How To Backup & Restore Registry in Windows 7/Vista/XP

In proper modification of registry in Windows may cause system crash. So, it is important to backup the existing registry before you modify it. Just in case any problem arise due to the registry modification, you can always restore it from the backup copy.

Exporting - Backup Registry

There are slidely different in steps to backup the registry in different Windows versions. Below are simple steps to backup the registry for Windows 7/Vista/XP:

Windows XP and Vista : Open Start menu, type regedit in Start Search and click OK.

Windows XP: Open Start menu, click Run, type regedit and select OK.


Once the Registry Editor window launched, go to the File Menu and select Export.


Under the export range select All.


Put an appropriate file name and save as file type Registration Files(*.reg).

Importing - Restore Registry

If you want to restore the registry, select the import from the file menu of registry editor:

Now select the registry file(backup) that you made(using above procedure) and it will recover your settings that were before you made changes in the registry.

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Posted in: backup registry,trial software,Windows 7,Windows Vista,Windows XP

How To Reinstall Trial Software After Trial Period Has Expired

There are a few methods to resinstall and reset the trial period of a trial software:

Method 1: Backup The Registry

Most trial software add a registry key to track it validality. When you uninstall a software, the registry key will not be removed. So, if you have removed a trial software and try to reinstall again, you wont be able to reset the trial period as the software found the registry key created in your previous installation and gives you a message like for e.g, "Your trial period has expired".

So the best way to re-used a tria software is: Backup your computer registry before install any trial software so that you can restore the registry, the one without the trial software key and enable you to reset the trial period again. See how to backup and restore computer registry.

Method 2: Use Process Monitor

Process monitor is a small window tool created to let computer users to monitor their computer activities in real time. With process monitor, activites such as real-time file system, registry and process/thread can be monitored. With this you can see which applications are accessing your Registry, which keys they are accessing, and the Registry data that they are reading and writing – all in real-time.

Note: The Process Monitor will show all activities by default. You can use the toolbar, circled in RED to filter out all activities except the registry activities for easy of tracking purpose.

Then, run the Process Minitor and install the trial software, see which registry being added or monidifed, and note down the name and the path of the key. Once the trial software expired, you can revert back the trial period by modifying the key and set them back to the value as you recorded during the trial software installation.

Update: There is a small tool called: Little Registry Cleaner that you can use to clear up invalid/broken registry items, in this way it can clean up all traces of a program.

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Posted in: backup registry,computer tool,registry tool,reinstall trial,softwrae,trial software