Several years ago I purchased a laptop (Acer Aspire 3000, w. Win XP Pro) for my wife. After she passed away, I started using her laptop as it was much faster than my old Midwest Micro w. Win-95. Now the laptop has become slower and slower (sound familiar ?). More recently I've inherited a Dell Dimension 2400 Series w. Win XP-Home Ed. This machine was much faster than the slowed-down laptop so I've been using it. Now the Dell has slowed to the point that makes me wait and wait and wait to get anything done.
In searching for help I ran across a website offering a Registry Cleaner that was assured to restore the original speed. It was UniBlue's Registry Booster, and running the free scan it found 88 registry errors. While it "cleaned" out 15 of these for free I had to pay $30 to obtain the registered version to remove the remaining 73 errors. The software was supposed to be partnered with Microsoft so I assumed that it was OK and safe to run, although I had been warned over and over to not mess around with the registry. In hopes of regaining the speed I bought the full version and, sure enough, it cleaned out the remaining 73 errors. However, upon checking, I discovered that the machine ran slower than ever!!! I went back to UniBlue and was told that I needed to purchase their "Speed Up My PC" software to regain the original speed - for another $30. Then I saw that it was advisable to also purchase their "Power Suite" and, as I was an owner of their Registry Booster, I was offered a "special price" of $40.
My ISP provides Norton's Security Suite free and upon using that to check the registry it discovered an additional 20 errors. Supposedly, it "fixed" these, but the machine still ran s-l-o-w.
Further checking found a website offering a "free" package of "tips" said to restore speed of PCs. It's the site of a Kris Mainieri who describes him self as a "regular dude" who has a hobby of optimizing the speed of PCs. His product is called the "PCSecretFormula" and they do have a website of that name. It appears to not be "free", but he offers it at a bargain price of about $100, which is essentially the same as UniBlue's package for their three products ($30 + $30 + $40). Mainieri says that "so-called" Registry Cleaners are worthless and that they are marketed only to get their hands into our wallets, and that the Registry itself is not the cause of our PCs slowing down. He further says that his Secret Formula is putting PC repair outfits "out of business". A lot of Mainiers's advice comes via audio/video clips, but I have great trouble understanding his diction.
As we already know the Internet is filled with advertisements for Registry Cleaners, most of which purport to increase the speed of PCs. There are, in fact, so many that it's impossible for novices like me to understand what's what with all this verbiage. Many of us have to rely on the experts to advise us - experts like those at FreePCTech as well as others who offer their expertise on site like this.
My next job is to try to undue whatever has been caused by my installing UniBlue's Registry Booster, and then to possibly obtain my $30 back (as they offer). I'll find that out shortly.
In the meantime if anyone is familiar with this PCSecretFormula I, and perhaps others, would like to know I'm trying to be cautious where the registry is concerned. Any other suggestions about recovering from this common slow-down problem would be appreciated. I know that I could just wipe everything off, but I'd hate to lose what stuff I've already collected and just going through all of it would be a problem in itself.
I apologize for this lengthy epistle, but I do need help! I'm sure that there are others who would benefit from suggestions in this area.
Doc (W4ITJ)
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