So my second computer is about 5 years old, and it's starting to be slowed noticeably by "Windows rot." A lot of it probably has to do with leftover garbage in the registry from the dozens and dozens of programs that have been installed and uninstalled over the life of that machine, but I am really not well versed on how to clean up the registry.
I know re-installing Windows would probably solve most of those problems easily, but I don't want to do that because I've got so much stuff I don't want to lose. I also don't want to just go in there and start messing with the registry, or download a program that I'm less than sure about to do it for me, because I know that can really mess things up if you do it wrong. Basically, I'm just looking for any recommendations from someone who has successfully done this before.
I know re-installing Windows would probably solve most of those problems easily, but I don't want to do that because I've got so much stuff I don't want to lose. I also don't want to just go in there and start messing with the registry, or download a program that I'm less than sure about to do it for me, because I know that can really mess things up if you do it wrong. Basically, I'm just looking for any recommendations from someone who has successfully done this before.