Create backups before deleting or changing registry entries

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Registry Healer creates two types of registry backups:
A partial registry backup before corrections are made to the registry.
A full registry backup before registry is scanned.

A partial registry backup can be restored by double-clicking on .reg files in the Backup folder. By default this folder is "C:\ProgramData\RH_Backups".
You can browse for this folder with Explorer or open it from the Start Menu -> Programs -> Registry Healer -> Open Last Used Backup Folder.

A full registry backup can be restored from the Start Menu -> Registry Healer -> Backup -> Full Registry Restore. Please read the Create full registry backups topic for more information.

For information on problem registry entries that should not be modified please refer to the FAQ topic "After running Registry Healer, a program does not function correctly. What do I do?"


Registry Healer will display a confirmation dialog when it is ready to modify the registry. See a screenshot

At this dialog you should confirm deletion or modification of registry keys and choose a backup path. You may browse the file system for a folder in which to save backup files by pressing the Browse button. The program will create backup files under different filenames in the selected folder. The filenames have the following format *: ID_yyyy_mm_dd_ssssss.reg. Where ID is an identifier of the backup file type:

·	Entries with invalid paths will have the "paths" prefix.

·	Empty Keys will have the "empty" prefix,

·	Invalid font entries will have the "fonts" prefix,

·	Obsolete Start Menu Items will have the "smenu" prefix,

·	Invalid application entries will have the "apps" prefix,

·	Invalid help entries will have the "hlps" prefix;

·	Invalid Registered File Types will have the "ext" prefix.

The designation yyyy_mm_dd indicates the date the file is created and ssssss - is an unique identifier.

Backup files will help you restore modified registry keys. To restore all changes to the registry you will need to run each individual backup file by double-click on the file in Windows® Explorer.

You should first try to restore .reg backup files. If this doesn't help, you can restore a full registry backup. A full registry backup covers the entire registry (all registry keys) including modified registry keys backed up in small .reg files.

If you do not wish to backup the registry, then uncheck the Save the undo file checkbox in the confirmation dialog.
Note that modified registry keys cannot be restored afterwards.

* Under Windows® 95, 98, NT4 these .reg backup files have REGEDIT4 format; this format is also supported by Windows® 2000/ME/XP/2003/Vista/7/8.
Under newer Windows® versions like 2000/ME/XP/2003/Vista/7/8 and later, all .reg backup files have REGEDIT5 format - files are saved as unicode texts.

See also:
Notes about deleting empty entries
Run registry editor at the selected registry key
Create full registry backups


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