{ I can't remember where I blagged this from -- but I didn't write it } << MAINTAIN, BACK UP AND RESTORE YOUR REGISTRY: >> 1. REGISTRY EDITOR. Regedit.exe is the registry editor -- you can open it by double-clicking the file or by going to Run on the Start Menu, typing: regedit and clicking OK. You navigate in the editor just as you do in Explorer. Clicking on the plus sign (+) in front of a folder (they are called keys in the registry) will open up a new branch. If you look on the toolbar of the registry editor, you will find the two main functions of export and find. If you are ever tempted to delete anything, always export the key or back up the registry before doing so. If you do not know what you are doing, do not make changes or deletions except when you have explicit guidance. 2. EXPORTING A KEY. Sometimes it is easier to export a registry key instead of doing a full registry backup or perhaps you just need to export a key in order to modify it. Open the registry editor (start menu, run, type: regedit and OK) and highlight the key that you want to export. On the toolbar, click Registry and Export Registry File. In the window that appears, name the .reg file and save it to a convienent location. I use the desktop for ease of finding the file and so I remember to get rid of it after I am through with it. You can then alter the key and should things not work properly, you can restore the original key by double-clicking the .reg file. 3. WINDOWS 95 REGISTRY. There aren't any good reasons for not backing up your registry. You don't have to be fanatical about it but you need to make a backup occasionally so that if your registry corrupts, you can restore a good copy that is fairly current. This may keep you from having to reload W95. Download a simple little backup utility by clicking here. You can try to remember to make backups or you can load a shortcut in the startup folder and have the program come up on each reboot. If you don't want to run a copy, just exit the program. When I run a new copy, I rename the WRP folder to WRP (date) and then make a new WRP folder for the new registry and files. This allows more than one copy of the registry to be available. There are instructions in the file on how to install the program and how to restore the registry. 4. RESTORING WINDOWS 95 REGISTRY FILES FROM DOS. If you need to restore the registry files from DOS (unrelated to para 3, above), reboot the PC, press F8 when "Starting Windows 95" appears and select Command Prompt Only. Switch to the Windows directory by typing the command: CD Windows Next, remove the hidden, read-only and system attributes from the user.dat and system.dat files and user.da0 and system.da0 backup files. Type the following at the DOS prompt: attrib -h -r -s system.dat and enter. Repeat it for the other three files substituting their names. Copy the user.da0 and system.da0 files over the user.dat and system.dat files by typing these commands one at a time: copy system.da0 system.dat and copy user.da0 user.dat Replace the attributes by typing: attrib +h +r +s system.dat and then do it for the other three files susbstituting their names. Reboot the PC. Note: This is not normally a satisfactory way to restore the registry. When the computer boots, the .dat files overwrite the .da0 files. This means that if the registry is corrupt but not to the point where the boot is affected, the .da0 files will be corrupt also. 5. WINDOWS 98 REGISTRY. W98 backs up your registry automatically the first time you logon each day. By default, five copies of the registry (user.dat and system.dat files) and system.ini and win.ini files are maintained in .cab files located in the Windows/Sysbckup folder. To see the Scanreg options, go to a MS-DOS prompt and type: Scanreg /? (note the space between the “g” and the slash). To employ the Scanreg options, restart the PC in MS-DOS mode. When the prompt appears, type: Scanreg followed by the appropriate \option. Scanreg also automatically compacts the registry when 500 kb of slack space is detected. Scanreg /opt can be used to manually compact it. To alter the default options, use Notepad to look at and change the Scanreg.ini file in the Windows folder. Full details on Scanreg are available in Knowledge Base article Q183887 and instructions for altering the scanreg.ini file are covered in Q183603. The W98 registry back up system works great so learn how to use it. 6. The biggest problem for the W95/W98 registry is installing and uninstalling software. Uninstallers, including commercial ones, don't always delete all registry entries plus a system must be functioning for an uninstaller to work. This is where a program called TrialBlazer can save the day because your system can be trashed and TrialBlazer still works. It allows you to put your PC in a trial mode when you are trying out new software. It takes a snapshot of your system before starting and if the software causes big problems or you just don't like it, you can end the trial and TrialBlazer resets your system to the *exact* condition it was in when you started. Added registry entries and files are removed, changed registry entries and files are exchanged for the originals and deleted files and registry entries are restored. It even keeps track of things like files in the recycle bin that were deleted and it can restore those files also. http://www.procode.com.au 7. If you are interested in tracking down settings and such in the registry, you will need a registry program such as RegView or RegMon. With RegView, shareware available from http://home.xnet.com/~vchiu/index.html, the user takes a snapshot of the registry. The user can change settings or whatever, take another snapshot of the registry and then compare the two and display the changes. The complete registry key, old values and new values are displayed. RegMon, freeware available from: http://www.sysinternals.com, is a utility that watches and displays information on system-wide registry accesses as they are occurring. I find RegView to be the easier of the two to operate.