Sponsored: Run Cleaner With Registry Mechanic 9.0

Registry Mechanic in Action

To get started with Registry Mechanic and see if you think it might be right for your system, head here and follow the installation instructions. The process is all very straightforward. Just know up front that the evaluation version you download for free will only repair the first six sections of the twelve sections of Windows that the software analyzes. As you might expect, most detected problems fall in the latter six.

For example, we installed Registry Mechanic 9 on a heavily used Windows 7 64-bit system loaded with dozens of apps and over six months of routine installations and uninstallations. Our first run with the trialware version of Registry Mechanic detected 306 issues in just one minute. Over 250 of these occurred in the last two scan sections, Custom Controls and Deep Scan. A click of the Repair button brought up a screen offering to let us Purchase Now or Continue with repairs.

Continuing resulted in 15 items being repaired, but that left us with the feeling of having had a teeth cleaning while knowing that we really needed a root canal. So off we went to PC Tools’s shopping cart and paid the $29.95 for a license and complete functionality. One license actually covers three systems for one year, bringing the cost for each to under $10. As of this writing, PC Tools is offering 20% off on a two-year upgrade for $47.92. You can order the program on CD for $9.95 (shipping included), but if you’re interested in this, know that we found Registry Mechanic 9 on disc for $22.24 at Amazon.com, and the package is eligible for free shipping if you’re an Amazon Prime member.

We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves, though. One of the first things you’ll notice about Registry Mechanic is that the graphical interface looks like it was pulled straight from the days of Windows XP. Truth be told, there are many times when we prefer this look. After all, if the application is supposed to be improving system performance, shouldn’t it have the least impact possible on the graphics processor and other components?

At the very top of the application, you’ll see links for Smart Update and Help. Smart Update simply polls the PC Tools servers and downloads any available Registry Mechanic patches or upgrades. The Help link spawns a new window containing the Registry Mechanic Quick Start Guide.

In the bar running down the left side of the UI, you’ll see five links: Optimize, Monitor, Windows Tools, HelpCenter, and Options. Let’s quickly deal with these individually so you can see that there’s more to Registry Mechanic than just registry cleaning.

  • DavC
    and how much have they paid you to do this article?

    surly some benchmarks are in order... i'm not expecting it to do miricles, but if it could shave a second off boot up times I would like to know.

    have you compared it to any other registry cleaners?

    for me the only thing i'll use is CCleaner. been using it for years and it's never gave me any issues, and its free. I've tried several others in the past and a couple have left me with unworking programs, or deleted too many registry keys.
    Reply
  • I'll second that ... what's the point of running this article if you're not going to bother to run a before and after performance figures.

    If a registry cleaner removes unused items from the Registry, then it's not going to speed things up for me ... it'll just save me a couple of bytes of disk space, that's all!!!
    Reply
  • ...

    This really disappointed me. I knew this site has sponsors and adds and all that, but that you would make an article about it without benchmarks? The absolute LEAST you could do would be to compare it with a control group. However, it would also be a bad article without comparison to different products and software.
    Reply
  • PC Tools software have always been geared more toward marketing than to actual usefulness and features.
    There are many packages out there miles ahead of PCTools products that cost the same and provide far more.
    Reply
  • djg9205
    This is just sad...these sponsored articles are getting out of control.

    Tom's is a TRUSTED name in tech, and these articles only serve to destroy that trust. I realize that currently all sponsored articles begin with the "Sponsored: ..." header and can easily be avoided, but that's not the point. If Tom's is willing to start writing sponsored articles based on on crappy, overpriced products just to make some quick money, I'm worried as to what will come next. Soon, maybe the "Sponsored..." header will go away and no one will know anymore what to believe and what not to. Maybe one day a company will pay you enough money to just slyly start incorporating positive things about their product in all articles. I'm not saying it WILL happen, but as a long time reader of Tom's, it worries me.

    Don't destroy the trust you've created.
    Reply
  • spartanii
    I use PC tools spyware doctor and Ive been satisfied with its performance. The only other software I'ved was Norton which was a system hog so I changed to PC tools. If PC tools included this with spyware doctor that would be nice because I'm not willing to pay for another system repair program, 1 is enough. Oh and you will burn for this sponsored article, Kidding, just dont make it a habit.
    Reply