The software is shipping in a normal box and also available for download. If you don't have a specific reason to get the tangible CD, save some money and download it — there is a $10 USD difference between the two.

Installation was a breeze: click the file, watch the bar. Pretty basic. We opted for the downloadable copy but we're sure that the CD isn't too different.

The interface isn't very innovative, rather, it's very usable. Everything is visibleup front and you don't have to scan around too much to find what you're after. The system uses tabs to show you where the System Overview, Registry Scan, Settings, and Restore controls are.The starting point is at the System Overview where a lot of data is presented such as the last scan and it's yields, the date and time of the last registry defrag and restore point. Running totals are also kept at the bottom for the identified invalid registry entries and the fixed registry errors to the present time.

In the area of settings there aren't that many to deal with.Simple choices such as a backup warning and a system tray minimization as well as starting when Windows boots and automatically scanning when the application is launched.

Next up is the crux of the application: Registry Scan. At this stage the user is presented with check boxes to designate which items the program should scan the registry for and report. Registry Booster will run through your registry looking for over 13 types of errors. The time that it takes to run through a registry will depend on the computer (both hardware and software) but a standard AMD64 3500+ rig took between 9.8s and 15s. The more errors/issues Registry Booster locates, generally, the more time the scan will take. Once the scan is complete the user can see some information about the errors that were found as well as the option to choose which items are fixed.

Toying with the Windows registry is risky business. Manual editing certainly isn't suggested and even applications—dare we say it—can goof something up. Even when the by-the-book action is taken the results may not be what were expected. Other unknown factors, such as a different error or setting, can cause undesirable side-effects when a relating part of the registry is changed. Uniblue took a stand against this and integrated a backup/restore feature. This way if the changes that were made cause other errors, the user can restore to a previous state, re-scan, start filtering through the changes to locate the culprit(s), and de-select the problematic fix. A lot of programs that change things have backup features but either we forget it is there or right after the program has finished making changes we notice the feature again. Uniblue reminds the user to create a restore point before any changes are made. Most of the time reminders get annoying but in this case we think they're acceptable due to the risk involved. There is also a small reminder that shows up when backups are occupying a certain amount of space. It asks if you'd like to remove the oldest backup to conserve space.

Finally, a great additional ability: the Registry Defrag. Everyone knows that Windows needs defragmenting every so often. It's a process that users should go through. Defragmenting helps to sort out data and place it where instead of being fragmented (occupying multiple spaces) they're moved into a single space which increases your computers efficiency and performance. Fragmentation occurs through the deletion and addition of files and use of data on the disks. Empty spaces that are left behind by deletion fill in at random as new files are created. Attempting to put the largest possible amount of data in one slot, when it is full the PC takes the left over data and tries to do the same thing; this continues until all of the data has been stored. Data is constantly changing in the registry, especially when programs are installed and removed. With all this moving things get messy, similar to the hard drive situation.

A quote from Uniblue elaborates a little further on the defragging process:

Defragging your registry is also critical for the smooth and stable running of your computer. Fragmentation is a serious problem and occurs as application processes modify the registry continually and incrementally. The sizes of your registry files will eventually exceed the Registry Size Limits imposed by Windows causing any subsequent modifications by the applications to fail.

The benefits of a good registry defrag are apparent; defragmentation combined with repairs should yield great results—performance, speed, and stability—to name a few.

After running through some registry repairs, we rebooted and were scanning around for previous errors that would pop up. One of the problems was with an application closing. Whenever we closed the application and shut down the computer it would always ask us if we wanted to end that process. This application should've ended when we closed it originally. That is just one example of some little glitch that we were hoping Registry Booster might have an answer for. Surely enough, after rebooting from the repairs and spending some hours coding and gaming, we didn't get this error again. After trying to reproduce the error multiple times, we still weren't able to get it to reappear. Other little issues were cleaned up, such as file extension associations. We ran the repair scan multiple times as we found out that the first time around may leave behind an error or two.

The Registry Defrag is a great feature and something we've never come across before. After running through the short process, you're prompted to restart your computer. We suggest doing it right then versus waiting and doing it later so prepare to reboot beforehand. Upon restart, boot time was decreased and overall the computer felt faster. It would be neat to have an analyze button that would provide more information about the current state of your registry and diagnose whether or not you should defrag it. However, with the minimal time that it takes to run the defrag function itself, we cannot complain too much. If we weren't sure whether we should defrag or not, we'd just go ahead and defrag; we'll sacrifice a few extra seconds (which would probably be the amount of time that it'd take to analyze the registry anyways) for lower boots and improved stability.

More Screenshots

Final Thoughts
Plain and simple: Registry Booster has outperformed our expectations. Not only does it clean-up and rearrange your registry for optimal performance, it does so very quickly. Minimal waiting time is involved here—unlike anti-virus scans. Hopefully Uniblue continues to push Registry Booster to do more by releasing patches and updates. Short processing time, fair price (the download is a better deal than the boxed version), simple to use, and noticeable improvements all come together in this software. Registry Booster is one of the best utilities of the year; it going to be a challenge to put something the Cons column. With Registry Booster in your system, your next formatting run may be further away than you think. Uniblue Registry Booster is now officially Moditory Approved and is also presented with our Editors Choice Award.

As with other prevention utilities, running registry defrag and repair at least once a month is suggested. Reading through the Help files will help you gain a better understanding of what is going on behind the scenes and obviously how to use the program. Don't forget to download the trial version first. It only lets you fix 15 errors but you will get a better feel for the program before purchasing it.

Thanks goes to Uniblue for making this review possible.