Answer Line: How Do I Restore My Windows Registry?

What's the best way to back up and--just as important--restore the Windows Registry?

Hubert Harriman, Miami

Windows 98, Me, and XP back up the Registry automatically at regular intervals, but it's still safest to back up your Registry manually before you make any major changes to your system. These are the best ways to back up and restore the Registry in various versions of Windows.

Windows 98: Select Start, Run, then type scanreg and press Enter. When you're told that there are no errors, click Yes to back up the Registry, then OK. To restore the Registry, select Start, Shut Down, click Restart in MS-DOS mode, and click OK. At the C:\WINDOWS> prompt, type scanreg /restore (don't forget to put a space before the slash) and press Enter. Select a backup from the list and press Enter again.

Windows 2000: There's no good method to back up the Registry in this OS. Some people use Regedit's Export feature, but in my experience this isn't a reliable way to back up the entire Registry (although it works quite well if you're backing up only parts of it). For backing up and restoring the Registry in Windows 2000, I recommend Super Win Software's $25 WinRescue 2000. Go to Superwin.com/rescue to download a trial version.

Windows Me and XP: Select Start, Programs (All Programs in XP) , Accessories, System Tools, System Restore to bring up the System Restore Wizard. To back up your Registry, choose Create a restore point; to restore the Registry, select Restore my computer to an earlier time.