I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer. I'd
like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came across
a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a Restore
point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:
> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer. I'd
> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
> across
> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a Restore
> point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne

Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the registry,
too).

"Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer. I'd
>> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
>> across
>> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
>> Restore
>> point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
> Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
> registry, too).
>
Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
registry...

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:
> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer. I'd
>>> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
>>> across
>>> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
>>> Restore point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>
>> Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
>> registry, too).
>>
> Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
> registry...
>
> Jo-Anne

OK.
Just keep in mind that it doesn't replace a image or clone backup, but it
does backup the registry and some other important files.

I don't have the links at my fingertips that describe System Restore (and
I'm on dial-up), but you can find plenty of them. :-)

On Jan 10, 1:50*am, "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote:
> "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net> wrote in messagenews:(E-Mail Removed)...> Jo-Anne wrote:
> >> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer. I'd
> >> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
> >> across
> >> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
> >> Restore
> >> point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>
> >> Thank you!
>
> >> Jo-Anne
>
> > Sure. *More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
> > registry, too).
>
> Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
> registry...
>
> Jo-Anne

Making a RP is a good idea, but what if you make your changes and the
changes keep your system from booting if you wanted to use the RP?
What would you do?

There is no undo or quit without saving when using regedit and if you
ever hear somebody saying "oops...", that could be a problem.

Here is a tool that just does the registry which will make emergency
registry recovery a little easier if you need it. I use it
(sometimes) when I am about to make registry changes that I will not
remember how to undo them if something goes wrong.

Before making any changes to your registry, back it up with this free
popular just the registry tool:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Recovering just the registry from an RP on an unbootable system can be
done, but it is a little awkward, requires a genuine bootable XP
installation CD or a bootable Recovery Console CD.

I would not put all my faith in a Restore Point until you have never
used one to test your mechanism. Test your process from end to end to
make sure you can create a RP on demand when you want, reboot with no
changes and then restore to the RP you made previously and reboot
again. Does everything work?

Make a RP
Reboot
Restore
Reboot
Good?

If all is good, you will have some confidence about making the changes
since you know you can undo them if you need to (a psychological good
feeling).

Finding out SR doesn't work when you need it is not the right time to
receive this information!

Here is one of many articles about SR from MS about SR:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...w_03may19.mspx

I second Jose's recommendation of ERUNT. Best registry backup (only) utility
I've ever found. Saved me time and time and time again!

"Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Jo-Anne wrote:
>>>> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer.
>>>> I'd
>>>> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
>>>> across
>>>> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
>>>> Restore point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>>>>
>>>> Thank you!
>>>>
>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>> Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
>>> registry, too).
>>>
>> Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
>> registry...
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
> OK.
> Just keep in mind that it doesn't replace a image or clone backup, but it
> does backup the registry and some other important files.
>
> I don't have the links at my fingertips that describe System Restore (and
> I'm on dial-up), but you can find plenty of them. :-)
>
Thank you again, Bill! I do have an image backup too. (Thanks to SC Tom, I
was able to download Acronis--free--to use with my WD external hard drive.)
However, I don't yet have a CD/DVD drive for this netbook--which means I
probably can't boot the computer externally. I need to either buy a drive or
install WD's software on one of my external hard drives. I believe WD has a
program that will let the external hard drive appear to be an optical drive.
(Of course, I don't know if one can actually boot from it.)

Early on (a month ago) I used System Restore on this computer, and it worked
fine. So I know it's at least functional.

Jo-Anne

"Jose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2d9935e4-0ff8-41ec-b0b9-(E-Mail Removed)...
On Jan 10, 1:50 am, "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote:
> "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net> wrote in
> messagenews:(E-Mail Removed)...> Jo-Anne wrote:
> >> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer.
> >> I'd
> >> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
> >> across
> >> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
> >> Restore
> >> point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>
> >> Thank you!
>
> >> Jo-Anne
>
> > Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
> > registry, too).
>
> Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
> registry...
>
> Jo-Anne

<<Making a RP is a good idea, but what if you make your changes and the
changes keep your system from booting if you wanted to use the RP?
What would you do?

There is no undo or quit without saving when using regedit and if you
ever hear somebody saying "oops...", that could be a problem.

Here is a tool that just does the registry which will make emergency
registry recovery a little easier if you need it. I use it
(sometimes) when I am about to make registry changes that I will not
remember how to undo them if something goes wrong.

Before making any changes to your registry, back it up with this free
popular just the registry tool:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

Recovering just the registry from an RP on an unbootable system can be
done, but it is a little awkward, requires a genuine bootable XP
installation CD or a bootable Recovery Console CD.

I would not put all my faith in a Restore Point until you have never
used one to test your mechanism. Test your process from end to end to
make sure you can create a RP on demand when you want, reboot with no
changes and then restore to the RP you made previously and reboot
again. Does everything work?

Make a RP
Reboot
Restore
Reboot
Good?

If all is good, you will have some confidence about making the changes
since you know you can undo them if you need to (a psychological good
feeling).

Finding out SR doesn't work when you need it is not the right time to
receive this information!

Here is one of many articles about SR from MS about SR:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...w_03may19.mspx
>>


Thank you very much, Jose, for all this information! I will definitely get
ERUNT for all three of my computers. Shortly after I bought this netbook, a
month ago, I needed to do a System Restore; in fact, I did it twice, and it
worked fine both times--so I'm reasonably comfortable about it working. I
also have imaged the hard drive on an external hard drive with Acronis.

My big problem is that I don't yet have an external CD/DVD drive, so I can't
make a bootable CD. I've been dithering about what drive to buy, but I
should just go ahead with it. Unless there's a way to make a bootable flash
drive? Or perhaps a bootable external hard drive? (Western Digital, the
manufacturer of my external hard drives, has some sort of software, I think,
that makes the hard drive appear to be an optical drive.)

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

"Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Jose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:2d9935e4-0ff8-41ec-b0b9-(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Jan 10, 1:50 am, "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote:
>> "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net> wrote in
>> messagenews:(E-Mail Removed)...> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> >> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer.
>> >> I'd
>> >> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
>> >> across
>> >> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
>> >> Restore
>> >> point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>>
>> >> Thank you!
>>
>> >> Jo-Anne
>>
>> > Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
>> > registry, too).
>>
>> Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
>> registry...
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
> <<Making a RP is a good idea, but what if you make your changes and the
> changes keep your system from booting if you wanted to use the RP?
> What would you do?
>
> There is no undo or quit without saving when using regedit and if you
> ever hear somebody saying "oops...", that could be a problem.
>
> Here is a tool that just does the registry which will make emergency
> registry recovery a little easier if you need it. I use it
> (sometimes) when I am about to make registry changes that I will not
> remember how to undo them if something goes wrong.
>
> Before making any changes to your registry, back it up with this free
> popular just the registry tool:
>
> http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
>
> Recovering just the registry from an RP on an unbootable system can be
> done, but it is a little awkward, requires a genuine bootable XP
> installation CD or a bootable Recovery Console CD.
>
> I would not put all my faith in a Restore Point until you have never
> used one to test your mechanism. Test your process from end to end to
> make sure you can create a RP on demand when you want, reboot with no
> changes and then restore to the RP you made previously and reboot
> again. Does everything work?
>
> Make a RP
> Reboot
> Restore
> Reboot
> Good?
>
> If all is good, you will have some confidence about making the changes
> since you know you can undo them if you need to (a psychological good
> feeling).
>
> Finding out SR doesn't work when you need it is not the right time to
> receive this information!
>
> Here is one of many articles about SR from MS about SR:
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...w_03may19.mspx
> >>
>
>
> Thank you very much, Jose, for all this information! I will definitely get
> ERUNT for all three of my computers. Shortly after I bought this netbook,
> a month ago, I needed to do a System Restore; in fact, I did it twice, and
> it worked fine both times--so I'm reasonably comfortable about it working.
> I also have imaged the hard drive on an external hard drive with Acronis.
>
> My big problem is that I don't yet have an external CD/DVD drive, so I
> can't make a bootable CD. I've been dithering about what drive to buy, but
> I should just go ahead with it. Unless there's a way to make a bootable
> flash drive? Or perhaps a bootable external hard drive? (Western Digital,
> the manufacturer of my external hard drives, has some sort of software, I
> think, that makes the hard drive appear to be an optical drive.)
>
> Thank you again!
>
> Jo-Anne
>
Addendum and query: I just installed both ERUNT and NTREGOPT on one of my
computers and will install them on the others shortly. I set up ERUNT to
back up the registry each time Windows is started. Is that a reasonable
approach? (It will delete backups after 30 days.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:
> "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> "Jose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:2d9935e4-0ff8-41ec-b0b9-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On Jan 10, 1:50 am, "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote:
>>> "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net> wrote in
>>> messagenews:(E-Mail Removed)...> Jo-Anne wrote:
>>>>> I'm about to make a change in the registry on my new WinXP computer.
>>>>> I'd
>>>>> like to back up the registry first. In Googling how to do it, I came
>>>>> across
>>>>> a Microsoft knowledge base article (KB322756) that said creating a
>>>>> Restore
>>>>> point in System Restore would work. Is that sufficient?
>>>
>>>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>>> Sure. More than sufficient (i.e, it backs up a bit more than the
>>>> registry, too).
>>>
>>> Thank you, Bill! This'll be my first effort at doing anything with the
>>> registry...
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>
>> <<Making a RP is a good idea, but what if you make your changes and the
>> changes keep your system from booting if you wanted to use the RP?
>> What would you do?
>>
>> There is no undo or quit without saving when using regedit and if you
>> ever hear somebody saying "oops...", that could be a problem.
>>
>> Here is a tool that just does the registry which will make emergency
>> registry recovery a little easier if you need it. I use it
>> (sometimes) when I am about to make registry changes that I will not
>> remember how to undo them if something goes wrong.
>>
>> Before making any changes to your registry, back it up with this free
>> popular just the registry tool:
>>
>> http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
>>
>> Recovering just the registry from an RP on an unbootable system can be
>> done, but it is a little awkward, requires a genuine bootable XP
>> installation CD or a bootable Recovery Console CD.
>>
>> I would not put all my faith in a Restore Point until you have never
>> used one to test your mechanism. Test your process from end to end to
>> make sure you can create a RP on demand when you want, reboot with no
>> changes and then restore to the RP you made previously and reboot
>> again. Does everything work?
>>
>> Make a RP
>> Reboot
>> Restore
>> Reboot
>> Good?
>>
>> If all is good, you will have some confidence about making the changes
>> since you know you can undo them if you need to (a psychological good
>> feeling).
>>
>> Finding out SR doesn't work when you need it is not the right time to
>> receive this information!
>>
>> Here is one of many articles about SR from MS about SR:
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...w_03may19.mspx
>>>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you very much, Jose, for all this information! I will definitely
>> get
>> ERUNT for all three of my computers. Shortly after I bought this netbook,
>> a month ago, I needed to do a System Restore; in fact, I did it twice,
>> and
>> it worked fine both times--so I'm reasonably comfortable about it
>> working.
>> I also have imaged the hard drive on an external hard drive with Acronis.
>>
>> My big problem is that I don't yet have an external CD/DVD drive, so I
>> can't make a bootable CD. I've been dithering about what drive to buy,
>> but
>> I should just go ahead with it. Unless there's a way to make a bootable
>> flash drive? Or perhaps a bootable external hard drive? (Western Digital,
>> the manufacturer of my external hard drives, has some sort of software, I
>> think, that makes the hard drive appear to be an optical drive.)
>>
>> Thank you again!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
> Addendum and query: I just installed both ERUNT and NTREGOPT on one of my
> computers and will install them on the others shortly. I set up ERUNT to
> back up the registry each time Windows is started. Is that a reasonable
> approach? (It will delete backups after 30 days.)
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne

I have ERUNT setup to automatically back up 5 days worth (I think that was
its default setup, too, similar to SCANREG in Win98). 30 days sounds a
bit much, and will consume a fair amount of HD space to do it. :-)

PS. I was going to mention ERUNT, but figured you had your hands full with
SR for now, however ERUNT is really great!