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Registry Mechanic Review Does This Popular Program Cut The Mustard?
 Program Name: Registry Mechanic Publisher: PC Tools [ Official Website ] Win 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP / Vista Free Trial?: Free scan and limited removal options Overall Score:   |
Mark DeCostaGuest Editor
PC Tools is almost a household name in terms of computer utility software. Their popular line of products includes Spyware Doctor, Privacy Guardian, and Desktop Maestro. They constantly get good reviews from many sources, so we decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Taking It For A Spin Registry Mechanic Review
After installing Registry Mechanic and firing up the program, we were greeted by the slick interface. Everything looks professional, with large, clearly labeled buttons. You have three choices when you run the program: Scan the registry, compact the registry, or optimize your system. First order of business is to see what the registry scanner says, so we select "scan your registry."
The scanning process is fairly quick, and results are displayed in real time as they are tallied up. When the scan is done the results are displayed in a list which rates the importance of their removal with neat little color bars. It is here that you can de-select specific entries from the list so they are not removed in the batch removal process.
The repair is done with a single click, and the offending entries are removed from the system. There is a backup option in the program which will allow you to undo the removal of one or all of the entries. This is important, and if you experience any problems after running the program you can always undo the changes. Besides using this feature, we also recommend creating your own backup versions of the registry, as well as a new restore point (for XP and Vista users).
Other Cool Features Registry Mechanic Review
Of all the additional features that Registry Mechanic comes packaged with, we were quite intrigued by the registry compactor. It will scan your registry, and then determine the best way to reconfigure all the file locations. It's a neat tool, however in our test it only would have saved us 3.83 MB. This is rather miniscule, but the benefits most likely lie in the way that it reorganizes the registry into something more easily accessed by the operating system.
Some Fluff Registry Mechanic Review
Registry Mechanic has a lot of features, including the system optimizer. This is neat, however many of these features are already available on Windows. For instance, the defrag button in Registry Mechanic just opens the basic Windows defrag tool that you can access through the Start menu. The good thing about this, however, is that a lot of people don't even know they HAVE a defrag tool in Windows, let alone know that it can boost performance speed.
Sidebar :: Defragmenting the hard drive is helpful as it "recombines" all the pieces of programs and files that get scattered across the hard drive over time. To run your Disk Defragmenter go to Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Defragmenter.
Anyway, we're getting off track here. Registry Mechanic also provides some real time system status monitors, which are cool, but honestly they are not very useful. These monitors are available simply by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and opening the Windows task manager.
The Bad Registry Mechanic Review
Well, there's not a whole lot that's truly BAD about Registry Mechanic. It's a solid program with a ton of features. It might be suited towards more intermediate-advanced level computer users rather than the true PC novice. The help menu didn't really explain too much when we went delving for more information on the specific features.
We would have liked to see some tool tips pop up when we hovered the mouse over buttons and actions (tool tips or quick tips are those little yellow message that pop up when you rest your mouse pointer on an item for a few seconds).
Overall the interface is great, but it's a tad clumsy in spots. We had a tough time figuring out how to get back to the main screens after entering the settings window. Nothing terribly catastrophic however.
Score Sheet Registry Mechanic Review
Ease Of Use:
Registry Mechanic is very straightforward. Problems only occured because of poor help documentation or unintuitive menu structure. Perhaps not a good choice for a very inexperienced PC user. (Inexperienced users may want to try RegCure.)
Errors Found/Removed:
Registry Mechanic's scan is quick and consistent. Removal is very simple and is easily customized through the options.
Features:
The most features of all the registry cleaners we tested, however only a couple of these extras are actually useful or necessary. The registry compactor and system optimizer are quite nice.
Customer Service:
We have not had the chance to contact customer service ourselves, however the online help system is robust.
Overall Score:
Registry Mechanic is a great tool for cleaning the registry as well as offering a few very good optimization tools. Registry Mechanic ranks just a touch behind RegCure as one of the best registry cleaners on the market.
Resources Registry Mechanic Review
If you want to try Registry Mechanic out for yourself, you can download a free trial version from their website.
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