Good, easy-to-use, free registry cleaner

"Cleaning" the registry won't make the computer faster. Your friend probably just has a bunch of useless autostart programs running in the background.

Hit Start, go to "Run", enter "msconfig", deselect anything non-Microsoft from the "Services" and everything in the "System Start" tab. Additionally, empty the "Autostart" folder in the Start Menu. This process will help you increase bootup time significantly.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Merv Burger

Never ever use msconfig to manage services.

Listen to Merv, he's right. I apologize for suggesting this kind of drastic procedure of disabling services through msconfig. I don't even use it myself, but I thought it would be convenient for beginners. Thanks for pointing out its risks.

Originally Posted by mortis

Next, I guess services.msc could be used, but my concern is it being something that is "user-friendly". Is there any program that can help out with this type of stuff?

The services control panel is actually quite easy to use. Just check the list for anything non-Microsoft and see what it does form the description. As a rule of thumb, anything non-Microsoft is useless, except for something like third-party wireless services and so on. It's generally safe to set these services' startup type to 'manual' or 'disabled', you won't break anything. You can always re-enable the stuff you need later on.

There's nowhere I can't reach.