“Are there ways to make your computer faster?” My sister asked me when I gave her my Windows laptop. I had to tell her that I cannot fix the corrupt registry so I had to reinstall Windows XP.

Here are some of the errors we saw:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WINDOWSSYSTEM32CONFIGSYSTEM

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WINDOWSSYSTEM32CONFIGSOFTWARE

Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): SystemRootSystem32ConfigSOFTWARE or its log or alternate

“How can you repair your PC registry? She asked me. I had to tell her that I must reformat and reinstall.

“But I don’t like you to reformat this laptop. I have a lot of things here and I don’t like to back up my things ‘coz it takes so long. Is there a way to speed up your computer without reformatting,” she said.

Are you having the same conversation with someone not as technical as you are? Or are you someone not very technical and can easily identify with this story? To speed up your computer there are ways you can do this by fixing a corrupt registry.

It is sometimes the fault of a corrupt registry when your Windows XP fails. There are times that you can’t even boot up with a corrupt registry. However, if you have a congested registry, you can still boot up and prevent a corrupt registry.

So I searched the net for information about corrupt registry, I found some very interesting answers I learned that I need not reformat my Windows install. I also learned about ARS or Automated recovery System. The automated recovery system is freely included in your Windwows XP CD.

What you need to do is put in your Windows CD and copy some specific files to a floppy. If you have already copied the said important files then you don’t need to do this. Unfortunately there is no automated, one-click way to repair a corrupt registry. You really have to brush up on your DOS commands skill in the Recovery Console.

Repair your registry of invalid and orphaned entries to avoid a corrupt registry.

This will not only help you maintain the health of your PC but it will also speed it up significantly. As always, prevention is better than the cure. You can opt to maintain and keep your registry in tip top shape, or you can wait until it becomes a blob of spaghetti and explode into a useless gray mass of steel and silicon.

Maintain the consistency of your registry by getting a registry scanner that is right for your needs. Windows XP is like an old Volkswagen Beetle.  You need to maintain it in order to keep it in shape and ready for action. If you don’t maintain your PC, it will surely be unreliable and conk out on you when you least expect it.