Instead, Advanced Registry Tracer takes before and after snapshots so you know what’s been changed following software/hardware installation. It’s a powerful tool, comparing whole Registries rather than just monitoring access and filtering the results as many tools do.

But it isn’t cheap and it isn’t intuitive. If all you’re interested in is comprehensive uninstallation of software, try Your Uninstaller Pro ( RegSeeker also stands out because it’s the only totally free tool here. #PC TOOLS REGISTRY MECHANIC WINDOW 10 PRO# RegSeeker lets you tweak the Registry, directly manipulate startup entries, change colour schemes and manage bookmarks. You can search the Registry, quickly list all installed apps or just those with invalid add/remove entries.

But, sadly, the cleaning tool, while quick, isn’t as in-depth as the competition, turning up a second-worst result of 426 errors. The only repair option is an automatic fix too – a surprising lack of flexibility given the application as a whole. Uniblue Registry Booster is a new entrant to the market. We appreciated the attempt to explain areas of the Registry to be scanned in plain English, but this wasn’t continued into the results section, where brief and often confusing descriptions abound. The same disappointment was experienced with the scan itself, which was the slowest on test despite the “deeper scan” promises of its much-vaunted Advanced Error Detection technology, it revealed only 396 errors – the lowest we saw. It comes across as a work-in-progress rather than a commercial product costing £20. PC Tools is best known for its anti-spyware software, but its Registry Mechanic is no slouch either. In all but scanning time that is, taking nearly as long as Uniblue. #PC TOOLS REGISTRY MECHANIC WINDOW 10 PRO#.

Registry mechanic for windows 10