I know of several: For example, there are two tools lurking on your Win95 CD that can help---a lot---if you use them properly. Both let you make copies of your key system files so that if something goes wrong, you can restore your system to its pre-problem state. WinMag has written about these tools separately, but hasn’t covered them together; and from the mail I got, it’s clear that too many people still don’t know about them.

Load your Win95 CD and use Explorer to view the contents. The folders you want are buried in the "/other/misc" directory: They’re ERU and CFGBACK.

ERU is Win95’s Emergency Recovery Utility. Although it’s buried deep on the Win95 CD, it’s actually an important tool. The readme file states "Microsoft recommends that you use the utility to create a backup each time you make any significant system changes, such as adding new hardware or software."

When your system is running normally, with no problems, copy the ERU folder to your hard drive and run ERU.EXE from inside the folder. By default, ERU will create an Emergency Recovery Diskette (ERD) that contains your system’s key Windows files (including MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, SYSTEM.DAT, PROTOCOL.INI, WIN.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT, SYSTEM. INI and CONFIG.SYS) and a small restore utility. If or when you need to, you can boot to DOS, insert the ERD, and run the restore utility to put back these key files: you’ll be overwriting any later changes that may have caused trouble.

But a Windows Registry can be huge--- far larger than a floppy will hold. ERU isn’t very smart about this, and won’t warn you: It’ll simply omit one or more files. Dumb.

So what I do is override the default settings (it’s just a radio-button choice) and save my ERU data to a directory on my hard drive. ERU then copies all the system files there and places the restore applet in that directory. When I need to restore, I boot to DOS, switch to that directory, and run the restore program. Presto---I’m back where I was when my system was running fine.

The other utility, the Configuration Backup Utility (CFGBACK.EXE) also can help. To run it, you copy the CFGBACK directory to your hard drive and click on CFGBACK.EXE.

CFGBACK is easier to use than ERU. For one thing, the restore runs from inside Windows rather than from DOS. It also lets you save up to nine separate configurations (they’re stored in the /Windows directory as REGBACKX.rbk, where "X" is a numeral from 1 to 9). But it’s less thorough than ERU---it only backs up the Registry itself. And I have to wonder about the efficacy of a program that tried to restore the entire Registry while the Registry is active in Windows.

I actually use ‘em both: CFGBACK for quick and dirty Registry backups in low-risk situations; ERU as a more reliable, heavier-duty safety net in times when I suspect trouble is looming.

Note that neither application cleans up installed files, so they’re not a substitute for proper uninstalling. But either, or both could be a lifesaver if—or when---some errant application messes up your system.

Important Consumer Information About The Ads: Click

Legal Disclaimer: Click

Contact Info:

Advertisers: Click

PR Professionals: Click

Other: Send general comments, questions to fred@langa.com

Entire Site (All Contents and Components)
Copyright © 1998-2001 Fred Langa / Langa Consulting

No electrons were harmed in the creation of this web site.