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Price: £16 ($29.99)
Supplier: AMUST
Web:
www.amustsoft.com
System requirements: Pentium Processor;
Windows 2000, XP, 2003 server; Internet Explorer 5.5 or later: 5MB
Free Disk Space; 128MB RAM.
When it comes to cleaning the Windows
registry, my usual first response is to suggest manual cleaning,
rather than relying upon third party software to do the job for you.
There has always been a reason why I have recommended manual
cleaning, and that is because you have more control over what keys
are actually deleted.
Most software based registry cleaners
simply scan the registry hives, inform the user of, say, 500 or so
problems, and then quickly proceeding to suggest deleting every
marked problem. Little does the gullible user realise that out of
the 500 suggested entries marked for deletion 200-300 may simple be
false positives – something the software thinks is a problem, but,
in fact, isn’t, and to delete the item(s) could result in a system
crash.
Smarter than Average
AMUST Registry Cleaner works rather
differently, in that it uses SmartScan technology. If SmartScan is
unsure about a particular registry entry it re-scans the registry to
find out if the entry is actually valid and important before marking
the registry entry for deletion. This effectively eliminates the
risk of important registry keys being erased and the registry
becoming compromised.
Start as you mean to go
on
AMUST Registry Cleaner has a smart, clean
interface and is really simple to use. All that is required is that
the user presses the Express Scan button and AMUST will do the rest.
From here on AMUST scans and fixes registry entries in the following
categories.
1. Component subsystem
2. Internet Explorer
3. Shared Components
4. Control Panel
5. Microsoft Office
6. System and User MRU List
7. Associations
Scanning progress is monitored by seven
progress bars, enabling the user to instantly see how the scan is
progressing.
Fig 1: AMUST Scanning
progress
Taking to Task
The left hand pane of the Registry Cleaner
Window contains menu items such as Tasks – Scan & Fix, Report &
Undo: Utilities – Backup, Compact: and Options – Schedule, and
Settings. These are relatively straightforward in respect of the
actions they undertake. Scan & Fix, of course, is the default option
when you first open AMUST. However, the most important option to
consider, before even considering Scanning & Fixing your registry is
that of Backup.
Backup
Backing up the registry is ‘the’ most
important task prior to making changes to registry entries. After
all, if you make a mistake and you haven’t got a backup then your
system can easily fail to boot correctly.
While AMUST does contain an option to
backup the registry, it doesn’t actually encourage the user to
perform regular backups prior to performing remedial work on the
registry. Rather than having the option to backup the registry as a
separate button, it would be more preferable for AMUST to have
incorporated an automatic backup option ‘prior’ to the application
making changes to the registry. I suppose the one consolation is
that a backup can be scheduled, from the schedule option window, for
a specific time and day, but that is not the same as having an
automatic backup option every time you run the Scan & Fix.
Fig 2: Creating a manual
backup is quick and easy
Small is Good
As the registry is the heart of the
operating system it is accessed every time you use your PC.
Consequently, as you add and remove applications, change hardware,
and generally tinker with your PCs settings, the registry can begin
to become quite bloated. Obviously, as one uses the AMUST registry
cleaner gaps will, inevitably, appear in the registry listing. Even
though the ‘key’ has been deleted the vacant space still takes up
room. A simple analogy would be to think of a list of items written
on paper. Now cross out all the things you think don’t need. The
list is just the same length, even though you don’t want as many
items. To reduce the amount of space the list occupies on the paper,
therefore, would require the re-writing of the list on another
sheet. In the case of the registry, however, the vacant space can be
grabbed back by simply compacting the registry, thus removing all of
the vacant space and making the registry somewhat smaller and
faster. How small, of course, is dependent upon how much detritus is
removed in the first place.
Fig 3: Compacting helps
keep the registry in shape
A Time For Everything
Keeping the registry in trim can be a
chore, however, AMUST’s scheduling option enables you to set up an
automatic Scan, Backup, or Compact on a regular basis, be it Daily,
Weekly or Monthly; there is even an option to schedule the scan for
when your PC first boots up.
Fig 4: Scheduling tasks
such as Scan or Backup can save time
Undo
After cleaning the registry your system
should run much better. However, there may be times when things just
don’t run according to your expectations. You may, therefore, feel
that the registry clean has made things worse rather than better. In
this instance AMUST has a simple remedy, Undo. To reverse anything
that AMUST has done to the registry all you have to do is press the
Report & Undo button and then select the session to undo. Your
registry will then be returned to the state it was prior to you
using AMUST.
Verdict
AMUST Registry Cleaner is different from
other registry cleaners in that it uses SmartScan to determine
whether a registry key should be deleted or not. Although this
method doesn’t completely eliminate false positives, it certainly
does reduce them, making AMUST a far more reliable registry cleaner.
If it has a downside, it is the fact that it doesn’t create a backup
of your registry during the normal scan and fix process. This is
disappointing, particularly if you simply enable the ‘automatically
fix all issues’ option. Without the safety net of a backup each time
AMUST is run you could be getting yourself into deep water.
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Ease of Use: 10.0
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Features: 10.0
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Value for Money: 10.0
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Overall: 10.0
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