Clean Registry - 3 Preparations Before Start

Before you jump to clean the registry, please remember to backup your registry with regedit, create a restore point in your windows and perform a hard disk imaging backup. Without this 3 step, you are putting your Windows at risk and may be corrupt until a full reinstall of the operating system required!

Backup Registry Entries
Type regedit in command prompt, then enter to launch the Registry Editor, from file menu select Export, then specify a file name and location to backup. Wait for a minute or two depending on the size of your Registry.

Create Restore Point
If your are using Windows XP or Vista with the system restore enabled, create a restore point. A restore point is a snap shot of your Windows registry up to the moment you create it, and will let you restore it back to the state of backup.

Hard Disk Imaging Backup
By using some hard disk imaging software such as Paragon Drive Backup or Acronis TrueImage, you can snap shot your whole Windows + Software + Settings on your hard disk to any backup drive! You can play around with the registry or install any software, after testing or cleaning, you can always rollback to the state where you backup your hard disk image.

By now you are ready to clean registry, use some proper registry software as recommended in the following review. Never skip the 3 steps if you are using freeware, you may skip them only when your registry cleaner provide auto backup function, having said that, the best way is still following the guidelines - backup, backup and backup.

(C) Copyright 2008 Kok Choon - Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety as long as all links and author resources box in place.

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