| If Windows 98 begins to operate strangely
-- something doesn't work right any more
-- do not just continue to use it. You should attempt to fix it right away.
First, reboot -- that often gets
things straightened
out. If rebooting doesn't work
then fix the
"Registry" before you
do anything
else.
Why...? You lose your oldest and perhaps
most precious system backup the first time
you reboot each day. In a few days, all you'll
have left is bad backups. They won't help
a bit. By then you may be forced touse your
restore disk or reinstall Windows. [Windows
95 requires a different solution.] [Solution for Windows XP]
Scanreg to the rescue
Scanreg is part of Windows 98. It runs behind
the scenes during boot and makes "system
backups". They're stored as "cab"
files (*.cab) in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP. These cab files contain the Registry files
and a few other key system files in compressed
form. [Microsoft]
Scanreg is supplied in two versions. Scanregw.exe
runs in Windows. You cannot restore the registry
with Scanregw. The other version, Scanreg.exe
runs in DOS and can do several things with
the registry including restoring it from
a previous backup.
I recommend that you try the following sequence to fix/restore
your registry. Start or restart in DOS mode.
If nothing else works, hold down the F8 key
(or other key designated by your computer
maker) during restart, and select DOS when
the menu comes up. If you can't get it to
run in DOS, you'll need to boot to DOS from
a bootable floppy and navigate to C:\. (Just type C: at the prompt, like so: A:\>C:) [Microsoft]
- Once you're in DOS, type scanreg /fix (like
so: C:\Windows\>scanreg /fix or C:\>scanreg /fix). It will take a while to complete. Press
Enter to proceed after it finishes. You may be given the option to restore the
registry from a backup if Step 1 fails. Grasp
it.
- Type exit after scanreg finishes (C:\>exit) and Windows should start. If it does not
try Ctrl+Alt+Delete. If that does not restart
Windows, turn the power off and back on.
- If Windows does not run correctly after this
procedure, it's time to manually restore the Registry
While not part of the recovery process, Scanreg
offers other options. It's something that
you might want to do from time to reduce
the size of the registry, and thus speed
up Windows.
- Type scanreg /fix. (Note the space before
the slash.) After it finishes, press Enter.
- Type scanreg /opt. Scanreg will optimize
and compact your registry. This will take
some time. Your hard disk light will be the
only evidence that something is happening.
Be patient.
- Type exit and Windows should start.
Read another version of using
Scanreg at ZDNet.
Lars Hederer offers a registry backup program for Windows XP. [freeware]
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