What's
the best way to back up and--just as important--restore the Windows Registry?
Author:
Hubert Harriman, Miami
Windows
98, Me, and XP back up the Registry automatically at regular intervals, but
it's still safest to back up your Registry manually before you make any major
changes to your system. These are the best ways to back up and restore the
Registry in various versions of Windows.
Windows
98: Select Start, Run, then type scanreg and press Enter. When you're told that
there are no errors, click Yes to back up the Registry, then OK. To restore the
Registry, select Start, Shut Down, click Restart in MS-DOS mode, and click OK.
At the C:\WINDOWS> prompt, type scanreg /restore (don't forget to put a
space before the slash) and press Enter. Select a backup from the list and
press Enter again.
Windows
2000: There's no good method to back up the Registry in this OS. Some people
use Regedit's Export feature, but in my experience this isn't a reliable way to
back up the entire Registry (although it works quite well if you're backing up
only parts of it). For backing up and restoring the Registry in Windows 2000, I
recommend Super Win Software's $25 WinRescue 2000. Go to Superwin.com/rescue to download a trial version.
Old-Fashioned Alt-Tab
In
previous versions of Windows, I could quickly Alt-Tab between open programs.
But Windows XP shows each open program in a kind of preview mode, slowing the
whole process down. Is there a way to turn off this preview mode? Me and XP:
Select Start, Programs (All Programs in XP), Accessories, System Tools, System
Restore to bring up the System Restore Wizard. To back up your Registry, choose
Create a restore point; to restore the Registry, select Restore my computer to
an earlier time.
Stephen
Payne, Glastonbury, Connecticut
That
overly graphical version of the Alt-Tab pop-up is actually not part of Windows
XP, but of Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows XP. This free collection of
utilities has several useful tools, including the oft-recommended Tweak UI. The
PowerToy that's slowing you down is called Alt-Tab Replacement. FIGURE 1 shows both the old Alt-Tab window and
the PowerToy version.
It's
not surprising that you mistook this optional add-on for a part of Windows.
Accidentally installing more PowerToys than you want is quite easy. Some systems
even have PowerToys preinstalled. What's more, the Alt-Tab Replacement tool
doesn't show up on the Start menu with the rest of the PowerToys.
To
get rid of it, select Start, Control Panel, then double-click Add or Remove
Programs. On the list of currently active programs, choose Powertoys for
Windows XP and click Change. In the resulting wizard, click Next, select
Modify, and click Next again. Choose the icon to the left of Alt-Tab
Replacement and select This feature will not be available. Click Next, Install,
Finish, and reboot Windows
Return
of the Arrows
I
used Tweak UI to turn off the arrows on shortcut icons, but after I loaded a
Windows Security Update and Internet Explorer 6, the arrows returned. Tweak UI
thinks they're gone. What can I do?
Robert
H. Kase, Roanoke, Virginia
Many
Windows 98 users had shortcut arrows come back after they installed a security
update. Tweak UI considers the arrows off, and setting the program to turn them
on, then off again, won't work.
Freshdevices'
free Fresh UI utility will do the trick. Point your browser to www.freshdevices.com to download your copy.
Inside Fresh UI's left pane, navigate to Windows Interface, Desktop, Shortcuts,
Shortcut Arrow. Next, in the right pane, double-click the Show arrow on
shortcuts option. Uncheck the three options it gives you, and then click OK.
Send your questions to answer@pcworld.com.
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Easy
Network Backups
Ed
Anderson of Syosset, New York, suggests a fast and easy way to back up multiple
PCs that are networked together (for instance, via an Internet-sharing router):
Simply back them up to each other. It's faster than backing them up to CD-RW or
other removable media, and if the PCs all have enough extra space on their hard
drives, it's cheaper as well. Should the hard drive on one system fail, your
data is safe on the other computer. Anderson uses Iomega's QuikSync for his
backups, but the same technique should work with most backup programs.
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