«

Plumb Bob <> wrote in
news:Xns9D12D140F3FD5dotdotnet@74.209.131.10:

> Kid must've been on my computer again..

<SNIP>

From what you've written, it sounds like you have a pretty good
idea of what you are doing. I can't think of anything else I
would have tried.

I don't use "restore points" myself, I prefer to make an image
of the C drive, but if you have a restore point, try that,
although I think you would have by now. Consider getting an
imaging program if you don't have that habit. Maybe restore an
older copy of the registry as a first resort?

Buy the kid a used (or new) computer and put a password on
yours. Otherwise this kind of thing WILL happen again, in one
flavor or another.

--
The arrows are faster than rodents!
- t.

Plumb Bob <> wrote in
news:Xns9D12D48EE911Cdotdotnet@74.209.131.10:

> thanatoid <> wrote in
> news:Xns9D12E67837B37thanexit@188.40.43.245:

<SNIP>

> hmm.. yeah, idon't do the "restore points" thing either
> (never have).

There are several free imaging programs on this page:

http://freeware.intrastar.net/diskfile.htm

Some dead links but not many considering the wealth of freeware.

Also, depending on the make of your HD you may be able to get a
free version of Acronis from your HD manuf's web site.

> i'll see if i can figure out how to restore an older copy
> of the registry. couldn't hurt.
>
> i was just hoping that maybe i missed something obvious.
>
> what i think i'll end up doing is trying a clean install
> with windows 7 this weekend (b4 the game of course). I
> already have everything backed up on discs.

Sounds good. Good luck.



--
The arrows are faster than rodents!
- t.

In message <Xns9D12D8F6D7250dotdotnet@74.209.131.10>, Plumb Bob
<> writes
>thanatoid <> wrote in
>news:Xns9D12EA742BFE7thanexit@188.40.43.245:
>
>> Plumb Bob <> wrote in
>> news:Xns9D12D48EE911Cdotdotnet@74.209.131.10:
>>
>>> thanatoid <> wrote in
>>> news:Xns9D12E67837B37thanexit@188.40.43.245:
>>
>> <SNIP>
>>
>>> hmm.. yeah, idon't do the "restore points" thing either
>>> (never have).
>>
>> There are several free imaging programs on this page:
>>
>> http://freeware.intrastar.net/diskfile.htm
>>
>> Some dead links but not many considering the wealth of freeware.
>>
>> Also, depending on the make of your HD you may be able to get a
>> free version of Acronis from your HD manuf's web site.
>>
>>> i'll see if i can figure out how to restore an older copy
>>> of the registry. couldn't hurt.
>>>
>>> i was just hoping that maybe i missed something obvious.
>>>
>>> what i think i'll end up doing is trying a clean install
>>> with windows 7 this weekend (b4 the game of course). I
>>> already have everything backed up on discs.
>>
>> Sounds good. Good luck.
>>
>>
>>
>
>nothing but western digital here.
>
>once things are freshened-up and running, i think i'll take your advice
>and at least check out the Acronis program.
>
>Thanks for your input thanatiod, and good night.
>
I can't think why the first course of action isn't to try a System
Restore. It's dead easy, and only take a few minutes.
--
Ian

Ian Jackson <> wrote in
news::

<SNIP>

>>> Plumb Bob <> wrote in
>>> news:Xns9D12D48EE911Cdotdotnet@74.209.131.10:
>>>
>>>> thanatoid <> wrote in
>>>> news:Xns9D12E67837B37thanexit@188.40.43.245:
>>>
>>> <SNIP>
>>>
>>>> hmm.. yeah, idon't do the "restore points" thing either
>>>> (never have).

<SNIP>

> I can't think why the first course of action isn't to try a
> System Restore. It's dead easy, and only take a few
> minutes.

You should try reading posts before responding. I snipped the
irrelevant parts. So read what he says above about restores
(which was in response to me saying I don't use them).

--
The arrows are faster than rodents!
- t.

"Andy@" <Andy@> wrote in
news:jl3l37-423.ln1@unique_and_different_just_like_everyone_el
se.westnet.com.au:

> Plumb Bob wrote:
>
>> i'll see if i can figure out how to restore an older copy
>> of the registry. couldn't hurt.
>
> Well, it could actually.

One of these days I'm gonna remove the entire first branch of
the registry and reboot and I am almost certain the computer
will boot just fine.

> And it almost certainly won't fix your codec issue.

Why not? If all associations were ****ed up or deleted by the
variety of unknown events which took place, an earlier reg.
version /might/ restore them. It /will/ also affect some
settings in some programs, but the OP seems to have an above-
average grasp of how the system works and how to manage it and
he does do backups although he does not do use System Restore (a
distant cousin of plug-and-pRay).

I have been ****ing around with the registry since 95B came out
and I have NEVER made my system unbootable - and I certainly did
not know much if ANYTHING about it when I started! (Yes, I know
I /STILL/ don't know **** about it... There, I saved you some
typing...)

(BTW, I read the registry already existed in 3.1 albeit in a
very slim version... One of these days I'm gonna do an install
of 3.11 on another machine and check it out just for the sick
thrill... The horror...)



--
The arrows are faster than rodents!
- t.

Andy <nospam@> wrote in
news:cu0o37-gta.ln1@unique_and_different_just_like_everyone_el
se.westnet.com.au:

> thanatoid wrote:

<SNIP>

>> One of these days I'm gonna remove the entire first branch
>> of the registry and reboot and I am almost certain the
>> computer will boot just fine.
>
> First branch?
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE?

On my computer (98SE Lite) it's HKEY CLASSES ROOT. I think
classes are just MS's way of making people stupider by letting
them click on anything and have it work (or destroy their
machine if it was taken over by malware) without them knowing
what program they are even using. Etc.

> I'd guess the machine would have a whole heap of trouble
> just bringing up a login screen, let alone explorer.exe.

Maybe with LOCAL MACHINE it would, it almost certainly would
with HKEY CURRENT CONFIG. But who knows? People who run XP and
later can't really try it (leaving aside the demented daredevil
factor) because there is no simple way to restore the registry
like there is in a DOS based shell like 9x's are. I just use
XtreeGold and I'm back where I was, not to mention having an
image of C:.

But I am VERY tempted to try it with all the keys and see just
what happens. Some day.

In fact I wonder what would happen If I just deleted the
registry completely... Some day...

>>> And it almost certainly won't fix your codec issue.
>>
>> Why not? If all associations were ****ed up or deleted by
>> the variety of unknown events which took place, an earlier
>> reg. version /might/ restore them. It /will/ also affect
>> some settings in some programs,
>
> There's the rub. Depending on when the 'backup' of the
> registry was taken' (why would you bother anyway?), if
> software has been newly installed since then you'll lose
> any config stored there and potentially **** the whole
> thing.

Losing the font you like to use in a word processor or your
default directories or your filter settings in a music
processing program is not gonna make your machine unbootable.
And anyone who has a clue exports the important reg keys so in
case of disaster those settings (especially stuff like the music
filter settings, which can be extremely complex and virtually
impossible to reproduce if lost) they can import them and be
where they were before.

/That's/ the whole point (or rub), everything was just fine with
ini files, and then MS had to create a monster.



--
The arrows are faster than rodents!
- t.

Get a copy of this from a warez site. Wondershare HD Video Converter if it
doesn't play all your videos in all the different formats then you really
have a problem.

Plumb Bob wrote:

> thanatoid <> wrote in
> news:Xns9D12E67837B37thanexit@188.40.43.245:
>
> > Plumb Bob <> wrote in
> > news:Xns9D12D140F3FD5dotdotnet@74.209.131.10:
> >
> >> Kid must've been on my computer again..
> >
> > <SNIP>
> >
> > From what you've written, it sounds like you have a pretty good
> > idea of what you are doing. I can't think of anything else I
> > would have tried.
> >
> > I don't use "restore points" myself, I prefer to make an image
> > of the C drive, but if you have a restore point, try that,
> > although I think you would have by now. Consider getting an
> > imaging program if you don't have that habit. Maybe restore an
> > older copy of the registry as a first resort?
> >
> > Buy the kid a used (or new) computer and put a password on
> > yours. Otherwise this kind of thing WILL happen again, in one
> > flavor or another.
> >
>
> hmm.. yeah, idon't do the "restore points" thing either (never have).
>
> i'll see if i can figure out how to restore an older copy of the
> registry. couldn't hurt.
>
> i was just hoping that maybe i missed something obvious.
>
> what i think i'll end up doing is trying a clean install with windows 7
> this weekend (b4 the game of course). I already have everything backed up
> on discs.
>
>

--
The Grandmaster of the CyberFROG

Come get your ticket to CyberFROG city

Nay, Art thou decideth playeth ye simpleton games. *Some* of us know proper
manners

Very few. I used to take calls from *rank* noobs but got fired the first day
on the job for potty mouth,

Hamster isn't a newsreader it's a mistake!

El-Gonzo Jackson FROGS both me and Chuckcar

Master Juba was a black man imitating a white man imitating a black man

Using my technical prowess and computer abilities to answer questions beyond
the realm of understandability

Regards Tony... Making usenet better for everyone everyday

Andy <nospam@> wrote in
news:iivs37-g42.ln1@unique_and_different_just_like_everyone_el
se.westnet.com.au:

<SNIP>

> Well, it was a fair old anti-climax.
>
> It won't allow you to delete an entire top level key.

We should have guessed, huh?

> I suppose I could export one to a text file, and do a
> find/replace and append "-" to the start of each line and
> then import the file with Regedit...

Naah...

Sigh...

All hail MS...



--
The arrows are faster than rodents!
- t.