PC Check-It for Windows

If you've been computing for a while, you've probably encountered Registry cleaners, a class of software that promises to boost your system's performance and security by searching out and eliminating junk and clutter. Used carelessly, however, these programs can wreak havoc by deleting critical files and registry entries.

Registryproductreviews.com is a Web site that reviews Registry cleaners; it claims no product affiliations. However, it does offer one product of its own, PC-CheckIt, a free Registry diagnosis and scanning tool. It differentiates itself from the crowded field of Registry cleaners and editors by merely offering to help you diagnose and solve problems with your Windows Registry, not to perform ad hoc surgery. But while it does a pretty good job of explaining common Registry issues, you'll quickly find that it recommends using a Registry cleaner for virtually every problem, and--surprise!--it just happens to have a handy link to a free scanner offered by the one Registry cleaning product the Web site recommends. Of course, to actually make the changes the scanner urges you to, you'll have to pony up $30 for the full software.

PC-CheckIt has a text-heavy interface that more closely resembles a Web page than a Windows program, though the emphasis on text is in keeping with the software's stated goal of explaining everything in plain English. It's useful for pointing you in the right direction if you're having PC woes, though there are Web sites that do as much. In the end, though, PC-CheckIt is just trying to sell you software.