DOES RESTORE POINT INCLUDE THE REGISTRY

I have been reading the forums and am confused regarding registry backups. I have always assumed that SYSTEM RESTORE POINTS (using XP SP3) would include the registry. Is this wrong or if correct why is it neccessary to do a separate backup before touching the registry. If anyone can shed light on this I would be grateful.

I have been reading the forums and am confused regarding registry backups. I have always assumed that SYSTEM RESTORE POINTS (using XP SP3) would include the registry. Is this wrong or if correct why is it neccessary to do a separate backup before touching the registry. If anyone can shed light on this I would be grateful.

Your assumption is correct, SYS Restore includes the registry restoration.

It is not necessary to back up both , but sometimes , for example, when you want to Install a program ,try it , uninstall it and restore registry backup (assuming you backed up prior to downloading... ) and then you will not have a trace of the program you tried in your registry, without having to make a SYS RESTORE point. Hope I made it somewhat clear.

Found that very helpful, eli. Thank you. I always use some virtualizer app and had never thought of that. Duuhhh. As Tasgandy says, you're never too old to learn. Now remembering it...ahh well. :)