This section contains critical Windows shell folder entries, which include folders such as My Documents, Favorites, Profiles, etc.

Registry Mechanic repairs Windows shell folder entries that do not or no longer exist at the locations specified in the registry.

This section contains the locations of software applications installed on the system. These locations are registered in the registry during application installation.

Registry Mechanic repairs the registry entries which reference software applications that do not exist or are no longer present at their specified locations.

This section contains the list of fonts that are registered in the fonts folder of the Windows operating system.

Default fonts folder locations are:

Windows 95 / 98 / Me / XP - C:\Windows\Fonts

Windows NT 4.0 / 2000 - C:\WINNT\Fonts

Registry Mechanic repairs the registry entries which reference fonts that do not or no longer exist in the Windows fonts folder.

The Windows standard states that applications should register their help files in this section of the registry.

Registry Mechanic repairs the registry entries which reference help files that do not or no longer exist in their specified locations.

This section contains the list of information associated with shared control files that are registered on the system.

Registry Mechanic repairs the registry entries which reference shared control files that do not or no longer exist on the hard drive.

Windows registers items that are set to run at Windows startup in this section of the registry. These registry entries contain references to the locations of these items on the hard drive.

To view the items that are set to run when Windows 98 / Me / XP starts up, click on Start -> Run -> type "msconfig" -> OK. When the System Configuration Utility displays, select the Startup tab to display the list of Startup Items.

Registry Mechanic repairs Startup Items in the registry that do not or no longer exist at their specified locations on the hard drive.

Software can be cleanly uninstalled using the standard Windows 'Add or Remove Programs' applet, which can be accessed from the Windows Control Panel.

If software removal was not conducted via the 'Add or Remove Programs' facility (for example, if a program was removed from the system by deleting the actual program installation folder through Windows Explorer), the link to the uninstallation file will remain in the 'Add or Remove Programs' list.

When this option is selected, Registry Mechanic removes these orphaned entries in the 'Add or Remove Programs' list.

This section contains the list of information associated with virtual drivers that are registered on the system.

Registry Mechanic repairs the registry entries which reference virtual drivers that do not or no longer exist on the hard drive.

This section contains the list of file extension that are usually registered in the registry during application installation.

Registry Mechanic repairs Windows file extension that are no longer associated with applications installed on your system. These problems can occur when the uninstaller of the application removes the program files from the hard drive, but does not remove the associated file extensions from the Registry.

When applications are installed, they register their custom control file locations as new entries in this section of the registry.

Registry Mechanic scans through the registered custom controls in the registry and repairs invalid registry entries which point to files that are no longer present on the hard drive.

The Deep Scan section covers areas of the registry not covered by the above-mentioned sections.

When this section is scanned, Registry Mechanic utilizes an advanced 'drill-down' algorithm to identify problems nested deep in the registry.

When a registry scan is conducted, Registry Mechanic scans all selected locations in the Options -> Shortcut Settings screen and removes orphaned shortcuts from the hard drive.