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Factory-Fresh Registry
         A Registry merge can correct annoying, persistent performance flaws.
by Lenny Bailes
October 1, 1999
Most Windows users know that their operating system begins to bog down and 
exhibit strange quirks after several months of use. Eventually, Windows 
won't shut down normally, or a notebook won't return from suspend mode. 
Power management may become erratic. A network card or sound card won't be 
recognized, or mysterious blue-screen error messages and general protection 
faults may occur with greater and greater frequency.
Some power users reinstall Windows a few times each year just to get their 
systems back into optimum shape. But reinstalling Windows 95/98 can take 
several hours out of an otherwise productive day. Since the Windows 
Registry causes many of the problems that crop up over time, a simpler, 
Registry-oriented repair strategy makes more sense when trying to resolve 
nagging problems.
Look for a hidden file in the root folder of your boot drive called 
System.1st, a file created during the Windows 95/98 installation that 
contains all of the default registry information for the first start-up of 
the operating system. RegEdit lets you extract all or part of the 
information from this "factory default" file and merge it into a corrupted 
registry, which often yields an effect akin to reinstalling Windows. And it 
takes a lot less time. So, before you give up and rerun Windows Setup, try 
the following procedure:
       Make sure to make a backup of the current Registry (or a recent 
version created during the last several days) that you can use to restore 
you system if this trick doesn't work well. If you don't have a backup, use 
ScanReg (for Windows 98 users), or, if you run Windows 95, use the 
Emergency Recovery Utility (labeled as ERU in the Other\Misc folder on your 
Windows CD) to make Registry backups.
       Boot to a real-mode DOS command prompt by holding down Control 
while powering up and selecting "Command Prompt Only."
       From the DOS prompt, issue the following commands:
       CD/
       REGEDIT /L:SYSTEM.1ST /E MY.REG
       You just created a usable copy of your machine's original Registry 
settings. Next, merge those settings into the current Windows Registry 
that's causing problems. Enter: REGEDIT MY.REG.
The next time you boot into Windows 95 or 98, the system will behave as 
though you had just performed a refresh installation. It will rerun the 
Plug-and-Play hardware detection wizard and reinitialize the desktop. But 
Windows will also retain the cumulative program information on software and 
hardware that you've added since the original installation.
This trick takes 5 to 10 minutes to execute. On most Windows machines, it 
usually resolves shutdown problems, fixes power management problems, 
correctly reconfigures hardware peripherals and banishes general protection 
faults--preserving program information, the Internet history cache, and 
desktop settings. This trick won't solve problems caused by corrupt drivers 
or program files or an improperly installed application. If performance 
doesn't improve, you'll need to completely reinstall Windows.

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