use more than one computer on a regular basis. As well, the EULA is accessible from the home page on the Registry Mechanic Web site. And, although the program is designed for recent versions of Windows, there is a link to Version 7, which will work for Windows 98, still functioning on many thousands of computers worldwide. Registry Mechanic opens to its "Home" Screen, where the main purpose of the program is displayed: Scan (and Repair) your Registry. Running a scan of the Registry on both of the computers that I tested was done quickly, and the resulting errors were displayed, grouped into a number of categories. Each error was listed, and its "priority", from Low to High, was indicated by a coloured bar graph. You can scroll through the list to see what the errors are, although many of them are simply long strings of numbers and letters, having meaning to programmers, but gibberish to most of us. Assuming that Registry Mechanic knows what it is doing (or any other Registry Cleaner, for that matter), we tell it to go ahead and make the necessary repairs. Fortunately, in this same section is a "Restore" module. The program automatically does a back up of the Registry, so that the previous Registry can be restored if there is a problem. I like the way that Compact your Registry works: first, there is an analysis that shows how much the Registry will be packed; it lists several Registry sections to show which parts of the Registry will be reorganized, and gives an over-all percentage of space saved by running this module. Monitor your Registry will keep Registry Mechanic running, even when the program is exited. I only activated this feature when I was installing new software and wanted to know what it was doing to the Registry during installation. The module most directly related to the operation of the Registry Cleaner itself is Options. Here one set up preferences on how the program operates, have a second access to the Restore sub-module, and run the "Quick Update." This particular feature is one of the best Update processes I have seen: one click on this button and the whole process runs totally by itself, with no need at all for user intervention. The other four modules are: Computer, Security, System, and Help Center. For a complete computer novice, these may be useful, as they give easy access to many computer management tools; but please see "Weak Points" below for further comments on these sections. Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: Registry Mechanic is a very user-friendly program. Nearly any user could start using Registry Mechanic without reading any instructions, as the User Interface in the program is self-explanatory. Should a user need further information about a topic a detailed help file explaining all functions of the program is available through a link in the Quick Start Guide. Registry Mechanic is a collection of tools that cleans and optimizes the Registry, monitors the Registry for changes, performance Registry tweaker, and provides easy access to many utilities and services already install in the Windows operating system. The Registry cleaner portion of Registry Mechanic performs the scan for orphaned entries very fast and presents a log of the unneeded entries. What I like about Registry Mechanic's scan results is that Registry Mechanic rates the entry by severity and indicates why the entry is bad. Many Registry cleaner don't report the bad keys in such detail. While many users may not understand the bad entry a Registry cleaner finds, most users will understand why Registry Mechanic has selected the entry as bad. The scan result allows the user to select certain entries to add to a list that will not only prevent the entry from being deleted but also keep Registry Mechanic from selecting this entry on future scans. This is a handy feature for those who customized their Start Menu. Installed programs that have been moved in the Start Menu will cause Registry cleaners to find invalid pointer entries, but the program is still installed. Making changes to the Registry can result in changes to the system that the user doesn't desire. For this reason, any time changes are made to the Registry; a backup of the Registry should be made before the changes are made. Many Registry cleaners simply request the user to make a backup before cleaning the Registry. Registry Mechanic makes the backup automatically before it makes any changes. Registry Mechanic also has an easy way to identify and restore (undo) changes made by Registry Mechanic. I tested this restore function several times for both the restore function and accuracy of the restored entries. The results were 100% on all tests. This automatic backup and easy restore functions make Registry Mechanic one of the safest Registry cleaners that I have used or tested. I keep my Registry clean so there were only a few invalid entries to be cleaned each time I used Registry Mechanic; therefore, I saw very little performance improvement on my system following the cleaning by Registry Mechanic. A system with numerous invalid entries would see a performance boost following such a cleaning. The Optimize Your System tool is an interface to Windows defragmentation utility with optimization of placement of high use files. Since my setup has already been optimized and continuously defragmented via another program, I saw no performance improvement in testing this function of Registry Mechanic. The Compact and Optimize tool did remove empty space from my Registry. I did notice some performance improvement from this compacting and optimization. Most noticeable was that scans of my Registry were faster, thus making the maintenance chore of cleaning the Registry a much quicker process. The Services Optimizer tool is a very neat extra in Registry Mechanic. While an informed user can make these changes to the services running on Windows, Registry Mechanic makes this process much easier. For a user who doesn't know which services can be disabled without interfering with Windows, this tool is vital to making those changes. The best performance boost I saw from using Registry Mechanic came from use of this tool. Care should be taken in selecting the Minimal option, as some of the services that are disabled will change how one's system looks. The user can experiment and if he doesn't like the results, Registry Mechanic has a Restore (Undo) function that will put everything back as it was before the changes were made. Another nice option is that I could unselect those changes I didn't want (such as Themes) before the changes are made and keep those I wanted (such as the appearance of my Desktop). Most of the other tools in Registry Mechanic are doorways to utilities that already exist in Windows. The nice part of these functions in Registry Mechanic is that access to these Windows utilities is through a simple user interface. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Registry Mechanic is fast, simple to use, and can be set to operate continuously in the background by starting with Windows. It will: Scan and compact the Registry, optimize one's system, tune up one's services, monitor the Registry for changes, and restore its own previous backups and undo repairs made with the program. It seems to be fairly user friendly and does a lot to prevent errors by making the changes reversible. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: I have been using Registry Mechanic since version 4.0 in 2004 and have been recommending and using this software program since that time. During the several months that I have been using this latest version of Registry Mechanic, while not without some small annoyances and what I feel are new weaknesses (see below in Weak Points), it has become apparent that the program continues to improve its core functions and continues to deserve not only its place as the most popular Registry cleaning program but also the one most recommended by experts. This newest version now offers several tools in addition to the core functions of Registry maintenance, which include a System Optimizer, a Tune-up Utility, and a Registry Monitor. It is, however, the core functions that I will address here. Among those details of these core functions that I find noteworthy in these latest version:  A newly designed GUI (Graphic User Interface) which is sleek,
intuitively designed, attractive and designed for ease of use; A vastly improved scanning engine that not only detects more
errors but more importantly is easily five times faster than
previous versions. It repeatedly did a complete scan of my
Registry in under 2 minutes (1 minute, 50 seconds to be
precise); The time required for the program to initialize has
decreased from what was in the past approximately 25 seconds to
now almost instantaneous (four seconds); A much improved Deep
Scan which now finds additional empty Registry keys and
fragments; and, Improved Help and DocumentationIn addition to the new features the many excellent features from previous versions still exist. Some of these are: Registry Mechanic may be one of the safest cleaners available.
While not unaggressive in its cleaning, it makes a backup of
each cleaning so that any deleted errors can be restored should
a problem occur; Registry Mechanic does not simply delete
broken links or Registry errors but first attempts to initiate a
repair and only deletes those that are not repairable and can be
safely deleted; The repair window shows a progress bar
charting how much further the scan has to go while at the same
time a table at the bottom charts shows the number of errors
found and their classification; One can customize scans so
that the program ignores certain parts of the Registry; The
summary of errors found window not only categorizes the errors
by type and place in the Registry but also rates them from low
to high as to severity, making it even safer for the novice.
Additionally, the errors found can be chosen for repair
individually or as a whole and a right click menu allows
investigation of each error more fully or actions can be taken
such as ignoring or even "whitelisting" the error to be ignored
in future scans; and, An excellent Registry Compactor and
Defrag improves space management in the Windows Registry, which
can make one's computer more stable and a bit quicker.Finally, one of Registry Mechanic's hallmarks has been its excellent support. In addition to an email ticket support that, in both of my tests, replied to my request from 2-7 hours and answered my questions in an easy to understand and professional manner, there is an excellent knowledge base, an FAQ, an excellent community forum, and online user guides. Weak points. Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): I found the program's interface too small and rigid. When I did a Registry scan, I could see only a few results at a time, and even when I clicked on one of the results to enlarge the space devoted to it, I often still could not see the entire Registry key or location. I finally realized that if I right-clicked on the particular entry, I could see all the information, but it was quite a while before I realized that, and it still didn't help if I wanted to see more than one entry at a time. The inadequate size of the interface was even more a problem when I tried to use the Tuneup Your Services section. I kept having to readjust the space allotted for the explanation of what each service does, and sometimes no amount of readjustment enabled me to see the entire explanation. There is apparently no way to make the interface larger. The Help information available on the interface is woefully inadequate. I turned to the Help information to find out what specifically would happen if I agreed to let Registry Mechanic optimize my system. Here's what the Help section told me: Optimize your system - applies a set of tweaks and patches directly into the Windows Registry that are designed to improve system performance. I really wanted much more specific information before giving the program carte blanche to fiddle with the Registry. To learn more, I had to consult Registry Mechanic's online help, which can only be viewed if one has a working Internet connection. I am dismayed that the only substantial information the company provides cannot be consulted if for some reason one's Internet connection isn't working. I was also not pleased that when I clicked on the link to view this online help, it opened in Internet Explorer, even though Firefox is my default browser. I found Registry Mechanic's designations at times misleading and needlessly alarmist. It will proclaim in bold red letters "System Health is LOW - Scan your Registry." When I scan the Registry, sometimes all that turns up are one or two items of lowest priority, hardly reason for such a dire warning. After I permit Registry Mechanic to fix these minor problems, the warning disappears, replaced by a bright green check mark indicating that all is well. I also question Registry Mechanic's deeming as errors of the highest priority relatively minor issues in the way WinPatrol, HyperSnap, ClipMate, and other highly regarded programs work. It may well be that some of their operations may create temporary minor Registry problems that Registry Mechanic is correct to flag; however, these software programs' operations have never caused a problem or slowed down my system or done anything else to warrant being labeled Registry errors of the highest priority. Another weakness is the way Registry Mechanic's Smart Update feature works-or doesn't work. I noticed that I was not using the most recent version of Registry Mechanic. I clicked on the Smart Update button; to my surprise, I was told that my version was up-to-date. I wrote to tech support to ask about this and was told that Smart Update only handles critical updates. Moreover, to get the most recent version, I was told I had to uninstall the version I had and then download and install the new version. This seems to me a rather cumbersome process simply to move from version 8.00.900 to 8.00.902. As far as I can tell, PC Tools provides no information about what has been changed when a new version of Registry Mechanic appears. There have been at least two new versions in the few months since I started to use Registry Mechanic, but I can find no change log that might help me determine whether I should update my copy of the program. Finally, the Tuneup Your Services section of Registry Mechanic seemed poorly presented. Registry Mechanic's interface is too small for the reader to see the full explanation of many services. Moreover, my guess is that many, if not most, Registry Mechanic users would appreciate more help in understanding Windows' services. In trying to decide whether I wanted to let Registry Mechanic tune up my services, I looked at the services selected under "Recommended." The first one was Alerter, which "Notifies selected users and computers of administrative alerts." Alerts from whom? Many of the items under "Recommended" seem to assume that the computer is on a network. Do these items apply to me, a home user? If not, is there any point in my selecting this option? Registry Mechanic provides no specific information or guidance. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): Registry Mechanic runs in the background and seems to pop up with a warning that my Registry was being changed whenever I upgrade my programs or update my operating system. This could have been improved with more information about what the nature of the changes was. For example, I had a pop-up warning appear and I clicked on the button to show details. The display of the results didn't tell me much about the nature of the changes, only their location. I could find no way to gather additional information about the changes. All of the functions of the "Computer", "Security" and "System" sections invoke management tools already built into Windows. I fail to see where this adds much value to a knowledgeable user's system. Registry Mechanic scans one's Registry automatically when it runs. There are no visible options to back up the Registry prior to repairing the errors detected and there is no visible choice to repair selected errors. (After further exploration, I found that tweaks could be made by right-clicking on items.) Clicking on the repair button automatically repairs all errors without further confirmation. Only later did I find out that Registry Mechanic automatically backs up the Registry before making changes. When Registry Mechanic compacts the Registry, it places a box right in the middle of the screen and on top of all other open windows, effectively preventing one from using other programs while it is working. After it completes its analysis, it displays another window informing of the need to restart the computer in order to complete the compaction. There are no escape options other than pressing the restart button. The only improvement in this window over the previously mentioned one is that it has the top bar activated so it can be moved to the side of the screen while closing your other programs. There are a host of non-Registry tools to tune one's system but most of them are simply links to functions built into Windows. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: The "Trial Version" of Registry Mechanic is not a fully-functioning version of the software, so it does not really give the ability to "try before you buy", the original concept of the "Shareware" model. To be fair, this limitation is clearly stated at the bottom of the Home page of the Registry Mechanic Web site: "The trial is time unlimited and removes problems found in 6 sections of the Registry only. A registered version is required to remove all detected problems." Concerning the other four modules not yet discussed (Computer, Security, System and Help Centre), I am not sure what any of them have to do with "Registry Cleaning." Essentially (except for the Help Centre), they simply give access to functions that are available to all users via "My Computer", and the Start Menu. In the "Computer" module can be found Windows Update, but that is automatically installed by Windows in the main part of the Start Menu, as is access to the Control Panel. System Restore and System Properties is by right-clicking on My Computer| Properties. "Computer Management" (Administrative Tools in the Control Panel.) and "Security" and "System" modules are all functions that are easily available in Windows need no program running in order to use them. The Help Centre is really no more than a link to other PCTools software programs. It is true that it does give access to the Forums that, like the forums offered by many software providers, provide a place to ask questions and share ideas on the PC Tools programs; but, I concluded that this is simply a way to advertise their other products. It might be less disingenuous to name it "Help-you-to-buy Center." Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: After cleaning my Registry with Registry Mechanic, I scanned my Registry with another program and found 117 invalid entries that Registry Mechanic did not detect. I viewed these entries and they were indeed invalid entries. Some of the entries were in areas that Registry Mechanic did find invalid entries but failed to find these entries (such as Add/Remove Programs). Registry Mechanics' Web site states that Registry Mechanic scans the entire Registry. If so, then the Registry Mechanic scanner does not detect all invalid Registry entries. One annoying action of Registry Mechanic was closing it. When one clicks the X to close Registry Mechanic it goes to the right side of the task bar. One has to right click the Registry Mechanic icon and select close to remove this icon and fully close the program. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: As with any program that works in the Registry, this program has significant power to alter one's system. It can create problems if the user does not know what some of the functions will do. One must take the time to read the documentation if not sure what the consequences of a repair will be. Under the "Optimize Your System" > System Information section, Registry Mechanic misreported the amount of RAM on both the XP and the Vista machine. Windows System Properties correctly reports 3 GB of RAM on each but for some reason Registry Mechanic only reports 2 GB. I did not find the Online Help system all that useful in working out a problem I encountered using the "services optimization" feature. Searches of the Knowledge Base produced no results and searching the Community Forum was not much better. PC Tools / Registry Mechanic offers help via an in-program Help button that mainly just explains what the different icons and sections are for, essentially a "quick start" guide, and includes a link to the more extensive online help files formatted as an HTML, active Web page. An Internet connection is required for this. "Premium Support" is available to users who are using the paid and registered versions. Also offered are online Knowledge Base, Community Forums, a FAQ section and links to more extensive help. I did not find the available Help much assistance at all. While trying to sort out the problem with "services optimization" using the knowledge base, I was not able to find any information about this function and had to work it out on my own. I did have better results searching in the Community Forums. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: While Registry Mechanic is still an excellent program, which I recommend, and really without any serious glitches, it is still plagued by a few old annoyances as well as some new ones as well. The biggest of these is why most software developers continue to ignore the adage that sometimes less is more, or " if it ain't broke don't fix it." To wit, new tools: The new System Optimizer. What is it? I don't know. No where
does it tell you what exactly it will do to your PC; The
remaining new tools offered are simply shortcuts to existing
Windows interfaces such as Computer Management, Disc Defrag,
Control Panel, etc. I resent paying for a menu system that
launches programs I already have; The Registry Monitor will
run in the background to notify of any changes it detects to the
Registry. These notifications are nearly worthless, as they do
not detail what has changed and basically simply suggests a
rescan of the Registry. The process runs in background, using up
resources and doing little other than to popup annoying
remainders; and, Registry Mechanic does not close by simply
clicking on "close" or the large red X in the upper right hand
corner. When this is done, there remains a new small icon in
your system tray with the program still running in task manager.
The program can be stopped by right-clicking on the icon and
selecting close, but it takes two or three attempts before
actually closing.In addition to the new tools there are some other annoyances, some old and some new, which need attention: The program tries to put itself in the autostart menu so that
it runs in background. I can see no justification whatsoever for
having a Registry cleaner running in the background. This is
simply a waste of computer resources; The window can no longer
be resized as was possible in previous versions. This was very
helpful when examining the found errors window; The found
error, rather than pointing to the specific error or key, points
to the Registry hive section. We really need more granularities
in a Registry cleaning application; The program is still too
high in its use of resources while scanning. Its use of memory
would bring some less powerful computers to a crawl, I suspect.
Direct technical support is hidden. Only by clicking on
support, then drilling down through the Knowledge Base, then
problems and possible answers, will one finally get to the email
ticket window. This is inexcusable. Also, while support was fast
in my experiences, I would like to see some indication of
expected turn-around time; and, Subscription based licensing
requires renewal after only one year for continued technical
support and updates. This should more accurately be called
"rental ware."Finally, and this could almost be a deal-breaker for me if this wasn't such a good product, do not try to deceptively install other software on my computer! One must to carefully be on the lookout during the installation procedure as Registry Mechanic has checked by default permission for it to install the Google Toolbar. This is becoming more and more a common practice with software developers/distributors and I find it not only unconscionable but also bordering on outright consumer fraud when the acceptance of this unasked for additional software downloads by default. Developer's Web site. Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): Registry Mechanic is one of more than a dozen products developed and sold by PC Tools. The PC Tools website offers information about all its products and, of course, an opportunity to download and buy them. Clicking on Registry Mechanic in the list of products brings one t to a Registry Mechanic homepage, which also has links for Download, Purchase, Features, Support, and Research. The Research section offers questions and answers about why one should use a Registry cleaner and what a Registry cleaner does. The PC Tools website also offers brief descriptions of some current projects the R&D team is working on, as well as an opportunity to download one or more of the projects. While the company highlights the fact that there is a disclaimer one should read before downloading these projects, the disclaimer itself appears in very light grey letters that make it harder to see and to read compared to the rest of the page. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): The PC Tools website seems to be more oriented towards selling their products than supporting them. I was a bit surprised when I clicked on the link to go to the "Online Knowledgebase" and found that it led to a page where I could only e-mail a request to PC Tools Support. There was another link on that page to go to the Knowledgebase, but it also only leads back to the support request page. There is an active forum at http://www.pctools.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9 which does appear to be actively moderated with rapid responses to users' questions and problems. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: The Web site is professionally designed and is easy to use and navigate. Most of the site is given over to advertising and marketing of products, some of which have been around for many years. Like the rest of the site, the support section is attractively presented and is very easy to use. Support is available through searchable Online Knowledge Bases, User Guides, Community Forums and even chat. A handy feature is "Recover Your License Code". In fact, this section is well-enough designed that it could serve as a model for many other software developers. Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: The PC Tools Web site was very easy to navigate and find what one is looking for. The support functions include very good guides and tutorials that will help answer any question in using the program. I was impressed to see that the Web site also includes the physical address of the company. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Registry Mechanic is produced by PC Tools and is only one of 14 offerings. Available in 21 languages, the site is clean and easy to use. The bulk of the space is devoted to showcasing its various products and touting several awards from PC World and PC Magazine. PC Tools appears to be an International company, with its main offices in Ireland as well as offices in North America (2), Australia (2), Europe and the Ukraine. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: The Web site contains a lot of information but is somewhat overshadowed by advertisement; maybe it is just the recommendation by Dr. Phil that I found disconcerting. At first glance all ones see is the advertising blurb, especially the CNET review excerpt that is a banner across the top of the entire site; but, one can scroll down and find more information relating to the product. There are tabs running along the top of the site (above the ad banner) but they are small and in a faint gray color. Drilling down into the site one will find the above mentioned EULA, help and support, user guides, and so on, but they are not immediately visible. Other comments. Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): Since I have JVPowerTools2009 on my computer, I ran some comparisons of JV's Registry Cleaner and the Registry cleaner in Registry Mechanic. In the comparisons, Registry Mechanic was faster, while the results in JVPowerTools were much easier to read. JVPowerTools also has much more extensive Help information, and that information can be downloaded to one's computer. Aside from these differences, I found it hard to choose one Registry cleaner over the other. If I cleaned the Registry with one and then ran the other, the second would inevitably find a large number of errors that the first had missed. This was true regardless of whether I first ran Registry Mechanic or JVPowerTools. Their categories and priorities are apparently quite different. Thus, I found it useful to have more than one Registry cleaner available, though I don't think I'd want to pay for more than one. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): Registry Mechanic has one of the strangest update options I have encountered. Clicking on "Smart Update" under the "Options" section presents the user with a list of .exe, .dll, and .dat files with the option to uncheck any or all of them; however, there is no guidance given regarding what any of them do or whether unchecking one file would result in compromise to any of the other updates. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: Over the years, I have tried out more than a dozen Registry cleaners. Every one of them claims that it is critical to the proper functioning of Windows that the Registry is kept clean. By totally ignoring the Registry, I am guaranteed to have a poorly-functioning computer that will inevitably crash because of Registry Errors. "If you don't fix Registry problems when they arise or try and prevent them from even happening at all, then you may soon find yourself faced with sudden crashes, system stalls, or a severe degradation in operating speed. Working to fix Registry issues and prevent system crashes should be a top priority." (PC Tools Web site) On the assumption that the Registry is, in fact, a critical part of the Windows Operating System, I do occasionally clean it with either RegVac from Super Win Software -- a program that I have been using for 15 years -- or with jv16 Power Tools from Macecraft Software. They are both very stable, and have never given me any trouble. Both have lifetime updates. To keep Registry Mechanic updated, a license renewal is required after only one year from the purchase date. Nonetheless, I am not at all sure that much actually needs to be done to the Registry. I have never found any noticeable improvement in the way that my computer runs after having done a Registry cleaning, either after doing a complete new reinstallation of Windows, or any time after, until the next clean reinstall. Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: None. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: Registry Mechanic's saving grace is that it can be set to save a snap shot (the default setting) before changes are made so that they can be undone if something goes awry. Registry Mechanic is deceptively easy to use and blunder ahead, making unintended and perplexing changes that are sometimes not be readily apparent. The "Tune up your Services" component offers three options or "Profiles": Recommended Services, Minimal Services and Restore Services. In an attempt to sort out a minor problem, I invoked the Minimal Services option. At first, my HP Tablet seemed fine and the computer was working better. I later discovered that Registry Mechanic had turned off my Tablet functions and the digitizer and touch screen were disabled. Thankfully, it was easy to locate the problem and correct it by enabling the Tablet functions again without changing any of the other "fixes" that had been applied. The services description is not always clear (typical for Windows) and one cannot figure out what service is needed that Registry Mechanic turned off. In that case, it's an "all or nothing" fix by just undoing the whole "optimization" that was done and starting over. Registry Mechanic often just calls up the normal Windows tools that you would use to perform the functions called for. It just makes access to these tools faster and easier from a single location. Other times, it calls its own, built-in tools. Overall, I felt this was a good program. It is useful and easy to use. It is working in the Registry so one must always exercise caution in using the program. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: Registry Mechanic is one of the most popular Registry cleaners available and, more importantly, has won awards from experts and reviewers from around the world. It has built its reputation on being a fast and safe, yet thorough, Registry cleaner that is suited as easily for the novice as the more advanced user. It is also a program that has remained in constant development since around 2003, which speaks highly for the developer, PC Tools-a well respected and very large software developer. While, it is not without its faults and while I do have some serious annoyances with it, Registry Mechanic still has my full recommendation as its core functions, Registry Cleaner and Registry Defrag & Compacter are still without equal and well worth the cost of the program. There are a lot of free Registry cleaners available but when working on something as critical to PC functioning as the Windows Registry, this is not the place I want to bargain shop. Will you continue to use it? Reviewer 1 (name withheld by request): Yes, at least until my one-year update and support period expires. Reviewer 2 (name withheld by request): No. Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: No. Reviewer 4 - Dana Cardwell: Yes, for the services performance tweaks, but not as a Registry cleaner. The Registry cleaner I use now detects and removes more invalid entries than Registry Mechanic does. Reviewer 5 - Dana Bostick: This is but one of many "optimizers" I have available on my systems. It stands up well as the only one to have, if you must choose just one, by having a clean interface and easy navigation. It would be a "keeper" except for the less than useful Help available. Reviewer 6 - Mark Snyder: Yes. I would not own a computer without having this program installed. |