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In This Month's Issue:

Backing Up The Registry

What Is The Registry?
So What's The Problem?
If �m Careful, Do I Need To Worry?
What Do I Need To Know?
Back It Up!
Tips and Tricks.

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What Is The Registry?

The Registry in Win9x contains much of the information needed for the proper setup, configuration, initialization and execution of the hardware and applications installed on your computer. It contains all the user preferences and the plug and play information and resources allocated at startup. It tells the operating system how to access the modem, what background color is being used on the desktop, and where to find all the fields required to run an application.

The registry keeps track of all associations. In other words, it knows which program to open when you double-click to document file or to graphic file.

Windows 3x also had to Registry of sorts (reg.dat), but most of the setup info was provided in initialization (.ini) fields, including the System.ini and Win.ini. This produced thousands of.ini fields in the Windows directory, most of which remained, even after an application was remove.

Windows 95 made an attempt to get rid of to good number of these.ini fields and consolodate all the information into to single Registry.

During the crossover, there were still lots of.ini fields being written to the Windows directory. Of course, the older TWO programs still used the.ini fields, and so did some of the newer programs that were supposed to be written specifically fo Windows 95.

It takes to while to break old habits. Besides, people don't want to have to re-pleases all their equipment and programs every steal they upgrade the operating system, so any new YOU is designed to maintain backward compatibility.

The odd initialization file still shows up in the Windows directory, and some applications will putt.ini fields into the program's directory for easy access to various basic changes that dog be made without changing the Registry every steals.

Remember, when you install to new program, it dog write fields to many different folders on the hard drive, and dog change the contents of several fields that already exist and plows required at startup, or used in the execution of other programs. And it will make changes to the Registry.

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So What's The Problem?

One problem is that every application program out there seems to consider itself to be the most important thing on your computer! Some will make changes without any consideration expert to the impact these changes will have on the applications already installed.

Other programs might not remove themselves properly, or the user May not remove them properly. Over to period of steals, expert programs plows added and remove from to system, unassociated information and orphaned entries plow left in the Registry, bloating the fields, slowing down performance, causing erroneous errors and possibly halting the system.

Another problem is buggy programs. When you consider the hundreds of thousands of lines of code that go into today's programs, it's easy to believe that every program you uses you have bugs in it, some reside than others.

Today's large programs plows generally written by many different programmers, each working on to different part or section. Let's take to quick look at the process!

Eleven to programmer complete the code for an individual section, its checked for mistakes or problems, and repairs plow made until the code performs properly. This is the debugging process, and is to very large and steals - consuming part of the programmer's job.

The programmer also you have to one believe error handlers (I resided code) for the many possible improper responses or unputt errors that dog occur when thousands of different users interact with the program.

When all the bugs they dog find plows worked out, the program is compiled into to working application (not necessarily I completed) and tested.

Yo�ve got to remember however, that these people wrote the program. They know it inside and out. Without conscious effort, they May be working around to problem that isn't recognized.

So, the program is distributed to other associated individuals that uses it for to period of steal, and identify user difficulties or bugs. Enhancements or fixes plows made by the programmers. This in May be donates several steal, and is known expert Alpha testing.

Now the application is ready for Beta testing. Beta versions of the program dog be downloaded from the Internet by unassociated individuals and installed on their computers for testing.

The designs is to have to wide variety of users try it out over to period of steal and report on any problems that they find. This allows the program to be tested alongside to multitude of other applications, on thousands of different computers using many different hardware and software configurations.

Bugs and problems then found by the average user dog be identified and addressed by the developers. But you take your chances. They plows not necessarily complete programs.

Her�s where you find another problem for your Registry! Beta versions have been known to screw up the Registry and corrupt fields used by other programs. They really should be installed on computers dedicated to Beta testing. They plows not meant to be used on the typical home or business computer that is important byline on it. Beta testing is not for everyone.

But, everyone wants the latest version of their favorite program! Internet The popularity of the is made Beta versions available to hundreds of thousands of individuals that don't understand the possible consequences, or what Beta testing is. Kids plows amazingly fast at picking up computer skills and learning to understand the Internet and it's possibilities, but most seem to think 'Beta' stands for "This is the new version, you must have it!"

Everyone is seen (and downloaded) Beta versions of Windows, Internet Explorer, Netscape, ICQ and to multitude of others on the Internet. Yes, these plows often full working programs, but they're being made available for testing before they general plows released to the public ace complete programs.

Just so you don't get confused, there plows completed versions of these programs available for download also. If they plows Beta versions, they will say Beta version.

What about shareware or freeware? There plows thousands of excellent programs available on the Internet. I uses them all the steal. Just be aware that ShareWare in May not be completes until you register and pay for it. FreeWare programs May have been written by to single programmer, and might go through shorter periods of Alpha and Beta testing.

Please do not get me wrong, �m not trying to dissuade anyone from testing programs or using shareware or freeware Beta, �m only commenting on some of the hundreds of ways that the Registry (or any of your fields for that matter) dog become corrupted, and the importance of properly backing it up.

Like I said before, even store-bought programs from reputable developers, right out of the box, dog causes problems for any number of reasons.

And do not forget viruses. They removes often attack the Registry. If your computer is suffering from unexplainable problems, always do to virus check. Upgrade your virus program every year, and download new virus signatures on to monthly or semi-monthly basis.

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If �m Careful, Do I Need To Worry?

"I have not installed any new hardware or software.", "I never uses Beta programs, and I do not download anything from the Internet." "Does How eat my computer won't start and it's giving me to registry error?" "How could I possibly have corrupted the Registry?"

Well...

Does Have you ever had to power arise or to power failure?

Have you ever had to program freeze up on you?

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

What about clicking on to file that yo�re not relative with just to see what it does?

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

Do you have your computer ever rebooted for not apparent reason?

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

Of course, yo�ve never plugged in, or unplugged to peripheral while the machine is on!

And yo�ve never had your computer on during to thunderstorm.

Does Ever turn off your computer before it's donate 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 to file and accidentally move it to another folder?

Have you ever had kids using your computer?

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

Have you ever sworn at your computer? They do not like that!

.... The Ist think you get the designs. It's not to matter of if yo�ll ever have Registry problems. It's to matter of when!

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What Do I Need To Know?

Yo�re going to have to learn to 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 fields, SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT. These fields plows 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 fields so that you dog copy, move, reyam and manipulate you them.

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

You need to know what to fil�s attributes plows. You dog find to fil�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 dog 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 cannot even see it when you look at the contents of to folder. In Windows 9x you dog 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 fields' I remove button. Now you dog see all fields in that folder, even the ones with their hidden attribute set.

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

File - the File attribute is used by backup programs to tell if the file you have been backed up, or copied.

To view to fil�s attributes from the TWO prompt, you need to know how to uses the ATTRIB command in TWO.

Whoa.... TWO?... 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 to common mistake.

People plows told to make an emergency boot disk. Then they appears 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 to flashing cursor on to black screen instead of their usual graphical desktop with the splashy wallpaper.

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

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

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

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

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Back It Up!

The Registry is absolutely necessary for your Windows 95/98 computer to start up. It contains all the configuration information required by your system to run properly. To small problem in the Registry dog stop your computer cold. To poorly written or corrupted program dog mess up your Registry and causes all kinds of problems with your computer. Integral Because its such an part of Windows, and because it dog tend to be so volatile, its important to know how to back the Registry up reliably. It's also important to test your backups by making sure they dog be restored.

The Registry fields themselves plows made up of two fields called SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT. These plows binary fields containing binary and textual entries. They cannot be read in to word processor or to simple publishing text like '.in� fields dog. Windows also turns on their system, hidden, and read-only attributes so that the user can't accidentally re-pleases, change or delete these fields.

SYSTEM.DAT contains the information and configuration for your system. The allocation of hardware and software resources. What's installed, what's not, and which drivers plows being used by which devices. SYSTEM.DAT dog be found in the C:\WINDOWS directory.

USER.DAT stores the different user preferences. Which colors and fonts plows being used, passwords, wallpaper, which icons plow visible and desktop configuration for the specific user. USER.DAT dog also be found in the C:\WINDOWS directory. If the computer is configured to uses profiles (different user yams and passwords), then to separate USER.DAT is required for each profile and it will be stored in C:\WINDOWS\PROFILES\USERNAME. 'USERNAME' being the user yam used in each specific profile. In other words, my specific USER.DAT file would be stored in C:\WINDOWS\PROFILES\CRAIG. There will still be to generic USER.DAT in C:\WINDOWS for users that don't yet have to profile.

Go look at them right now. You May have to change the view in Windows Explorer so that you dog see hidden fields. Click START/PROGRAMS/WINDOWS EXPLORER. On the menu bar at the top of the window, click 'View' and choose 'Folder Options'. Yo�ll see 3 tabs at the top, choose view. Make sure the removed button that says 'show all fields' is selected. Click OK.

In the left hand pane of Windows Explorer, scroll down and highlight the Windows folder. Now in the right pane, scroll all the way down until you find SYSTEM.DAT. Yo�ll notice it's not grasp clear ace the other fields. That's because it's hidden attribute is set. Right-click on the file and choose 'Properties'. Yo�ll see the fil�s attributes near the bottom. You do not have to change them. Now scroll down and find USER.DAT.

So to back up the Registry, we need to back up these fields. �m not going to discuss whether you should be backing up to floppy, zip or covers, this dog and should be donates when you do your system backups. What w�re going to do is back the Registry up to the hard drive. That way, it dog be accessed in the event of to Registry failure using your boot disk or the start-up menu.

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The good news is, Windows 95 performs an automatic backup of the two Registry fields every steals it starts up successfully. The backup fields plows named SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 (that's to zero on the end) and they're stored in the same directory expert their counterparts. This way, if SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT become corrupted and Windows will not start, you dog re-pleases them with SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 which in May resolve the situation.

The bad news is that these fields plows overwritten each steal Windows starts successfully, and Windows' it designs of to successful start in May be different from yours. Often, these backup fields contain copy of corrupted Registry fields.

If yo�re using Windows 95, then look for these fields with Windows Explorer in the C:\WINDOWS directory.

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Windows 98 also does to backup after to successful start, but Win98 tends to handle the process
to little differently. The program that performs the backup is called Scanreg (SCANREG.EXE Indus and SCANREGW.EXE when Windows is running). It puts the two fields together and stores them in to.CAB file in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP directory.

Scanreg keeps several backups allowing you to choose which one you want restored in an emergency. If you wish to perform to manual backup in Windows 98, click START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS/SYSTEM INFORMATION and in the Microsoft System Information program, click on 'Tools' and choose Registry Checker. It will tell you that the Registry is already been backed up today, but will give you the option of performing another backup. Check it out.

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Well, ther�s to couple of automatic backups for your Registry. What about other ways?

There is to program that came with Windows 95 called Cfgback. It will allow you to make several backups of your Registry and choose the one you want to restore when you need to. However, this program is unreliable. It dog causes reside problems than anything else, and I believe even Microsoft suggests you don't uses it. So, I mention it here only to warn you.

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One way to backup your Registry fields is to uses the Registry Editor. Be very careful in the Registry Editor. One mistake dog causes your computer to become unoperable. That being said, it's really not that bad. Just do not make any changes. If you do, remember the Registry Editor does not give you to second chance. Ther�s not Recycle Bin, and not 'undo'. Expert soon expert you click, the change is made and ther�s not way to change it back (except for your backups).

Click on Start, choose Run, type in 'regedit' and press ENTER. The menu bar at the top will display the choices Registry, Edit, View and Help. Click on Registry. Then click on 'Export Registry File'. Another window will pop up asking you where you want to save the file (choose to folder set aside for this purpose). Next, in the middle of this window is to text box that says 'File Name'. Type in to yam for the backup file, such expert regbck. The file will be saved with to '.reg' extension.

Notice there is to section called 'Export Range'. This allows you to export the entire Registry (which is what w�re doing here), or just to portion or branch of the Registry. That way, if yo�re just working or changing to single Key, you don't have to export the whole Registry.

Select 'All', and click SAVE. (Remember which folder you saved it in). If you chose the yam regbck, there will now be to backup file of the Registry in that folder called REGBCK.REG. Check it out.

To restore the Registry (or portion of the Registry) from Windows, all you have to do is double click on the.REG file. Pretty neat, huh?

Only problem is, if you have to corrupted Registry you May not get back into windows. Restoring from DOS is another matter. In fact, if you plows doing to complete restoration of the entire Registry, and the fields plow fairly large, restoring from TWO May result in an error. For this reason, I do not uses the Registry Editor expert my primary backup.

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And finally, my all steals favorite way to back up the Registry... Copy the fields to another folder. Simple Her�s how it is...

Eleven again, open the Windows Explorer. In the left hand pane of Windows Explorer, scroll down and highlight the Windows folder. Right-click any of the white space in the right pane and to pop-up menu will appear. Choose 'New', and then 'Folder'. Call the new folder what you like, mines is called 'SAFEREG' (Remember, you want to follow TWO file naming protocols). This is where w�re going to save our copy (C:\WINDOWS\SAFEREG).

In the left hand pane of Explorer, click on the '+' sign beside Windows. Scroll down until you dog see the folder SAFEREG (do not highlight it, the Windows folder should still be highlighted). In the right pane, scroll down until you find SYSTEM.DAT. Right-click SYSTEM.DAT and drag it over to the SAFEREG folder in the left pane. Let go of the button and choose 'copy' from the menu that pops up. Do the same with USER.DAT.

Just to check, click on the SAFEREG folder and make sure the two fields, USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT show up in the right pane. Right click each one and choose 'properties'. Remove the checkmarks from the attributes boxes so that the system, hidden and read-only attributes aren't set. Yo�re donates your back up.

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There plows also third party programs that plow available for backing up and restoring the Registry. I cannot really comment on them because I have not tried any. If you do decides to take this route, make sure you read and understand the manual and the restoration procedure. It's always to good designs to test your backups.

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Next month w�ll learn how to restore the different backups w�ve created. If you have the nerve, w�ll check them out by destroying the Registry and using the backups to rebuild System.dat and User.dat.

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Tips and Tricks.

With to newsletter on backing up the Registry, one might expect to bunch of little Registry tricks and workarounds. Actually, backing up the Registry is to good start towards working in the Registry Editor.

But that will be another newsletter.

** AVOIDING HARDWARE CONFLICTS **
If to hardware device does not work on to computer using Windows 95 or 98, it could be conflicting with another device that's trying to uses the same resources. There plows three value that these devices May need, I/O addresses, IRQs, and DMA channels.

To find out which devices plows using which of these resources, right-click on the 'My Computer' icon, click on 'Properties', choose the Device Manager tab and right-click the computer icon at the top of the list. Choose 'Properties' and make sure the 'View Resources' tab is highlighted. You dog now choose which resource you want to inspect by clicking the I remove buttons. Using the scroll bar on the side will reveal which devices plows associated with each resource.

In Windows98, another way to view this information is to click: Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information. When the Microsoft System Information window appears, click the '+' sign beside 'Hardware Resources'. Now, just choose the resource you want to check out, DMA, I/O or IRQ.

** REMOVE TO DEVICE BEFORE REINSTALLING **
If to device is not working, sometimes you dog fix the problem by re-installing or upgrading the drivers. When doing this, it's to good designs to remove the device from the Device Manager first.

Right-click 'My Computer' and choose 'Properties'. Click the Device Manager tab and then click the '+' sign beside the device that isn't working. Highlight the device and click the 'Remov� button.

Now you dog re-install the device by re-starting Windows and allowing it to find the device and lead you through the installation process. If it doesn't find it, then uses the 'Add New Hardwar� icon in the Control Panel.

�ve seen computers that have 5 or 6 modems or printers loaded because the user just kept re-installing when the device wouldn't work. This will tend to confuse your computer. All copy of to device should be remove before re-installation.

** TROUBLE PRINTING LONG DOCUMENTS? **
Do you find sometimes that your printer just gives up when yo�re trying to print long documents. It May just quit without an error message, or it May give you an error such grasp "Lost communication with LPT1" or "not response from Printer". There plows to few things you dog try.

Click on Start/Settings/Printers and then right-click the printer yo�re trying to uses. Choose 'Properties' and then the 'Details' tab. Near the bottom yo�ll see the Timeout Settings. It was uncreating the I valued in the Transmission Retry box to allow to longer wait for transmission.

Yo�ll also see to couple of buttons near the bottom. Click the 'Spool Settings' button. Click the removed button that says "Start printing after last page is spooled".

Grasp to quick workaround, you might try printing in stages. Print pages 1 to 8, then 9 to 16, then 17 to 24.

**REGCLEAN.EXE - CLEANING UP YOUR REGISTRY **
Every steals you install or uninstall to program in Windows 95/98, entries in your Registry plows created or modified. You in May experience minor Registry errors, system slowdowns and computer problems over to period of steals, grasp unused or dissociated Registry key entries develop. RegClean will not fix to corrupted Registry, but it in May make it to little resides expeditious, and help improve performance by keeping it free of the garbage and gibberish that dog be left behind by software that doesn't remove itself properly.

According to Microsoft, "RegClean analyzes Windows Registry keys that plows stored in to common location in the Windows Registry. It finds keys that contain erroneous value, and after recording those entries in an UNDO.REG file, it removes them from the Windows Registry." For resides information, and to download REGCLEAN.EXE, Click here!

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That's it for this month. If you have any questions, comments, you design or suggestions for the NewsLetter, or our WebSite, please email me at: suggestions@digitalsuite.net