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Available
since 2005, Error Doctor
is an extremely popular registry cleaner,
with an estimated seven million people
having downloaded it in the past three
years. Reading through various reviews it
seems that Error Doctor is one of the
best registry cleaners available, but
rather than just believe the reviews of
others we felt that it was up to us to
test itself.
Our
Overall Score – 85%
The Details of Error Doctor
• Software Designer
– Error Doctor is another
registry cleaner where it is not widely known
who has designed and developed it. Again whilst
we generally like to know something about the
company and people behind a product, we have in
the past found excellent products where the
software designers have been unknown.
•
Compatibility
–Error Doctor has been
designed and developed to ensure that it
will work on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, XP
Pro and Vista.
•
Features and Functions
– Error Doctor has included a
couple of useful features in its program, and
although it is not the registry cleaner with
the most features, they do add value to the
program as a whole.
•
Back-up and
Undo – As with all
good registry cleaners Error
Doctor has ensured that there
is a comprehensive backup and
restore feature, ensuring that
no terminal problems can be
caused by its use.
• Manual
Clean – There is an option
within Error Doctor that enables a
user to clean the registry
manually, and although most people
will just let the program runs its
own repairs, it is useful for
experienced users to choose areas
to ignore in the repair
process.
•
Scheduler
– Error Doctor has an
option that allows scans of the
registry to be automatically
scanned at set periods. In most
cases this is something that is
likely to be done once a fortnight,
but can be changed depending on how
much use the computer is put to.
The scheduler ensures that a user
doesn’t have to remember to run the
program. |
The Test Results
To get a copy of Error Doctor
we went to their home website, and although
basic in appearance it was easy enough to
obtain our full copy of the program. From the
same site it is also possible to get a free
copy which allows you to scan your Windows
registry and identify errors, although again
without the full version you won’t be able to
do much with that information. Downloading and
installing Error Doctor was quick, so we
immediately had it run a scan of our test
computer. The scan seemed very thorough and was
a step above other basic programs in
identifying issues within the Windows registry,
the scan itself was not the quickest we have
ever tested but speed is really only a
secondary consideration compared to
thoroughness.
Once the scan was completed it was a simple
matter to then repair the errors found, we had
already backed up our registry, and for the
test we went with an automatic repair. We then
restarted our machine, and were pleased to find
that it was now functioning as we would hope a
computer would, and appeared much quicker. What
is more there were no more error messages or
computer freeze.
Additional
Observations
For what is often considered a
basic registry cleaner, we were actually
pleased with the range of features available
within the Error Doctor package. They had a
direct connection with the working and
efficiency of the Windows registry, although we
would have liked to have seen an additional
compression tool included. Overall though
feature wise, they added value to the
package..
Overall Impressions
Although not perfect we have given
Error Doctor one of our
highest test scores. In essence it does exactly
what you would want from a registry cleaner, it
does a thorough job of scanning the Windows
registry; it identifies the majority of errors,
and easily cleans and repairs. There are a few
cleaners that rate higher though, the likes of
RegCure from ParetoLogic, but this is partially
down to the additional features found within
it, as well as a slightly deeper scan. For
those looking for their first registry cleaner
though we can heartily recommend Error
Doctor.
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