JC said:
My registry has screwed the pooch and I can't fix it. Can some kind
soul help this college girl out? I have new classes starting in a week
and my laptop won't boot.
On my computer, the registry is stored in five files.
The procedure here, is for a different OS, but shows the principles
of recovery and what is involved.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
The first step there, is copying "empty" registry files that are
already on the OS, into position so the computer can boot. If your
computer can still boot, you don't need to do that. An "empty" registry
file may allow the computer to boot, but all your recently installed
applications would have lost their settings and install info.
The second step, uses System Restore to put back "populated" registry
files, the ones that have your real settings in them, all your
preferences and so on. System Restore can have side effects, because
it monitors a lot more than just registry files, so you need to
do a bit of reading up on System Restore, before using it. System
Restore can be "undone", if the results turn out bad, but you'd still want
to read a background article, to see what files it tracks, what
files it will erase, and so on.
So that's the basic idea, but based on the description so far, it's
hard to say whether using System Restore would be enough to fix your
problem or not.
If malware was involved, the malware will attack all the restore
points, as a means to "stay within the computer". You may not be
able to use the contents of System Restore if the computer is infected.
(The computer would remain infected if you did.) So SR is not a
"magic wand" or anything - it's a resource that can
come in handy, has copies of files in it, but doesn't come with
a money back guarantee.
(A "fluffy" article on System Restore)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore
(Find a more practical site, for advice)
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-system-restore/
When I got a new Windows 7 laptop, it offered to burn a "Recovery DVD", and
that is a useful piece of media to boot the computer with, for repair
purposes. (That's a Microsoft feature, and uses IMAPI2 burning support, so
it should be a common feature on laptops.) So that's another tool you can use.
My laptop had me burn a total of five DVDs, and it took about two days of work,
to read all the instructions and get everything done. Since I didn't trust the
DVDs, I also made copies on the hard drive of this computer, in case I
needed to burn fresh copies. I also imaged the hard drive on the
laptop, so I'd have a couple ways to get back to a running state.
That's in case the hard drive in the laptop drops dead.
If you can't start the machine at all, and you didn't make a Recovery DVD
for yourself, you can still find copies of the Recovery DVD, as a BitTorrent.
But since the laptop can make its own copy, this would be a waste of
downloading time. I actually had copies of these, even before I got
the laptop, and you can also use these to get a "command prompt" on
computers running a slightly older OS. I got a 32 bit one, to use
for emergencies on the older computers. Select a 32 bit or 64 bit
version, to match what is installed on your computer. For the laptop,
the laptop burned a 64 bit version, matching the software installed
on the laptop.
http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/
"Windows 7 32-bit Repair Disc.iso" 150,194,176 bytes
A Recovery DVD is too small, to have a copy of Windows for re-installation.
It provides a primitive boot environment, and can provide a command prompt,
and do other simple kinds of repairs. The other DVDs I burned on my
laptop, show how much space is needed to store Windows 7 actual install
files.
HTH,
Paul
