Is there the equivalent of "Set Restore Point" for Windows '98.

[Tiger-Heli]

What I want to do is save the registry and then be able to reinstall it at a later date (without subsequent changes).

I think there's just a couple of files I would need to save, but I don't know which ones.  

Anyone?

Thanks in advance.

[Spaced Invader]

What I want to do is save the registry and then be able to reinstall it at a later date (without subsequent changes).

I think there's just a couple of files I would need to save, but I don't know which ones.  

Anyone?

Thanks in advance.

Read all about it!

http://home.adelphia.net/~bobstur/misc/w98regbu.htm

Hope that helps!  

[Tiger-Heli]

What I want to do is save the registry and then be able to reinstall it at a later date (without subsequent changes).

I think there's just a couple of files I would need to save, but I don't know which ones.  

Anyone?

Thanks in advance.

Read all about it!

http://home.adelphia.net/~bobstur/misc/w98regbu.htm

Hope that helps!  

That's about what I was thinking.  Here's some things from the article that I was concerned about.

It explains how to make a backup, but it says windows does this daily when you re-boot.  I typically install a new program and run four or five re-boots to test it out.  It also implies that you don't always get all the backups to choose from.

New Q:  It seems like the applicable files are system.dat, user.dat, win.ini and system.ini.

Can't I just copy these to another directory (or maybe even a floppy) and label it - Registry before I installed Program Y.  Then re-copy them (From DOS) to the windows directory when I want to re-store the registry.

?

[Spaced Invader]

In order to restore any copy of the Registry, either a copy you made or one that Windows 98 itself made within the last five days, just type SCANREG/RESTORE. Using the arrow keys, select the CAB (the CABs you will see are archived copies of the Registry) you want. The CAB files are listed by date with the most recent copy at the top. Once you've restored the Registry, use the arrow keys to highlight Exit and then reboot.

You should just be able to copy the cab file you want for a more permanant backup (may have to search for the cab--by date). If you use user profiles you'll want to copy the user.dat file too.

[barfybuffet]

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

make a norton ghost image. you can restore a complete os install in less than 15 minutes.
by far my favorite piece of software ever.

[DZuroff]

If you boot to a command prompt (Press F8 and select "Command Prompt Only" and run Scanreg, you will be given the option to backup your registry.  This method allows you to back it up pretty much any time you want rather than only upon rebooting.  I am not sure how many backups it retains though.  For example, say you create a backup and reboot 7 times.  If windows only retains 7 backups then you just lost your manual backup.   Also, the registry is made up of two files.  "USER.DAT" and "SYSTEM.DAT"   There are other misc system files as you mentioned such as windows.ini and system.ini (if you click on Run and type "sysedit" that will open all the system files so you can see what they are).  Saving these files and restoring them later should work however I supposed there are no guarantees because Win98 can be very finicky.  The absolute best way however, which was already mentioned, is a ghost backup.  Ghost takes a snapshot of your computer and saves it in one file.  When you restore the image you will be 100% back to where you were when you created the snapshot.  If you don't want to make an image and you have a spare hard drive laying around Ghost's "Disk to Disk" copy works great too!  It will clone the source HD to the target HD.  I have done this many times to backup my system before an OS upgrade and I have had to fall back to to the backup more than once.  By doing this it takes away that nervous feeling you get in your gut when you are installing bleeding edge software.