restoring the registry

CCleaner for Windows
1

Can you provide a little more explanation of using a registry backup file. Your online help indicates to Right-click on the .REG file created and select 'Merge'.

By default these files will be saved into your 'My Documents' folder.

In another spot in your help files it says:

Right-click on the .REG file and then shows a screen capture saying - Are you sure you want to add the information to the registry

Click Yes to restore the Registry.

MY QUESTIONs are: one of the above replies indicates the saved REG file will be saved into My Documents. Why My Documents and not the registry? The other says it will be added (nor sure if merge and add are the same thing) - but I would think you would want to overwrite the registry if you had made wrong changes. What does using the REG backup file actually do?

If entries were removed, are they replace?

If entries were changed, are they restored?

Thank you.

2

Hi Elllliotq,

I think I already answered a similar question from you in this thread, post number 6

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry125848

3

Thank you. You did. I missed it since I wasn't use to how this forum is organized.

Please excuse.

Elliottq

Hi Elllliotq,

I think I already answered a similar question from you in this thread, post number 6

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry125848

4
Thank you. You did. I missed it since I wasn't use to how this forum is organized.

Please excuse.

Elliottq

No problem.

Is everything alright now?

5
Hi Elllliotq,

I think I already answered a similar question from you in this thread, post number 6

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry125848

After I had backed up the registry and it did a wonderful job however (I can tell the system runs faster) in the process there were a couple of challenges afterward and some of the programs are not functioning correctly when I deleted some registry files I should not have. I followed the directions to backup the registry including clicking on merge and following the thread that took me to 05 and the following information:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ppi]

@="ppifile"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\KB929399]

"DisplayName"="Hotfix for Windows Media Format 11 SDK (KB929399)"

"UninstallString"="\"C:\\WINDOWS\\$NtUninstallKB929399$\\spuninst\\spuninst.exe\""

"TSAware"=dword:00000001

"NoModify"=dword:00000001

"InstallDate"="20090108"

"Publisher"="Microsoft Corporation"

"NoRepair"=dword:00000001

"HelpLink"="http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=929399"

"URLInfoAbout"="http://support.microsoft.com"

"DisplayIcon"=hex(2):22,00,25,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,\

00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,25,00,5c,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,\

73,00,20,00,6d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,20,00,70,00,6c,00,61,00,79,00,65,\

00,72,00,5c,00,77,00,6d,00,70,00,6c,00,61,00,79,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,\

78,00,65,00,22,00,00,00

"ParentKeyName"="OperatingSystem"

then by using regedit you can navigate to the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

then you can navigate down to where KB929399 will be inserted and manually copy-n-paste the information needed to restore the registry entry to what it was before the cleaning operation began.

I located all of the above KB929399 the question I have is in regards to the copy-n-paste. Do I copy all of the information from the Backup into this folder? Do I delete the information that is in the folder or just add it to it? If not how then does this aspect of the restore work :mellow:.

Thanks for your assistance in this matter...

RJMChina

6

Having read thru the many posts on restoring the registry, I am still a bit confused.

If you double click the backed up .reg file, it says "do you want to add the info to the registry." If you right click the file it instead give you the option to merge the info. I am not sure those mean the same thing.

Does add mean to over write the keys in the registry with the info in the backup, or to actually add the data in the backup to the existing registry, which in my mind would duplicate some keys?

Are add and merge the same?

Thank you.

7

Add and Merge are the exact same thing really. If there's already existing data for the entries being merged they'll just be changed to what's being imported from the .reg file.

That's also a way of saving a programs settings too, which I've did for years with things like 7-Zip, ImgBurn, etc., as it means not reconfiguring the program from scratch.