Or more specifically, what''s the point? Who really thinks it''s the best thing since sliced bread? Let''s just face it. Originally it was created for universal configuration file because all all programs stored their inis in windows'' directory... How did registry change it? All configuration *still* is in windows'' directory. Now it is in one big (mine''s 4megs!) file, and once it gets corrupted, there''s practically nothing that can be done. And everyone pretends to be happy. Well, everyone but me. Recently I had to completely wipe out windows and reinstall it (no, there was no other way). Program ini''s I could have rescued, but with registry... Well, reinstalling windows took less than hour. Reinstalling all software that failed to realize that they were installed just because there were no registry entries took about a day more! Oh how I learned to hate XWA (well, all lucasarts'' games), MS Office (it complained that registry was corrupt but didn''t even try to fix it!), Sound Forge and many others... This made me to decide NEVER to use registry for ANYTHING unless there would be no other way (like finding out default browser...). Config files, all the way.

You should be glad that MS Office did NOT try to fix the registry Who knows what it would have done to the file?

Well, although a central scheme for saving configuration info has its weaknesses, it also has some advantages. For example disk-usage is much better, etc ... But, I also believe, that a game can store its data in the game directory (including some of the more ominous DLLs, that some apps tend to copy into your system directory).

Hope your system is up and running again,

Marco Koegler

PS: It IS possible to make a backup copy of your registry file...

MK42: It is possible to create a backup copy by choosing
FILE/Export registry file in regedit.

-Sex on the television doesn't hurt... unless you fall off.

Personally, I think the problem with the registry is that MS threw this out there with out it being restrictive enough. Any good tool can be abused. Especially if everyone goes off and does things differently. They probably should have restricted the type of information allowed in it to things that are truly system wide like dlls in use, OLE, COM, ActiveX componentry that needs to be seen by other apps, etc. Programs should keep their own data in their own directories and minimize the risk of corruption to the whole system.

Mike Roberts
aka milo
mlbobs@telocity.com

Forgive me if I am wrong - but isn''t that what happens in win2k? Just interested; I haven''t yet obtained myself a copy.
r.

Well from a systems maintence standpoint having all the configuration data in one place is a really nice thing. You''ve only got one sucker to backup. Whereas before you''d have to hunt down all the individual files and hope you didn''t miss one. On a system with daily backups it really makes a difference.

Plus if you have lots of little files it will take up more disk space - each file, no matter how big, will take up a minimum space of 1K. Having all of the config in one big file is much more efficient by saving disk space and it''ll be faster on disk access as well.

/home/./~jumble
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StereoMike: That''s what I meant by saying "there IS a way to backup the registry"

Take care,

MK42

I too think the Registry is evil. If it corrupts, possibly your entire installation is nullifed rather than just one app. It makes it harder for the casual user to alter the properties of their software. And what if I want to copy the settings from my program on Computer 1 across to the fresh installation of said program on Computer 2? Next to impossible with the registry unless you really know what you''re doing.

I''d prefer to have applications use their own INI files wherever possible, in their own directory. The registry would instead be a place for programs to register their INI files as existing, Its main function would be to have a ''backup'' command which iterates through the list of registered INI files and saves them as a zip or something. This could therefore be used to replace an entire system''s settings, or that of individual programs, nice and easily.

Well, MS proggys never cared about the ''what-if'' situations, expecially "what if it breaks?"

Ever update a driver {say, your graphics card''s} and not have it work. You go and delete the entry in the "Sytem" section of "Config Panel." Reboot. Okay, it found it again before it finished loading Windows. Have it search for it, it finds it, trys to install. . . hmm, can''t find suchnsuch.dll. Okay, it''s, um. . . where is it. I''ll just go to the "Find" command. THE FIND COMMAND IS NOT AVAILABLE! Now that''s just plain MORONIC Microsoft.
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Speaking of that company, they have a utility that "cleans" the registry:
NEVER use it!!!!!
It destroyed mine, twice.