As the case with previous versions of the Windows operating system, the system registry is an important component in Windows Vista that needs to be protected from damage caused by obsolete, incorrect, even harmful registry keys. The best way to safeguard your system registry is to keep consistent backups of the registry. Since there is no actual tool in Windows Vista to automatically back up the system registry, the option now is for us to do it manually. This can be done through the following ways which will be discussed further below.
The first option is to use the Registry Editor tool built in to Windows Vista, which is specifically intended to perform manual edits to the Windows registry. It also allows the user to backup a portion of the registry tree, regardless of its size. To do the back-up, the following steps must be taken:
- Click the Start button to click Run, type regedit, and press the return key.
- Go to the File menu, and go to Export.
- Provide the name of the backup file under the File name box.
- In the Export range section, you can either select All to back up the whole registry or Selected Branch to backup a certain part of the registry
- Click Save to create the back up file.
The second option is using the System Restore tool in Windows Vista, which is enabled on default if your system is able to meet or surpass the required specifications. It allows users to set the computer “back in time” to when the system recorded as the last known working condition in the event the system fails for some reason. One disadvantage of the System Restore though is that you cannot back up a portion of the System Registry; any changes made after the system recorded its last known working condition will be lost.
You can also do registry backup through the Windows Complete Backup and Restore, a built-in feature only available in Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate versions of Windows Vista. It allows you to create a complete back up of your system, including the registry and installed applications. However, you cannot do a partial backup of the registry through this tool as well.
There are also a lot of avaiable Registry Cleaner software that will let you easily back up your registry cleaner. High-end registry cleaners like RegCure can work with Vista as it lets you do simple backups with just a couple of clicks on your mouse. You can even do a partial or a full system registry backup without any issues.
It is recommended that you regularly do a system registry backup. Do not forget also to save the backup file not only on the hard drive but also on external storage media like flash drives or optical discs so in the event the hard drive fails, these important files will not be lost to you forever. It always pays off to be prepared at all times.
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