Compacting The Registry In Win 95/98

(Do NOT attempt this with any OS except Windows 95 or 98. If you do, you will probably screw up your registry and end up reinstalling Windows plus all of your software.)

If you have any doubt as to whether or not your registry can hold info you would rather not have seen by anyone else, follow me here.
1. Copy C:\windows\User.dat to your C:\ directory
(This backs up User.dat to the C:\Windows directory in case you screw up)
2. Open Wordpad
3. Set it to read ALL FILES
4. Open it to C:\Windows
5. Scroll to the file User.dat
6. Open the file with Wordpad
7. Browse through this file with FIND. Put one of your passwords into the FIND box and see if Wordpad finds it.
Only you know what kind of private info you have worked with and what you should search for. Try searching for one of your passwords, Credit Card numbers, etc. If you visit porn sites or download naughty pics from Usenet, have Wordpad search for the JPG extension. Keep hitting FIND NEXT. If it comes up with DaddyDoesAuntieJill.JPG, you have a good example of why you should compact your registry and get rid of such private matters showing up there. (The same goes for the file System.dat, found in the same directory as User.dat.)
There is a way to get rid of much of these if the entries are invalid entries for files that were deleted long ago. Sometimes it even works on newer entries that still exist on your disk. The registry is a trail to the past, exposing what you have done in Windows. It's a frustrating thing to try and control. One thing you can count on is that by defragging your registry, it will be healthier without all that deadwood it has collected. The concept is the same as defragging your hard drive.
The first step is to download Microsoft's RegClean. You want to make sure you have no errors in it before compacting it. Besides, regedit will not export it for saving if it is full of errors.
Go Here to download a copy. (MS no longer carries it on their pages.)
Install RegClean and use it to check your registry.
If when it finishes and the FIX button is visible. Click on it. Your registry should now be ready to save.
Now copy System.dat and User.dat from the C:\Windows directory to your C:\ directory. Remember, COPY them, do NOT move them.
Click on your START menu. Choose START | RUN
In the RUN box type the following: REGEDIT. Then click on OK or ENTER.
Make sure MY COMPUTER is highlighted as in the capture below.

Click on REGISTRY and choose EXPORT REGISTRY FILE... (See pic below.)

Save the registry as TEMP.REG to C:\ (This is the same directory you just saved System.dat and User.dat to.)
Now, if you have never used DOS before, don't let this next step throw you. It isn't involved at all. With even the earliest Pentium machines, this should take less than ten minutes - unless you have so much accumulated crud built up over the years.
Click again on the START menu. Choose: START | SHUTDOWN | RESTART IN MS-DOS MODE.
Once at the black DOS screen, type at the C:\ prompt: REGEDIT /C C:\TEMP.REG
Make sure your backward and forward slashes are correct.
(The screen capture below is not entirely accurate because I took it in the DOS shell and not in real DOS. The screen Capture program is a Windows program and will not work in DOS. However, it is similar to what you will see, and what you should type.)

Hit the ENTER key.
KEEP YOUR FINGERS OFF THE KEYBOARD UNTIL REGEDIT IS THROUGH COMPACTING THE KEYBOARD - or else you could SCREW UP YOUR REGISTRY!
If you're one of those compulsive "I gotta be doing SOMETHING!" freaks, pick your nose for a while, but KEEP YOUR FINGERS OFF THE KEYBOARD!
After Regedit is finished, either type EXIT to return to Windows, or do a boot with the CTRL-ALT-DEL keys.
Once back in Windows, you can compare the sizes of your new System.dat and User.dat against that of the backups you saved to your C:\ directory. There probably will be a substantial difference in size reduction if you have used your computer for any length of time without ever having compacted the registry. The difference in size between the old and newer files lessens as you keep compacting on a regular basis, because the registry is not accumulating a whole lot of useless crud.
You can now delete the copies of the two backup files you copied to the C:\ directory. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT DELETE THE NEWLY COMPACTED ONES THAT ARE IN THE WINDOWS DIRECTORY!!
Go back to menu on HOME page.
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