Backing Up the Registry(continued...)

If I'm Careful, Do I Need To Worry?
"I haven't installed any new hardware or software.", "I never use Beta programs, and I don't download anything from the Internet." "How come my computer won't start and it's giving me a registry error?" " How could I possibly have corrupted the Registry?"

Well...

Have you ever had a power surge or a power failure?

Have you ever had a program freeze up on you?

Have you ever shut down your computer without closing out of Windows properly?

What about clicking on a file that you're not familiar with just to see what it does?

Have you ever removed a program from your computer simply by deleting the folder it's in?

Has your computer ever rebooted for no apparent reason?

Did you ever leave your computer on overnight and find it wasn't on in the morning?

Of course, you've never plugged in, or unplugged a peripheral while the machine is on!

And you've never had your computer on during a thunderstorm.

Ever turn off your computer before it's done booting? That's OK isn't it?

Did you ever make any changes to the Registry with the Registry Editor?

Have you ever opened the Registry Editor?

Ever try to change your display's resolution, or the number of colors?

Have you ever clicked on a file and accidentally moved it to another folder?

Have you ever had kids using your computer?

Have you ever used your computer on a weekday, or a weekend?

Have you ever sworn at your computer? They don't like that!

.... I think you get the idea. It's not a matter of if you'll ever have Registry problems. It's a matter of when!

What Do I Need To Know?
You're going to have to learn a few things if you want to safely and successfully backup and restore your Registry. First off, you need to know that the Registry is made up of two files, SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT. These files are normally stored in the C:\WINDOWS directory (you will learn of exceptions to this). You also need to understand the different 'attributes' that need to be changed on these two Registry files so that you can copy, move, rename and manipulate them.

You need to know that there are thousands of lines in your Registry made up of binary and textual entries, and that you should not try to open these two files (system.dat and user.dat) in an ordinary word processor program or text editor.

You need to know what a file's attributes are. You can find a file's attributes by right-clicking on it in Windows 9x, choosing 'properties' and looking at the bottom of the 'general' tab for 'attributes'.

Read-only - means that the file can be read or looked at, but you can't make any changes to it. If you try to make changes, you will get an "Access Denied" warning.

Hidden - means that the file is not viewable. You can't even see it when you look at the contents of a folder. In Windows 9x you can get around this by clicking 'View' on the menu bar and choosing Folder Options. Click on the View Tab at the top and highlight the 'show all files' radio button. Now you can see all files in that folder, even the ones with their hidden attribute set.

System - This attribute distinguishes the file as an operating system file. They usually also have their 'hidden' and 'read-only' attributes set. You may have to remove the system attribute on a file before you can change the others.

Archive - the Archive attribute is used by backup programs to tell if the file has been backed up, or copied.

To view a file's attributes from the DOS prompt, you need to know how to use the ATTRIB command in DOS.

Whoa .... DOS? ...Of course! Tell me, if your Registry is corrupt and you can't start Windows, did you think you were going to go into Windows to fix it? This is a common mistake.

People are told to make an emergency boot disk. Then they figure that when their computer won't start, all they have to do is install the boot disk and turn on their computer.

They're surprised when all they see is a flashing cursor on a black screen instead of their usual graphical desktop with the splashy wallpaper.

You should be familiar with DOS file naming protocols and stick to them when backing up. If you use long filenames or directories for backups, they will be truncated, and may be difficult to work with in DOS. You also want to be familiar with how to start your computer to the DOS prompt using the start-up menu in Windows 95/98.

How to boot to the DOS prompt in Windows 95/98 and DOS file naming protocols can be found at the link below.

Oh yeah, you need to know how to make a boot disk.

And you need to know some basic DOS commands and their usage: DIR, CD, MD, COPY, DEL, REN, (and we already mentioned ATTRIB). If you're not familiar with these commands,
Click here!

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