Reimage Review – Using Software To Fix Windows When The Registry Becomes Corrupted

When a registry file becomes corrupted there are a number of steps you can take to repair it. If the issue causes a blue screen exception, affecting how the system boots, then the following sequence of actions could help resolve the issue. As a last resort, a Reimage review is included to highlight software options for repairs.

I recently experienced a blue screen error with the message – critical service failed. From research, this means that an application (running as a service) failed to initialize correctly due to its registry configuration being corrupted (missing/erroneous key entries).

The following sequence of actions should repair the issue. Attempt each step then reboot to see if the action succeeded.

-    Use a different Windows user account. The faulty service configuration may be associated with a specific user account. Once logged in you could create a new account for yourself.

-    Boot the system in safe mode then roll back the registry (to a previous version, if available) or use registry repair software to analyze & repair the keys.

-    Use the Windows boot disk to start up the PC and run any hardware/software checks. This is a long shot in my opinion but was mentioned on forums as a solution for some device driver issues that cause blue screens.

-    Use PC maintenance software, such as Reimage, to automate a repair.

My PC finally got working after the Reimage scan highlighted dozens of registry key errors. The product can perform a system boot which bypasses the issue where the blue screen occurs at start-up. The repair stage uses their online knowledge base and file repository to reset faulty registry keys and update application files (for the OS and third party applications).

A key lesson from this issue is that maintaining back-up copies of the registry is crucial and versions should be made before and after application installations.

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