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Features
Registry Reviver has a whole lot of features that go beyond the usual registry fixing and defragmentation. Having said that, it’s perhaps important to first understand the always useful startup manager, where all your computer’s installed programs are displayed – including third party ones – and can be managed easily. There’s also a rarely-seen exclusion list, to which you can add as many items as you wish to avoid deleting any critical files that, in doing so, would become a menace to your computer’s life. And in addition to being able to schedule scans, it’s also possible to specify what the next scan should target, such as application paths, uninstall entries, shared DLLs, and much more. This choice will obviously dictate the amount of time it will take for the scan to complete and the level of impact on your computer. The repair functions also work remarkably well and have the same level of customization as scanning, with the ultimate decision of what to clean being totally up to you.
Scanning
As mentioned, with scanning it is possible to choose specific items or opt instead for a full analysis of your computer, so for testing purposes we made no changes to the default scanning patterns and let the program work it out for itself. With this in mind and with all the options turned on, Registry Reviver took approximately four minutes to find 834 errors, which is an average result. However, curiously there is still another option that is left out by default: the so-called deep scan. The name gives it away really, and the reason why the company chose to turn it off by default is due to the huge amount of time and computer resources such a scan can consume, so it is safe to say that our expectations were not very high when we turned it on. But to our surprise, Registry Reviver actually took less time to find many more issues on our testing computer, coming in at three minutes that turned out over 8,600 issues.
More than that even, this registry cleaner was also a pleasant revelation in terms of performance, since neither the default nor the deep scans strained our computer too much. Although there was a visible CPU use increase, this was never enough to make any other background tasks impossible while the scans were running, a fact that is quite rare in most similar products these days.
Repairing
But if you think scanning was a breeze just wait until you find out about the repair function – the other vital aspect of registry cleaners. First things first: this is where Registry Reviver’s free access ends, since you’ll need a subscription in order to clean more than 25 errors – the amount that the company allows you to wipe for free.
After scanning you’re taken to the threat log, where you’ll discover not only the details and severity of each error category but a brief explanation of every single threat too, detailing why it was listed (if it is an empty key file, a broken DLL, key files that don’t exist,…). From here you can choose what you want to delete, either an entire error category – that will clear all the discovered issues within a certain type of error – or specific issues selected manually by yourself.
This, combined with the aforementioned exclusion list, ensures a safe registry cleaning and PC optimization and it’s one of the best features of this product. Furthermore, there’s an option to create a restore point before repairing, which we also salute and recommend to always keep turned on so it is possible to go back to previous configurations at any time.
Pricing
If you want to test Registry Reviver then simply download and use the software for free. The only limit in this regard is in the tool’s error repairing since you can’t remove any more than 25 issues for free, but other than that the entire set of tools are free to use for an unlimited amount of time.
Usually computer programs like these that allow a great deal of freedom always come with a catch, and that’s typically the costs. However, Registry Reviver’s surprises just keep on coming and its pricing is surely one of the best out there. The software can be yours for only $29.99 per year ($2.49 per month), which is honestly one of the best deals we’ve seen when it comes to registry cleaners. In addition to this awesome pricing, you can add an upgrade to PC Reviver – another one of ReviverSoft’s tools – and extend your computer optimization options for only $5.00 more.
It’s possible to cancel the service at any time, and the company also grants a 30-day money back guarantee. Payment methods include credit/debit cards and PayPal.
Customer Service
Sadly there are areas where Registry Reviver suffers, such as in its customer service offering, which is rather short on options. The reason for this is not because ReviverSoft is unable to solve your problems, but because it relies on the FAQ and forum pages too much – which are admittedly pretty useful – providing its clients only one sole alternative: email. There are Facebook, Twitter and Google+ profiles too, but these are also not an alternative since they are outdated and show no signs that questions are answered there. Nonetheless, it is possible to contact support directly from the issue log section in the Registry Reviver client, but once again this option is limited to a ticket submission form too.
Bottom Line
Although Registry Reviver is still not recognized as one of the top brands in the market, it is surely among the one of the best pieces of registry cleaning software we’ve tested. Yes, you could argue that ReviverSoft is one of those companies that opts for developing different tools for specific purposes and because of that Registry Reviver is not as ‘fancy’ as a lot of its competition because it leaves out a lot of superfluous extras. However, from an average user’s point of view, it is certainly one of the best alternatives since it combines all the required functions of such software into a single program: registry cleaning and defragmentation; safe error repairing thanks to an exclusion list and restore points; a startup manager; and a scan scheduler. There’s only one version of the product and no features are ever blocked or limited to only top-tier plans, making this software one of the best bargains we’ve ever seen.
Last but not least, we never experienced a single performance issue when testing the software and, even when running the deep scan, our computer was still quickly reacting to other heavy tasks we were performing in the background, which is something that not a lot of registry cleaners can ensure. With that said, apart from the short range of customer support options, there’s very little criticism to point at.
Positives
- Easy to use
- Stable scans
- Safe repairs (restore point, exclusion list,…)
- Single version with all the features
- Money back guarantee/free trial/free version
Negatives
- Short on customer support options
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David Thompson says
Whatever real or false reviewers say the fact is that my PC ran much faster once I uninstalled what I consider this useless program.