A Review of Uniblue Registry Booster

Most of us computer users never bother to mess around with the Windows Registry, unless we’re really into optimization or advanced tweaking. In fact, many people don’t even know that the Windows Registry exists. But the truth is, whenever we change computer settings, update drivers, or modify applications, we’re making changes in the registry.

So this week, I’ve had the opportunity to review Uniblue’s Registry Booster. It’s a powerful utility that scans, defragments, and repairs the registry. In this article, I’ll tell you all about its features and abilities, test its impact on system performance and stability, and give you my personal thoughts on Uniblue’s Registry Booster.

Update from David Risley on 12/7/07

This review was written back in 2006, and we had positive things to say about this program (you’ll see as you read on). But since then, we’ve received negative feedback from users about the “free scan” not uninstalling properly. We asked Uniblue about this issue, and they said they’ve fixed it and gave an explanation of why it happened. We also tested the free scan ourselves here at PCMech, and we had no problems removing it from our systems.

In my experience, the people who claim that Registry Booster is malware and won’t uninstall properly aren’t that tech-savvy. In our tests, it uninstalls easily and doesn’t harm our computers. There are different opinions on how effective the software is, but I’m confident that their free scan is not dangerous. It’s important to remember that any program that affects the Windows registry can potentially cause problems. That’s why it’s crucial to back up your registry before running any scanning software, including Registry Booster or any other tool.

With that said, I’ll let you continue reading the rest of Ryan’s review…

What is the Windows Registry?

The Windows Registry is like a dynamic database that holds system information and settings. It’s a vital part of the Windows operating system. Everything from hardware and software details to user preferences is stored in the registry. The stability and functioning of your system heavily depend on the integrity of the registry. Over time, unnecessary entries can accumulate, leading to registry errors. These errors can impact performance and the stability of your applications.

Features of Registry Booster

Uniblue’s Registry Booster offers a wide range of features that not only identify and repair registry errors but also enhance system performance and stability. Some of its key features include:

• Scanning and repair of obsolete shared DLLs
• Removal of unused entries
• Cleaning traces of uninstalled software
• Fixing corrupt Active X/COM Objects
• Removing unwanted browser objects
• Repairing corrupt or missing application IDs
• Removing unused Start Menu items
• Fixing orphaned, missing, and broken software paths and links
• And more

System Requirements for Registry Booster

Unlike many other software programs today, Registry Booster works well even on older computer systems. The minimum recommended system requirements are:

• Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 500MHz processor
• 128MB of RAM
• CD-ROM Drive
• 10MB of free hard drive space
• Windows Operating System of 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / or XP

Installation

Installing Uniblue’s Registry Booster is a breeze, thanks to its well-designed installer. Even novice computer users will find it easy to install compared to most other software. Plus, it’s a small program, so the installation is super fast. During installation, you can choose where to install Registry Booster and whether to create desktop and quick launch icons.

First Impressions

I was genuinely impressed with the sleek and user-friendly design of Uniblue’s Registry Booster. It uses a unique tab-like system that makes it easy to navigate. Even as a first-time user, I found it straightforward and not confusing at all. With the interface’s novelty sinking in, I was ready to test the software’s actual performance.

Scanning, Defragmenting, Repairing, and Backing Up my Windows Registry

Scanning: Registry Booster has a highly efficient scanning engine that quickly scans the entire registry. I was amazed at how fast it scanned and identified a total of 165 registry errors on my computer. Most of these errors were caused by adding and removing applications, and I wasn’t even aware that my registry had so many issues.

Backing Up: Like most performance-enhancing tools, Registry Booster includes a backup utility just in case something goes wrong. Before making any changes to the registry, the software prompts you to create a backup. The backup process can be a bit slow, but it’s worth the wait for the peace of mind it provides. Don’t take unnecessary risks by skipping the backup – you might regret it later.

Repairing: Registry Booster effectively repairs the errors it finds in a timely manner. Once an error is fixed, it doesn’t resurface in subsequent scans.

Defragmenting: Surprisingly, I didn’t even know that the registry could become fragmented. But it makes sense, considering how hard drives can become fragmented over time. After learning about this, I was excited to run the defragmentation utility. It was a quick process, and Uniblue claims that defragmenting the registry can improve boot times. After defragmenting, the software prompts you to restart your computer to apply the changes.

Does Registry Booster Work?

To evaluate the effectiveness of Registry Booster, I decided to benchmark my test computer before and after running the scanning and defragmenting utilities.

It’s important to note that I’m only testing the software on Windows XP, so I can’t speak for its performance on other operating systems.

Before testing, I intentionally installed and uninstalled various freeware applications to create a registry with errors, fragments, and unnecessary entries. After running Registry Booster, it detected a multitude of errors related to the applications I added and removed. Most of the errors were of the missing, orphaned, and unnecessary variety. The results of my tests show how repairing these registry errors can affect system performance.

The Tests

I designed three tests to see how Registry Booster affects the performance of Windows XP:

Boot and Start-Up times: The time it takes for the Windows XP Desktop to load after pressing the power button.

Restart Times: The time it takes to restart Windows XP.

Add/Remove Program List: The time it takes to load the Windows Add/Remove Program list.

Before

Start Up	Restart	Add/Remove Program List
Trial One	46 Seconds	63 Seconds	10 Seconds
Trial Two	45 Seconds	61 Seconds	11 Seconds

After

Start Up	Restart	Add/Remove Program List
Trial One	43 Seconds	58 Seconds	10 Seconds
Trial Two	44 Seconds	57 Seconds	9 Seconds

As you can see, both start up and restart times significantly improved after using Registry Booster’s scanning, repairing, and defragmenting utilities. However, the loading time for the Add/Remove program list only saw a one-second average improvement. Based on my tests, I’m confident in the performance-enhancing capabilities of Registry Booster. As a computer enthusiast, even the smallest improvements in system performance make me happy.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In conclusion, I was highly impressed with Uniblue’s Registry Booster. The software exceeded my expectations with its appearance, design, and performance-enhancing capabilities. The scanning, repairing, and defragmenting utilities did exactly what they were supposed to do, resulting in a noticeable boost in system performance. I highly recommend Uniblue’s Registry Booster to all computer users, considering its affordable price of $30 for a download or $40 for the disk and packaging. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I believe that Registry Booster can stabilize and improve system performance even on the most troublesome machines.

I give Uniblue’s Registry Booster a rating of 9.5/10.

Update Feb. 8, 2010

Comments for this article are now closed. This decision was made because people were using the comments section as a means to get support from Uniblue. Please note that this article is not an official Uniblue support channel. If you need support, you can contact Uniblue at uniblue.com/support. Thank you.