registry-what?

i just got rid of avira and got avg which has a fixit function. according to it i had 217 broken thingies in my registry and they allegedly fixed them. what the haitch are them thingies?

Likely file associations or pointers to files you have deleted. 217 is not a huge number if it has been a long time since you last checked the registry. You won't likely see any change in performance.

The registry is Windows' internal directory which is used to find things (and other stuff).  Your computer would be dead without it.  Over time, it may get cluttered with old, abandoned links which a cleaner program can find and remove.  In theory this can make your computer a wee bit faster.  In actual practice, it usually makes no difference at all.  Messing with the registry is extremely dangerous to your computer.

gracias!