Use NTREGOPT. See below.
Do not delete any .dat files, even if you could. You'd really #$%#$%
things up.
The XP registry is made up of the following files.
One NTUSER.DAT for each user on the machine, some templates and repair.
%HOMEDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\Administrator\NTUSER.DAT
%allusersprofile%\ntuser.dat
%HOMEDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\Default User\NTUSER.DAT
%HOMEDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\LocalService\NTUSER.DAT
%HOMEDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\NTUSER.DAT
%userprofile%\NTUSER.DAT
%windir%\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\systemprofile\NTUSER.DAT
%windir%\repair\ has these files...
default
ntuser.dat
sam
security
software
system
All hives are stored in %systemroot%\SYSTEM32\CONFIG. Except
HKEY_CURRENT_USER. That's stored in %userprofile% or
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here.
The major hives and their files are as follows:
Hive........................................File.................BackupFile
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE.....SOFTWARE......SOFTWARE.LOG
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY.......SECURITY........SECURITY.LOG
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.........SYSTEM...........SYSTEM.LOG
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM...............SAM................SAM.LOG
HKEY_CURRENT_USER........................NTUSER.DAT...ntuser.dat.LOG
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT......................DEFAULT.........DEFAULT.LOG
The paths are listed in this registry key...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist
Get both of these...
NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
Direct download links (the zip files just need unzipping and dropping on the
drive. {Thank you, Jim}
http://aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip
http://aumha.org/downloads/ntregopt.zip
ERUNT [[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt
NTREGOPT [[Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based
system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.
The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.
Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.]]
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ntregopt.txt
Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html
Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
In
