3 Precautions Before Cleaning Your Registry

In case you have decided to clean your computer’s registry then there are a few precautions you need to take before doing so. This is because a computer’s registry is a very critical part of your system software and any major damage to it might render your computer unusable.

Without taking these precautions you may be risking corrupting your entire system and may render your computer useless in the process. So before cleaning your registry you have to take the following 3 precautions:

1.       Backup your registry: Although this functionality is available in many of the registry cleaning softwares available in the market, still in case you aren’t sure then you can always go for a manual backup of your registry. Backing up your registry is important since in case you unknowingly remove any important registry entry then you can always restore your registry using the backup. 

     Although it’s unlikely that any problem will arise using any of the commercial registry cleaners still it will be a wise move to backup your registry before any cleaning. Backing up your windows registry is quite easy. All you have to do is to go to START on your taskbar, select RUN and then Type “regedit”. 

     This command will launch the registry editor on your screen. From the command menu of this software select File and choose Export from the drop down menu. This will open a Pop up where you have to choose the Registry save location. Select the Export Range as All and Click Save. This will save your entire registry to your chosen location.

2.       Hard Disk Imaging Backup: This is another proactive security operation which you might want to do for creating additional backup. A registry backup will only backup your registry and nothing else.

     However there are several commercial hard disk imaging softwares available in the market which can take a snap shot of your entire system including the installed softwares and the different settings on your hard disk. 

     This snap shot of your entire system can then be saved to any desired backup drive. You can undergo this operation before installing some “unsolicited” new software so that you have a backup to roll back to in case something goes wrong after the installation.  

3.      Create System Restore Point: This is a more direct way of creating a backup of your entire system without the help of any additional software. The system restore is a vital tool which is being used by individual users and corporations alike. Using this feature, you can always rollback to the last known good working condition of your system in case you are experiencing repeated system failures. 

     In case you are using a windows Vista system then System Restore is enabled by default. This tool works similar to the hard disk imaging softwares by taking a snap shot of your entire system including all the data files, installed programs, user profile settings and configurations, registry and the operating system.

     Once a restore is initiated then all the registry settings are restored to the state when the snapshot was taken. Using a system restore, it is not possible to take a snapshot of just a portion of your system or registry. Hence once you rollback to the restored position then all changes made to the system after the snapshot was taken are lost. 

     Creating a system restore is critical for recovering from complicated Registry situations and other system errors such as DLL errors, run time errors and the like. Backing up your registry at least once a month is a healthy practice to ensure a secured system.