the dreaded Registry

What do you do if your Windows won't boot or your registry is trashed? Here's a quick registry revival trick that sometimes works. Boot to a real mode DOS prompt, go to the root directory of drive C and do ATTRIB -R -H -S SYSTEM.1ST. Next run Regedit to export this file (the pre-final Windows 95 registry) to a mergeable registry file: REGEDIT /L:SYSTEM.1ST /E MY.REG. Then merge this file with your existing registry: REGEDIT MY.REG This may or may not cure your existing Windows 95 registry, but it's usually worth trying before a complete reinstall. If this doesn't work, try this. When you reinstall Windows 95, go into the Windows directory and delete SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT, first. If you go in from DOS, do ATTRIB -R -H -S *.DAT to make the files visible. It's probably better to run SETUP from a real DOS prompt than from within Windows 95, as this will guarantee that all the system files get refreshed.

See if you can get a copy of regclean.exe from Micrsoft, it's fun to play with to see if you're going to crash when it's done. No problems so far, and I use it after every new install or deletion. WER

What do you mean "to see if you're going to crash when it's done"? Could you go in to a bit more detail about that the purpose of this is? What exactly does it do?

It is supposed to remove and/or correct incorrect entries in the registry. I've had 95 crash on me so many times, it has kinda become a game! WER

My cure for Windows 95 crashes: Windows NT 4.0. Works every time.

Now, what fun is that?!?! WER

It's called stability. Stability may not be fun, but it's good.

I don't know, stability is kinda close to stagnation, but this might be more relevant to the spirit conference. WER