Double optimization: defragmentation of the hard disk and Windows registry. Double optimization: defragmentation of the hard disk and Windows registry Defragmentation of the hard disk: improved optimization

Hello, friends!
As a rule, interest in the concept of the system registry is not groundless. Sometimes they learn about the existence of the registry even after serious problems and malfunctions. operating system.

What is the system registry? Cleaning and defragmenting the registry.

The Windows registry is the main database of our computer. It stores all information about the parameters and settings of the operating system: computer configuration, information about programs, their parameters and settings. There is a constant access (hundreds of times per second) of both Windows itself and installed programs to the registry.

These "hundreds of times per second" are not noticeable to us until the system registry is clean and defragmented. Over time, there is a constant clogging of the registry with various garbage; these are traces of remote programs, incorrect file extensions, links to shortcuts, etc. If you cannot install a correctly working program again, look for the reason in the registry.

As such garbage accumulates in the registry, Windows gradually slows down, programs and applications freeze, crashes and error messages. Most malicious programs strive to write their code there.

The registry requires us to be more careful, so regular cleaning and defragmentation of the registry is the key to the normal functioning of Windows. Cleaning the registry can be done both manually and with the help of special programs, both paid and free.

When cleaning the registry, be extremely careful! This is especially true for manual cleaning, delete files only when you are 100% sure that this is not the right file. Incorrect deletion of files can disrupt the system up to a complete failure.

Cleaning the registry manually is a last resort, I rarely use it. As a rule, after removing some programs, when a more thorough search for traces (garbage) of the program in the registry is required. To launch the registry editor: In the Start search bar, type the command "regedit" → regedit.

With the unwanted entry or folder highlighted, press Delete . Close the window and restart the computer.

Cleaning the registry with CCleaner

One of the best free programs that is well-established as a powerful and safe registry optimizer. All that is required from the user is to run the application with administrator rights. Select the "Registry" tab and run → "Search for problems" after receiving the data → Fix.

We hardly need a backup, select → no → Fix marked → Close (if there are uncorrected errors, the registry cleaning procedure can be repeated). Download the program and get acquainted with it complete list opportunities can be found in the article From other free utilities you can use to clean the registry; Auslogics Registry Cleaner, Tweak Now RegCleaner, CleanAfterMe.

Try to clean your registry regularly, especially after removing any software from your computer. We figured out the cleaning of the system registry, now we move on to the next step - its defragmentation.

Registry defragmentation

Unfortunately, the Windows 7 registry is prone to fragmentation. Sooner or later, this will affect the speed of the system. To avoid this, you need to use special defragmenter programs. And they are special because, unlike their counterparts, they are able to access registry files.

One of these programs Defraggler By the way, it can also be used to defragment hard drives. You can download Defraggler here or from the official website (www.piriform.com/defraggler).

Since the registry can only be defragmented before Windows boots, when starting the program, activate the "Defragment at boot" option. It makes sense to check the "Always" box, thereby starting the process at each system start, which will avoid registry fragmentation in the future.

After you close the program and reboot the system, just before the desktop starts, you will see something like this window. Don't be scared)

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Today I will talk about "double" optimization: how to most effectively conduct hard drive defragmentation on Windows Vista and 7 operating systems and how defragment their registry for even faster computer performance. Combining these methods gives quite tangible results.

I will not consider the outdated Windows XP, because a lot of materials have been written on this topic. But with Vista and Windows 7, there are small gaps that I will try to fill. The technique should be correct for Windows 8 as well, but needs to be verified.

What is defragmentation?

I have already written about this more than once or twice in articles on a related topic. In short: this is the optimization of the location of files on the hard drive for faster work with them. I deliberately did not defrag for about a month on my laptop in order to get this screenshot (from the Defraggler program):

As you can see in the picture, 16% of the files are not optimally located, divided into pieces (red marks). Green stripes are places on the disk map where files are arranged in an orderly manner, without splitting into parts. There is also a purple area - these are the locations of the MFT, the Main File Table, where all information about folders, files, their properties, related service information, and even the contents of the most small files. The light brown stripe indicates the paging file - what it is, it is written But this is in this case not so important.

Between all the data there are gaps of free space. If the file turns out to be larger than the size of the gap during recording, a part of it will have to be written somewhere else. That is, the non-optimal distribution of free space creates problems, slowing down the process of writing data to the hard disk.

Ideally, after the defragmentation process, i.e. ordering file locations, the data location map should look something like this:

Thanks to defragmentation, it will be easier and faster for the hard disk mechanisms to “hover over” the area where the file is located and read it.
In principle, if you do not want to delve into this whole process, for normal defragmentation it is enough to leave the computer on for the night: in Vista and 7, regular defragmentation is scheduled at 1:00 am. Naturally, at this time it is better not to use the computer.

About defragmentation software

On the Internet, there is just a sea of ​​\u200b\u200bhard drive defragmentation programs - both paid and free. Their use, with the exception of a few programs developed by professionals, likely to be harmful.

Prefetcher

There are several reasons for believing so. The most significant : Windows has a mechanism called Prefetcher that keeps track of what and when is read from the hard drive when Windows and programs start, then tries to optimize the location of this data. The more optimally the files required for download are located, the faster Windows will boot and show the user the Desktop. A problem arises: it is not known how third-party defragmentation programs interact with Prefetcher. Do they interact at all? What if Prefetcher once again neatly arranges files for fast loading, and supposedly the “best” defragmenter moves them somewhere? What if he disables Prefetcher altogether? Who then will monitor the loading of Windows and programs, optimizing frequently used data? There are no analogues of Prefetcher, by the way.

Rexco Perfect Disk is known to use layout.ini where information collected by Prefetcher is stored, but this is a serious paid ($25) defragmentation product that comes with a lot of documentation in the kit.

Registry defragmentation

After cleaning the disk, defragment the registry. This will require a program Auslogics Registry Defrag. It is free for home use.

After installation necessarily restart your computer. Then close all programs that have tray icons (near the clock). Disable your antivirus too. Ideally, no third-party programs during registry defragmentation should not be running.

Run Auslogics Registry Defrag and click the button Analysis. After waiting, you can start defragmentation:

After restarting the computer, a black screen with white text will appear:

After that, after a while, the computer will restart again, you will return to the Desktop with a report window:

What we got as a result: the files in which the registry itself is located will be defragmented, as well as the data inside them. By the way, this is the single fastest way to defragment registry files.

If something went wrong: Yes, this program does not work for everyone. I do not recommend using on Windows 8 and 10. I didn't find a free alternative.

Defragmenting a hard drive: the standard way

After the registry, defragment all files on the hard drive. In Windows Vista and 7, there are several ways to start this process. The simplest of them:

1. Leave the computer on overnight 1:00 night, defragmentation will start if necessary (based on the analysis by the defragmentation program, a conclusion will be made whether it is necessary to optimize the hard drive or leave it alone).
2. My computer- right click on the hard drive - Properties- tab Service- Run a defrag- then everything will be clear.
3. Menu Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter.

Oddly enough, that's all it takes to defrag your hard drive.

Hard Disk Defragmenter: Improved Optimization

The aforementioned standard methods have one drawback: you cannot set it up so that after defragmentation (which in especially advanced cases can take the computer for three to four hours), the computer automatically turns off. It would also be nice to defragment once and for all files of any size, and not just less than 64 MB, as it is configured by default.

You have to do three simple steps:

1. Open Notepad (Start - All Programs - Accessories)
2. Insert two lines:

defrag /C /H /U /W shutdown /f /s

3. We save the document with the file name "defragmentation.bat" (without quotes). Instead of the word "defragmentation" there can be anything, the main thing is that it ends with .bat

The window will display information about the defragmentation process. If you need to interrupt the optimization - just close the window.

Tip: It is better to turn off the antivirus for the duration of defragmentation. This will speed up the process due to reduced disk usage.

Outcome

Thanks to the combination of related actions - defragmenting the registry and hard drive - Windows will boot and run faster. How much faster it will work, it is impossible to predict. The fact is that each computer is a unique set of components and programs that affect each other, so the assessment can only be favorable, without numbers, percentages, graphs, etc.

How often should you defragment? I believe that defragmentation registry should be done once every three months, more often it makes no sense. defragmentation hard drive- from a week to a month. It all depends on how often you write data to it. In principle, as I said, you can not worry about this, only occasionally leaving your computer or laptop turned on at night. Windows Vista, 7 and 8 will take care of your computer. You can, of course, use the method I proposed through a batch file. Do not forget that registry defragmentation will have to be done separately. A couple more interesting points:

Step five:

Improve the stability of Windows 7 by gently cleaning, optimizing and defragmenting the system registry.
Software used: CCleaner, Defraggler

The Windows registry is a database for storing information about a computer's configuration, operating system settings, and program settings. The registry contains data that Windows and installed programs access hundreds of times per second during system startup and operation. A littered and fragmented registry can cause a serious slowdown in your computer.

Fragment of the system registry in the program RegEdit

OS Settings Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista

During the installation and removal of various programs, in system registry a variety of "garbage" may remain: program settings, links to shortcuts, incorrect file extensions, and much more.

Over time, a large number of such outdated registry settings can significantly slow down the operating system, lead to crashes and various problems, interfering with the normal functioning of Windows.

To launch the RegEdit utility, open the Start menu and type the word "regedit" in the search bar Select the "RegEdit" link in the search results.

For Windows 8: open search bar with keyboard shortcut + (Win+Q) Enter "Regedit", and select the item of the same name in the search results. To tweak and clean the registry you can manually edit its parameters using the built-in RegEdit program, but this option is only suitable for very experienced users, because the risk of deleting or changing important system parameters is extremely high.

Especially for those who do not have time to get acquainted with all the registry settings, many programs have been written that automatically find and correct erroneous and obsolete entries. We recommend using the systems already familiar to you from previous articles on system optimization, reliable and time-tested free programs CCleaner and Defraggler.

Cleaning the registry

The first stage of registry optimization is cleaning of various garbage. For these purposes, we use the best in our opinion program for cleaning the registry - CCleaner, which has proven itself in this field (read about where to download and how to install CCleaner and Defraggler in the first step of the guide: Cleaning and defragmenting the hard drive or just download c the official website of the program or from our website in one click). Then run the application with administrator rights, select the "Registry" tab and click on the "Scan for problems" button, as shown in the image:

After the search is complete, click on "Fix". The program will offer to save backup copies of the changes made, it is not necessary to do this, but, on the first use, we recommend, just in case, to save a copy of the registry. In the window that appears, click on "Fix marked" and confirm the selection. The program will automatically clean the registry from a variety of garbage that violates the integrity of the registry.

In order to prevent the occurrence of various problems in the future, We recommend that you clean your registry regularly.. Repeat this operation at least once a month and immediately after removing any software from the personal computer. After cleaning the registry, you can safely proceed to its defragmentation.

Registry defragmentation

Windows XP owners can use the free PageDefrag program to defragment the registry. You can download it on the official Microsoft Technet website: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx .Windows 7/8 and Vista registry is prone to fragmentation, due to which access to it is gradually slowing down. Over time, this leads to a slowdown in the system as a whole. Conventional defragmenters, unfortunately, cannot access registry files while the operating system is running, so you need to use specialized software for these purposes.

Fortunately, the Defraggler program, the capabilities of which we already used in the section Cleaning and defragmenting a hard drive, has the functionality we need. You can also download Defraggler on the developer's official resource. Since the registry can only be defragmented before the operating system boots, the program will do its work just before Windows starts. To do this, run Defraggler and enable the " Defragmenting System Files at Boot". We recommend that you install the program every time you start your PC, because after the first defragmentation, this process will take a few seconds and the registry will never be fragmented in the future.

After restarting the computer, just before starting the desktop, the following information will be displayed on the screen:

The duration of the program depends on the degree of fragmentation of the registry. As a rule, the first time the process can last quite a long time, but all subsequent ones - no more than one or two seconds. To disable registry defragmentation, simply run Defraggler and disable the option.

In the past material, we considered, now we will analyze, What is Registry Defragmentation Windows 7, 8, XP and what programs it can be done. The registry is where the settings for your entire OS are stored. It contains information on hardware, software, and user options. It is not one large file, but many small ones located in the system32 folder.

Unlike hard disk defragmentation, it is not possible to defragment the registry using standard Windows tools, so let's look at the list of programs and take a closer look at the most popular example.

What is Registry Defragmentation and Should You Do It?

Over time, many entries are added to it and removed from it. Whenever a user sets or or changes Windows settings, the changes are reflected and stored in the registry. As a result, many entries end up being junk, and the number of invalid keys grows. To remove junk records, many resort to.

Even after deleting invalid entries, empty spaces remain. Programs for defragmenting the Windows 7, 8, XP registry help patch these holes and optimize PC performance.

Registry defragmenters have become popular - though not as much as registry cleaners. Unlike cleaning, registry defragmentation can improve PC performance.

After defragmentation, you should not expect a real performance boost, and especially in Windows 7, 8. You need to be very careful in choosing a safe and reliable defragmenter program. Do not overuse registry defragmentation, do it no more than 1 time in 6 months, do not forget to create a system restore point or registry backup.

How to defragment the registry on Windows 7, 8, XP using programs

Free Windows Registry Defragmenter there is a huge number. Let me take a closer look at their list:

1. Auslogics Registry Defrag - using its example, we will consider the defragmentation process below. The program offers a nice interface and shows registry fragmentation as well as automatically creates a system restore point.
2. Free Registry Defrag will help compact and optimize the registry, remove spaces and unused space in order to improve system performance. It can be considered safe.
3. Registrar Registry Manager Lite is a free tool for system administrators and advanced users who need to work with the registry frequently. This tool offers a complete and secure solution for working with remote computers.
4. Registry Compressor - restores the registry with new files, thereby compressing it.
5. WinUtilities Registry Defrag - before starting the analysis, you will be informed about closing all other applications. You must do this because any changes made to the registry after defragmentation are followed by a restart of the PC.

In general, the procedure for defragmenting the Windows 7, 8, XP registry through the programs presented above is similar, so for an example of use, let's take the most popular Auslogics Registry Defrag application. You do not need, 8, but you need to do the following sequence of steps.

2. Run the program and familiarize yourself with its interface in English.

3. Click the Analyze button to evaluate the registry space to be defragmented.

4. After the analysis, make sure that the checkbox is on the system restore point option, and below select defrag now if you need to do defragmentation now (be sure to close all active windows and programs) and do Defrag on Next at the next start (shown in the screenshot below).

5. Let's choose defrag now as an example. Then click "yes" to start defragmenting the Windows registry. First, a restore point will be created, then the PC will reboot, and before starting the system, you will see a black screen with white text, reminiscent of cmd. Wait for the defragmentation to finish and after the desktop is fully loaded, you will see the status of the operation.

6. You can click on the icon at the bottom left after the house (second in order). In this tab, you can set automatic scheduled optimization. And finally, the last icon provides a collection of information about the errors found and a link from the Internet to a program to fix them.

note: sometimes Error 22 when defragmenting registry, this is most often caused by a conflict with anti-virus software. In this case, disable anti-virus protection or remove it (not recommended).

Now you know, what is registry defragmentation Windows7, 8, XP, whether it is necessary to do it and what software to use. You may be interested to know, due to a virus attack.

CompanyAuslogics Software Pty Ltdis located in Sydney, Australia, but has branches in Russia and Germany. She specializes in optimizing computers and offers interesting and effective programs for cleaning the system registry, defragmenting the hard drive, recovering accidentally deleted files and speeding up the system.

I have already talked about an interesting program of Australian developers. And today we’ll talk about how to defragment the Windows registry. And a smart program will help us with this Auslogics Registry Defrag. It is free for home use.

As you know, all settings of the Windows operating system are stored inside a single database called the registry. The registry is a complex and important part of the operating system. Programs on your computer access the registry hundreds of times per second. A large number of applications also store their configuration in the registry. The more programs installed in Windows, the more settings they have to store. As a result, the registry file grows in size. But when removing applications and erasing some branches of the registry, the file does not physically decrease, holes gape in it, unused fragments. You probably already know that registry fragmentation slows down the system. But did you know that while the computer is running, the registry is fully loaded into RAM. As you know, there is never a lot of memory, and therefore, the smaller the registry file, the less RAM it will use, and the more it will be left for other applications.

Auslogics Registry Defrag defragments and compresses the Windows registry. The program actually rewrites the registry again, eliminating empty data blocks and correcting structural defects. The result is a compact and well-organized registry that consumes fewer system resources and takes less time to process application and operating system requests.

You can download the Auslogics Registry Defrag program from the official Auslogics website (5 Mb). During installation, in order not to litter in the browser, I recommend unchecking these boxes:

The Ask.com toolbar is a rather nasty thing that interferes with using the browser: 0).

After installation necessarily restart your computer. After loading close all programs, which have tray icons (near the clock). Disable your antivirus too. Ideally, no third-party programs during registry defragmentation should not be running. This is because defragmentation will take place after Windows restarts, and it makes no sense to leave programs open if they can no longer be accessed. And this is true. As soon as the analysis of the registry begins, the mouse pointer cannot escape from the cell of the application's working window. Keyboard shortcuts don't work either. It is not possible to switch to another task.

Run Auslogics Registry Defrag. If the program is downloaded to English language:

Then by clicking on Setting-Language Russify it by selecting Russian in the drop-down menu

I hope that there will be no problems and the Russian-language interface will open before you. On the start page, you can get acquainted with the stages of the defragmentation process.

We press the button Analysis, We are waiting for the completion of the registry analysis. During registry analysis, the program searches for empty data blocks to determine the degree of registry fragmentation.

After the analysis is completed, then run defragmentation:

Select the first item and after restarting the computer, a black screen with white text will appear:

After that, after some time, the computer will restart again, we will get to the Desktop with a report window:

That's all, the files in which the registry itself is located have been defragmented, as well as the data inside them. Incidentally, this is the only the fastest way to defragment registry files.

We close the program. But, if you wish, you can see a detailed report before that:

Courtesy of glashkoff.com

PS. I was describing the latest version of Auslogics Registry Defrag at the time of writing, but the software Auslogics Software constantly updated and latest versions, of course, may differ from those described in the article.

However, the option under consideration can always be found in the archive of the developer's website.

In my opinion Auslogics Registry Defrag — Safe Windows Registry Defragmenter, which improves computer performance by optimizing the structure of the registry. So take advantage of your health

Here is a little tip for you to install and use the Auslogics Registry Defrag program

And a little video about the work of the program: