One of the many areas of your operating system that can fall foul of the test of time is the Windows registry, which seems to get itself into a right old state no matter how carefully you install, uninstall and maintain software.

It's true that the registry can get convoluted and can accumulate dozens of errors in a short space of time, though whether or not this state has an openly adverse effect on an operating system is still open to debate.

For those users who seek to keep their PC clean and in good condition, a package like RegistryBooster 2 will certainly help. What's more, you can test the efficiency of the software at diagnosing your system by performing a free scan from the Registry Booster site before you buy.

Whether you're working with the trial or have upgraded to the full version, installation is fast and straightforward, after which point you'll access and control RegistryBooster from an icon in your System Tray. From the main interface you'll see the current state of your registry with a handy colour-changing dial, and you can start a scan straight away to see if it contains any errors.

You can choose what types of problems - such as invalid ActiveX controls, file extensions or system drivers - to search for, and when the scan is complete you choose which errors you want to fix. We're not sure many users would want to omit any of these options during either the scanning or fixing process, but the degree of control is there if you need it.

If any corrections to the registry cause unexpected problems, you will find the option to restore to a previous state, and you're prompted to perform a full registry backup after your first scan to prepare for this. In addition to basic scanning and restore options, you'll find detailed logs of previous scans and an ignore list, into which you can place registry entries you'd like to omit from future scans.

Unfortunately there are no options for either smart scheduling or the ability to set up scans at specific times. You can set the software to scan immediately when Windows starts, but since results often require a reboot this can become frustrating.

In truth there's not really a lot to the software. While this fact does result in a small system footprint and little impact on system resources, we'd expect a bit more for the money. Scans were fast and efficient enough, though, and we did notice a small improvement in performance after using the software, notably in a slightly shorter start-up time.

RegistryBooster 2 is quite expensive for what it does, but if you're concerned about the state of the Windows registry, you'll find it to be fast, straightforward to use and light on resources.