One of the most important parts of your Windows operating system (OS) is hidden from view: the System Registry. Microsoft deliberately keeps the registry out of sight and out of mind because unauthorized changes to it can be devastating to the health of your computer. Unfortunately, even authorized changes – such as those made by various software programs and even by Windows itself – can be just as devastating if done incorrectly or if one change conflicts with configuration information that is already in the registry. Many people know to back up their data, but few know to backup the registry itself.

Most versions of Windows will allow you to back up your registry or set a “system restore point.” Much of this is done automatically for you. Unfortunately, if the OS itself stops working for some reason, you may not be able to get to the restore service for your particular flavor of Windows. And a backup without the ability to restore is useless.

For Windows Vista, you begin by typing “systempropertiesprotection” (without the quotes) in the Start Search box then press ENTER. You may be asked for an Administration password. Once you click Allow, Windows will search all hard disks for the most recently saved system restore points. Windows should create on every time it detects a major change to the system. For example, when installing new software, Windows will create a system restore point before the installation and any changes take place. This way, if something goes wrong Windows can reboot safely as if the errant installation never happened.

To backup the system in its current configuration, click on the System Protection tab in the System Properties dialog box, then click Create. Enter a name for the new restore point you are creating and click Create again. Once the restore point has been created, click OK twice to return to the desktop.

To restore the system to a previous restore point, follow the same procedures as above, but this time choose System Restore under the System Protection tab. Select the “Choose a different restore point” option and then choose the restore point you wish to revert to. Generally speaking, you should try to restore using the most recent restore point to ensure that most of the functionality remains intact. Unfortunately, Windows has a nasty habit of going through what seems like the entire restore process only to give a message that the restore failed. If that happens, work your way back until you come to one that works.

There are other options available as well. Third party software can backup and restore your Window Registry, in many cases even if your Windows OS stops functioning completely. Such programs often can prevent problems by properly maintaining and optimizing the registry by removing unused keys that clog your system. Removing these keys can significantly improve performance.

For more information on the Windows Registry, check out the articles at Answer Registry Reviews. There are reviews of popular registry cleaning, backup and restore  software products and you can even use links on the site to download and purchase software online

]]> http://www.answer-registryreviews.com/blog/how-to-backup-and-restore-the-windows-registry-in-vista.html/feed 0 http://www.answer-registryreviews.com/blog/the-key-to-the-windows-registry.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-key-to-the-windows-registry http://www.answer-registryreviews.com/blog/the-key-to-the-windows-registry.html#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:51:42 +0000 John Russell http://www.answer-registryreviews.com/blog/?p=440 What’s Key to the Window Registry?

The System Registry has been called the most important part of any Windows PC operating system (OS), but you probably didn’t even know it exists. There is a good reason for that. Microsoft doesn’t want you messing with it. Like so many other features in Windows, Microsoft chose to hide information considered too powerful to be left in the hands of mere mortals. Only the wisest of gurus can be entrusted with such knowledge.

Unlike silly decisions like automatically hiding the 3-character extension of filenames, however, this is one area where Microsoft had a good reason to keep the registry on the top shelf out of reach. The registry controls everything and a single mistake can have devastating consequences on the entire OS. Installed programs and applications will write important data into the registry. User defined data and configurations are also stored.

The data is tracked through a tree of folders called “keys” that branch off the registry nodes. Each key can have subkeys nested in multiple levels. Critical pieces of data known as “values” are stored in the keys and subkeys. Groups of related keys, subkeys and values are known as hives.

Applications can modify the keys by changing the values, adding new keys or deleting existing ones. More recent versions of  Windows will back up the registry and in the event of a problem, will ask you if you want to use the “Last known good configuration.” This was an option that began in the old Windows NT days. If you ever see this option, the correct proper response will most likely be yes, but that may also mean that recently installed programs will no longer operate unless reinstalled.

The good news is that such configuration issues related to the registry will not affect your important data: documents, photos, etc. The bad news is that many times the problem that caused the crash in the first place may also be saved in the backup versions of the registry. More than one person has been in the unfortunate position of having to completely reinstall their Windows OS, with many a prayer to the computer gods that the file and data associations will be restored as well. It is not a bad idea to make your own back up onto a flash drive or make copies on the C: drive. Of course, if you backup your registry to the C: drive and your disk fails the backup will be unavailable. If you backup to a flash drive but your computer fails to recognize the drive upon boot without the OS running, that won’t help either. Be sure to consult the documentation of your computer and OS. Or, just be sure to actually backup your computer regularly and have the backups always handy. With the size and speed of USB flash drives, you might want to consider saving all your data to a removable disk.

Before you have an issue, you should consider all your options. The best suggestion is to try to prevent such problems with proper maintenance of your Windows Registry. Many software programs exist to examine registry the keys and make any necessary repairs. These programs can even check your registry for unused keys that clog your system. Removing these keys can significantly improve performance.

For more information on the Windows Registry, check out the articles at Answer Registry Reviews.  There are reviews of popular registry cleaning software products and you can even use links on the site to download and purchase highly effective registry cleaning software.

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