How to Make a Backup of Your Registry Using Regedit



Contributed by James Fohl

How to Make a Backup of Your Registry Using Regedit

Computer users who are seeking a way to produce a backup copy of their Windows registry can easily accomplish this task from within Windows, and without any third party software.

Users need to make backup copies of the Windows registry because it is a large file that contains information about the settings of your computer and the programs.

A lot of users don't exactly understand what exactly the Windows registry is, and why they should backup copies of the data. You see, the Windows Registry is basically a vault of the various settings Windows and other programs use. It's where programs get information from. As I said before, the Windows Registry is basically a giant vault for data.

The reason why users need to make backup copies of their registry is rather simple; one little mistake in your registry can basically stop Windows from loading at startup.

It is essential for users to produce backup copies of their registry because every program you install or download has the ability to modify, even destroy it.

It's important for users to remember that every program you install on your system has access to your system's registry. A lot of adware and spyware applications will modify your system's registry in order to take over your web browser.

Making weekly backup copies of your data is not only a smart thing to do, but takes only a few seconds to successfully make a backup copy. As mentioned before, users do not require a third party utility to backup their registry. A tool, entitled RegEdit is installed on every Windows PC, and although it looks quite complicated, making backup copies of your system's registry is actually rather easy.

To start out, click the Start button and select Run. Type in regedit and press the enter key. A few seconds later you will be presented with a two pane window that resembles the Windows Explorer.

Go into the File menu, and select Export. Find the location of where you wish to store the registry backup file, and type in a name for the file. Click on the Save button, and you are finished. You now have a nice backup of your Windows registry.

Remember that registry backups take a large amount of data, so if you make daily backups remember to delete the older copies.

If you decide to make registry backups every day, remember to delete the older copies. Because of the large amounts of data stored in the registry the files can be very large (fifty to a hundred megabytes).

When you find the need to restore a backup copy of your registry, the process is simply. Locate the backup file, and double click it. You will be presented with a dialog asking you if you are sure you wish to add the data to your registry. Click on Yes and your registry will be restored within seconds.

Using backup copies of your registry is a great idea whenever you stumble across a program that takes control of your web browser, or if you are having problems with an installed application that was working file whenever you produced the backup.


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