It already started.

It just hasn’t been that long since you jumped on the Vista bandwagon, eager to experience that cool new graphical interface, when lo and behold, something bad happened. Maybe it was a blue screen of death, maybe it was a more civil error message, but regardless of the details, you realized that this switch to Vista was going to be more of the same.

The Windows Vista registry is much like earlier versions of Windows in that it is still a place to store all the settings and options for the operating system and individual programs. It has gone a bit further than its predecessors by using the registry to replace .ini files and by serving as a repository for Group Policy settings (previously unknown in older non-network Windows operating systems).

You can still log in and edit the registry (by accessing it via “regedit” on the command line), but since Vista is more complicated than XP, the registry is also more complex. The Windows Vista registry is a store of information about computer settings and applications. Like a reptile, the registry just keeps growing while you use Windows. During this unfortunate growth (some call it “bloat”), it attracts outdated and unnecessary information and, over time, becomes cluttered and fragmented. This bloat can be the cause of a large number of software difficulties.

Once you encounter one of these software problems (such as any number of .dll errors, or even an explorer.exe error), you might be tempted to run the registry and start removing the keys from any file that is named in the registry. Error message. This, of course, is an incredibly bad idea, as the files you might be deleting may be vitally important to the operating system.

So, instead of engaging in DIY (do-it-yourself) Windows Vista registry repair, you’d better look for a software solution to fix your registry problems.

Be careful when buying because many software products are designed for older versions of Windows and the designers may not be completely forthcoming about it, ignoring concerns that the program should “mostly work” on Vista. Look for established companies that have designed registry repair software before, and then see if they offer new software that works specifically with Vista. One such tool is RegCure from Paretologic.

Remember that the Vista operating system is markedly different from previous versions in the control of Group Policy settings and .ini files. A registry repair tool may work on Windows Vista, but if it was designed for XP, its scans will be at least somewhat (if not very) inaccurate. Finding a legitimate Windows Vista registry repair tool (like RegCure) when you need to fix those registry errors is well worth the time and expense.