PLEASE READ - All the registration (.reg) files here can be edited once you unzip them, to do so, unzip the file to some directory, right click on it & select Edit. You may find it useful for informational purposes & for creating your own registry “patches”.

NOTE - This was prepared on a Windows98 Second edition system, although many of the tweaks work on Windows95 as well.

I’ll begin by showing you how to backup & restore your registry before you actually move onto making any changes to it.

Backing up the registry

It is always a good idea to keep backup copies of your registry just in case you need to restore to a previous setting. From the ever-helpful Microsoft Knowledge Base:

When you start your computer successfully, Windows Registry Checker (Scanreg.exe) creates a backup of system files and registry configuration information (including user account information, protocol bindings, software program settings, and user preferences) once daily. Files that Windows Registry Checker backs up include System.dat, User.dat, System.ini, and Win.ini.

First you should customize what the Windows Registry Checker will & won’t do. Open your C:\Windows\Scanreg.ini file. The Scanreg.ini file contains the entries that determine how the Registry Checker tool makes backup copies of your registry. Edit the x values of the settings below.

Backup=x, a value of 1 causes a backup copy of your registry to be made the first time you start your computer on any given day (determined by the system clock). A value of 0 disables the backing up of the registry.

Optimise=x, a value of 1 automatically optimises your current registry if it contains 500KB+ of unused space. A value of 0 does not automatically optimise your current registry by removing unused space.

MaxBackupCopies=x, use this value to set the maximum amount of registry backups, e.g. a value of 5 saves the last 5 registry backups in the Windows\Sysbckup folder. This value can be between 0 and 99.

NOTE: When you restore a registry backup using Registry Checker for MS- DOS (scanreg), only the five earliest backups are displayed.

BackupDirectory=x, by default this entry does not contain a value, and registry backups are automatically saved in the Windows\Sysbckup folder. If for some reason you wish to change where the backup is stored then use this to do so. E.g. If you want to change it to you C:\Backup directory then you would have BackupDirectory=C:\Backup. I’d suggest just leaving the backup directory in its default location.

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