registry

The federal government and four states are suing satellite television provider Dish Network for violating laws regarding the national Do Not Call registry.

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday said Dish Network has been calling consumers on the Do Not Call list, either directly or through marketing dealers working on its behalf, to promote its services since 2003.

The agency also said the company's "robocalls," or automated messages, are in violation of the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule. The agency's complaint was filed jointly with attorneys general from California, Illinois, Ohio, and North Carolina.

"Because a … Read more

Anyone in need of amping up desktop security will find this application both useful and easy to use.

WinLock Professional has a clean and functional interface that is easy to understand. The program works well to limit access to certain areas of the computer, but a few of the security measures could be bypassed by savvy users. On the first use, users can easily set up a password to keep others from changing settings, decide when the program will run, and how it will log activity. Other features include the capability to lock users out of vital areas, such as … Read more

It requires very little skill to use this system cleanup tool, but that's not necessarily a good thing when you're dealing with the Registry. Ashampoo Magical Optimizer is so easy to use because it removes most of the control from the user.

The colorful interface gives you the option of automatic or manual optimization. What you won't find is a way to back up your files beforehand. This safety net is a standard feature for most Registry cleaners, and one we want in place before any files get deleted. You can select the kinds of files you … Read more

Activ for Vista is a free program that claims to monitor your system's processes, DLLs, and Registry. Thanks to an unintuitive user interface and lack of user guidance, we never got very far with this program.

The user interface is too plain and too vague. There are three check boxes on the left side of the small window for settings: Process Start/Stop, DLL (Image) Load, and Registry. On the right side of the window are the file creation options. Not knowing where to go next, we checked off our monitor settings and clicked the Apply button. Nothing happened. … Read more

As simple and fast as an electric can opener, WinASO Registry Optimizer offers a hassle-free system tuneup. It finds errors related to your Registry, custom controls, shortcuts, drivers, fonts, shared programs, and configuration files. We were pleased to find you can sort its search results--a useful feature when dealing with long lists. Before deleting found entries, the program suggests backing them up in case something goes wrong.

It also provides a simple tool for cleaning traces left by various applications, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, and ICQ. WinASO doesn't slow system performance when scanning in the background, though the … Read more

This handy all-in-one optimizing utility offers more than advertised, and it does it quickly and with little effort.

Comodo Registry Cleaner has a well-designed interface with simple, functional buttons to lead the user in the right direction every time. While it only promises to scan and clean your Registry, there's so much more to this freeware utility. When the program opens, it automatically displays some basic system information about your computer, and it also shows a Tip of the Day without the usual pesky pop-up box. Simply hit the scan button, and wait for the results. More advanced users … Read more

Despite the constant nag screen each time a command is selected, this utility comes packed with options for keeping your system in check. If offers users a file and registry cleaner, along with tools for tweaking your user interface and network.

Users will appreciate WinTools.net Ultimate Edition's easy to navigate interface. With straightforward command buttons running along the left side of the window, you'll be off and running in no time. The Scan Files and Scan Reg buttons quickly pulled up questionable files, and thanks to the full-use trial, we were able to just as quickly remove … Read more

PC Fixer launches an attractive, well-designed interface that's easy to navigate. The functional design complements its ease of use. The feature list is adequate for most users, although experienced techies will prefer a more robust toolbox with more detail provided by its analysis.

Still, this free optimizer package performed well in our tests. It responded quickly, and we liked that it prioritized "ailments" needing repair when it scanned the Registry. We also liked that we could select categories for tweaking, such as IE, individual apps, Startup, Performance, and Service. And, should your changes have a bad outcome, … Read more

RegSweep launches a nicely designed, user-friendly interface that melds colors, text, and buttons in a nice package. Determining how to direct this free app to analyze your system is very simple. However, our satisfaction level with this download is low.

RegSweep completed a system scan for ActiveX, invalid shortcuts, orphaned start-up items, and similar stray bits within 60 seconds and identified 343 problems. Great! We were all ready to clean up these loose ends to make our system zoom like the precision instrument we dream it could be. Unfortunately, RegSweep's demo download is just a tease; all its repair … Read more