Protecting Your System Backing Up and the Registry

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Chapter 14

• Protecting Your System - Backing Up and the
  Registry

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Overview

• It is important to protect your OS.

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Overview

• Two ways to protect the OS
• backup files and
• programs
• backup the registry

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Overview

• Registry
• central database for all Windows
  configuration
• information.

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Overview

• Many of the changes that can be done to the
  computer can only take place by editing the
  Registry.

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Procedures

• Be very careful when working with the Registry
• if Registry is damaged
• may not be able to boot
• into OS
• OS may become
• inoperable

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Procedures

• OS provides tools to assist user when changing
  Registry files.

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Procedures

• By understanding how the computer works, the
  easier it is to diagnose and solve computer
  problems.

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Backing up Your System

• A backup is
• a duplicate of a file or files copied to
  another
• disk or tape.

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Backing up Your System

• A user can backup
• application files
• program files
• an entire hard drive

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Backing up Your System

• There are two major types of backup.

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Backing up Your System

• It is a good idea to have more than one copy of a
  backup disk.

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Backing up Your System

• Windows OS provides a backup program called
  Backup.

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Restore

• Restore option in Backup lets user copy files
  from backup disk or tape to original disk, or to
  another disk or directory.

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The Startup Disk

• The startup disk is different than a backup disk.

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The Startup Disk

• The startup disk allows user to boot their system
  if something goes wrong, and the backup disk does
  not.

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Initialization Files

• Configuration information provides details about
  the OS.

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Initialization Files

• Initialization (.INI) files
• store the system configuration info

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Initialization Files

• Two primary initialization files
• WIN.INI
• SYSTEM.INI

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The Registry

• Windows 95 and Windows 98 store all configuration
  information in the Registry.

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The Registry

• Registry data is kept in two files
• USER.DAT
• SYSTEM.DAT

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The Registry

• SYSTEM.DAT
• contains all system
• configuration and
• setting of data
• is contained in the
• Windows directory

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The Registry

• USER.DAT
• contains all user-
• specific settings
• is contained in the
• Windows directory

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The Registry

• If Registry is corrupt Windows 95 or Windows 98
  will not even start.

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The Registry

• For user protection Windows 98 provides the
  Registry Checker.

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The Registry

• The Registry was designed to replace
• AUTOEXEC.BAT
• CONFIG.SYS
• all .INI files

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Backing up the Registry

• Even though Windows 95 and Windows 98 make backup
  copies of the Registry, you can still experience
  problems.

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Backing up the Registry

• Last known good
• when Windows 95 saves USER.DAT and
• SYSTEM.DAT files from
• last successful boot.

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Backing up the Registry

• If user has to continuously reboot, there may be
  no good copies of Registry from which to boot.

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Backing up the Registry

• There are three ways the Registry can become
  corrupted.

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Backing up the Registry

• Best protection is to backup entire Registry.

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Backing up the Registry by Copying the Registry
Files

• Using the batch file - BKUPREG.BAT - is one
  method of backing up the Registry.

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Backing up the Registry by Copying the Registry
Files

• Two problems associated with using BACKUP.REG
• may not have most
• recent changes made
• to Registry
• may be more than one
• USER.DAT file

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Backing up the Registry by Copying the Registry
Files

• System Policy Editor
• the tool used to customize user settings
  in
• USER.DAT

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Backing up the Registry Using CFGBACK (Windows 95)

• CFGBACK
• a special backup utility provided with
  Windows
• 95.

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Backing up the Registry Using CFGBACK (Windows 95)

• CFGBACK consists of two files
• CFGBACK.EXE
• CFGBACK.HLP

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Backing up the Registry Using CFGBACK (Windows 95)

• Two problems associated with using CFGBACK
• cannot run from
• command line prompt
• if more than one user,
• it will not make
• backups of the users
• information.

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Backing up the Registry Using CFGBACK (Windows 95)

• One advantage in using CFGBACK is its ability to
  restore a good version of the Registry, should it
  become corrupt when installing new hardware
  devices.

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The Registry Checker (Windows 98)

• Registry Checker
• automatically scans the Registry upon
  startup.

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The Registry Checker (Windows 98)

• The Registry Checker can be run manually.

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The Registry Checker (Windows 98)

• Two versions of Registry Checker
• ScanRegW
• ScanReg

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The Registry Checker (Windows 98)

• Both versions of Registry Checker also have
  command line options.

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Restoring the Registry (Windows 95)

• SCANREG/RESTORE
• provides a list of known good .CAB files

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Restoring the Registry (Windows 95)

• Two scenarios in which SCANREG/RESTORE would be
  used
• no boot
• boot

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Alternatives to Editing the Registry

• Windows 95 and Windows 98 Registry structures are
  not significantly different.

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Alternatives to Editing the Registry

• Simplest and safest way to make changes to the
  Registry is to use Control Panel.

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Alternatives to Editing the Registry

• Most dangerous way to make changes to the
  Registry is to use Registry Editor.

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Structure of the Registry

• The hierarchy of the Registry can be seen by
  opening the Registry Editor.

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Structure of the Registry

• Like folders and subfolders found in Explorer,
  Registry Editor contains keys and subkeys.

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Structure of the Registry

• Registry Editor contains three types of objects
• keys
• values
• data

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Structure of the Registry

• Keys can contain one or more keys and values.
  This is known as nesting.

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Structure of the Registry

• Values have three parts
• data type
• data name
• data value

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Structure of the Registry

• There are three types of data
• binary
• strings
• DWORD (double word)

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Structure of the Registry

• In the Registry Editor there appears to be six
  keys.

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Structure of the Registry

• In reality, there are two main keys
• HKEY_Local_Machine
• HKEY_Users

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Structure of the Registry

• The other four keys are aliases for the two main
  keys.

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Structure of the Registry

• Aliases are needed for backwards compatibility
  (earlier versions of OS)

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Structure of the Registry

• HKEY_Local_Machine
• major key that contains configuration data
• specific to the computer.

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Structure of the Registry

• HKEY_Classes_Root
• it is an alias for
• HKEY_Local_Machine.

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Structure of the Registry

• HKEY_Current_Config
• it is an alias for
• HKEY_Local_Machine

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Structure of the Registry

• HKEY_Dyn_Data
• it is an alias for
• HKEY_Local_Machine

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Structure of the Registry

• HKEY_Users
• the other major key that contains
  configuration
• info for any user who logs onto the
  computer.

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Structure of the Registry

• HKEY_Current_User
• it is the alias for
• HKEY_User.

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Structure of the Registry

• Registry files should not be copied from one
  computer to another because HKEY files are
  specific to each computer.

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Structure of the Registry

• Subkeys also contain preferences that are
  specific to a user.

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Files and the Registry

• When a registered file is clicked, Windows looks
  for the type of file associated with that
  extension in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key.

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Files and the Registry

• Every file extension has two entries in
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
• the extension (.EXT)
• the ProgID

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Files and the Registry

• An application will register the file extension
  that it wants Windows to use when the application
  icon is clicked.

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Files and the Registry

• Some common subkeys for file types are
• CLSID
• DefaultIcon
• EditFlags
• Shell
• ShellEx
• Quick View options

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REGEDIT

• REGEDIT.EXE
• the tool provided by Windows to make
• changes to the Registry.

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REGEDIT

• In the Registry Editor menu there are only four
  menu choices
• Registry
• Edit
• View
• Help

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REGEDIT

• The Registry can be safely edited if it is
  exported to a text file.

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REGEDIT

• These text files have the .REG extension.

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REGEDIT

• REGEDIT can be run from
• Windows - graphical
• program
• MS-DOS - command
• line

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Using REGEDIT to Add New Items to a Context Menu

• REGEDIT can be used to add items to context menus.

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Using REGEDIT to See Your Bitmap Icons

• A bitmap icon can be changed to show the actual
  image instead of the generic .BMP icon.

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Altering the Save Settings on Exit

• To save the same desktop settings from work
  session to work session, must first disable the
  Save Settings feature.

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Altering the Save Settings on Exit

• In Windows 95 and Windows 98 the settings must be
  changed in the Registry by using either
• the System Policy Editor
• the Registry Editor

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