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How To Back Up The Windows RegistryWindows XP Registry Backup
Mark DeCostaGuest Editor
Making a backup of the Windows registry is an important thing, and something everyone can do. I mean everyone! It's rather simple, and could potentially save your butt in the time of a catastrophic registry breakdown. Also, it's a very good idea to manually make a backup before performing any sort of work on the registry-whether by yourself or with a registry repair program.
Why Backup The Windows Registry?How to Backup The Windows Registry
The registry is like the central nervous system of your computer. It contains a lot of important data crucial to the proper functioning of your computer. The registry is just a set of files like everything else, so it is vulnerable to corruption or damage.
For example, something like a virus is capable of damaging the registry files and making your computer very difficult to use. Another example could be your little nephew Jimmy who fancies himself a computer hacker, and decides to practice on your computer. All of a sudden, your computer doesn't boot up! Now what? Well, if you have a backup of the registry, you'll be safe from those types of incidents.
Also, even though registry repair tools are great, it's ALWAYS a prudent idea to make a manual backup of your registry yourself before you run those programs. It only takes about 23 seconds to give yourself some peace of mind.
By creating a registry backup you can put your system back the way it was before any changes or damages occur.
Step 1 - Make a Restore PointHow to Backup The Windows Registry
The first, and easiest, way to backup your registry in Windows XP is to make a system restore point. Unless you've disabled it, Windows XP automatically generates system restore points, but these can be unreliable. They are vulnerable to corruption, and they may be out of date or old. However, it's a good place to start
- Go to Start - All Programs - System Tools - System Restore
- Select "Create A Restore Point."
- Name your restore point, for example "BeforeRegistryCleaning"
- Click OK
And that's all there is to it! Simple, no?
We're not done yet, however. We want to manually make a copy of our registry, just in case. We'll do this by opening up the Windows Registry Editor and exporting a copy of our registry.
Step 2 - Make An Export Copy of the RegistryHow To Backup The Windows Registry
- Go to Start - Run
- Type in regedit and click OK
This opens the infamous registry editor. Feel free to look around, but don't touch anything! - Go to File - Export
- Choose a safe place to put your registry file that you'll remember later.
- Name your registry file. Something with the date would be helpful, such as Dec13backup.
- Click ok.
You're done! You've just created a backup file of your registry that you can later import should the need arise.
For even more information about how to backup the Windows registry, here is a great article.
If you are experiencing computer troubles and think you might be in need of a registry cleaner, we recommend RegCure by ParetoLogic. You can download this tool for free and scan your computer to see if your registry might benefit from a little tidying up.
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