Spybot SD Registry backup question.

[Zenobia]

You could keep them if you wish.This thread pretty much will give you most of the info you need about the .reg backups:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=5772

If you optionally did a "Create registry backup" during the installation process (step 3 of 7), two files are created:
regLocal.reg
regUsers.reg
The directory they are created in depends on the OS you have as follows:
Windows 95 or 98:
C:\Windows\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Backups
Windows ME:
C:\Windows\All Users\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Backups
Windows NT, 2000 or XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Backups
The two files are exported "REGEDIT4" type files if specific registry keys as follows:
regLocal.reg
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software]
regUsers.reg
[HKEY_USERS]
There is no facility that I am aware of within Spybot to restore from these backups. Since they are .reg files, to use them all you would have to do is double on the file(s) and Registry Editor should start. If you then clicked "Yes" the content of the file would be added/merged into the registry. You then click "OK" to close the program.

These backups are relatively large portions of the systems Registry and I personally would hesitate to use those backups to restore the Registry (at least in their entirety) because once you've run your system for any period of time they would be outdated and could possibly do has much harm as good.

Incidentally, those backups can be taken at any time by going into Spybot > Mode > Advanced mode > Settings > Settings. Click on the "Wizard" button at the top of the settings screen then click "Create registry backup". Once the registry backup is complete, click "Next" repetitively until you get to step 7 of 7. Then click "Start using the program". Since you are already running Spybot the wizard terminates.

Above pretty much covers the how,and the cautions.When you'd use them is if your registry had been very badly damaged,keeping in mind the backups may be dated,unless you've used the wizard to make a newer backup.I'd probably only use the .reg files that Spybot backed up as a last ditch effort,myself,if nothing else worked.

There's an article here about backing up and restoring the registry in general,without using Spybot,if you'd be interested in looking.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...74.html#backup

[Diana]

I know you feel giving me places to search for answers is the right way to go but for someone like me, I don't understand these answers. I guess I need to know if I can get back to my basic Spybot without all these resident locks as I don't know whether to allow or dis allow them. Also, another file in My Document folder will not open and I have lost what is in it. Can these Resident locks be the cause of my problems. I back up everynight with flash drives and the file won't open there either. I could really use some help here. Thank you, Diana

[MadelineC]

Thanks Zenobia. I'll keep the backups I have for now, they're recent as it's not long since I installed Spybot 1.5. I might make new ones from time to time when I make alterations. I'm going to think about it before I decide finally what to do since reading what both you and md usa spybot fan have said.
Thanks for the Bleeping Computer link.

[Zenobia]

Thanks Zenobia. I'll keep the backups I have for now, they're recent as it's not long since I installed Spybot 1.5. I might make new ones from time to time when I make alterations. I'm going to think about it before I decide finally what to do since reading what both you and md usa spybot fan have said.
Thanks for the Bleeping Computer link

You're welcome.

I know you feel giving me places to search for answers is the right way to go but for someone like me, I don't understand these answers. I guess I need to know if I can get back to my basic Spybot without all these resident locks as I don't know whether to allow or dis allow them. Also, another file in My Document folder will not open and I have lost what is in it. Can these Resident locks be the cause of my problems. I back up everynight with flash drives and the file won't open there either. I could really use some help here. Thank you, Diana

You can turn off resident Teatimer by opening Spybot,clicking Mode,then Advanced Mode,saying yes to the prompt,then clicking Tools,then Resident,and unchecking resident "Teatimer".That will get you back to the basic Spybot,without all the prompts from Teatimer.
While you're already in the Resident section of Spybot,could you rightclick somewhere in the text to the right,then select 'select all',then rightclick again and select Copy,then paste it here,if it will all fit.I'm not sure if the Resident locks are part of the problem with Spybot or not,but if you copy/paste the text from that here(the Teatimer log),it will show what some of the prompts you were getting from Teatimer may have been,and it might help to give some ideas as to what has been happening.

Which firewall are you using?The no newer updates could possibly be your Firewall not allowing Spybot to update,and you might need to configure your Firewall to allow Spybot to update.

You probably have the newest Spybot,but I'd like to know for sure,so could you open Spybot,click Help,then About,then let me know what number you see there.

What type of document was it you were working on,a wordpad document,notepad,etc.?

In your first post,you said that boxes began popping up after a Spybot scan.Can you remember if there were items found in red after the Spybot scan,before the Teatimer boxes began popping up?Have you been having any other computer problems?

[msnuser193]

When I clicked on the registry backup, an error saying that it can not access the registry.

Maybe some files are in use, causing it not to work.

What should i do?

[MrWindblade]

I had a computer's registry go bad on my recently, so what I chose to do was use an External Hard Drive Enclosure (you can also use a hotswap if you want) and used the Windows Repair file to restore the registry to the first time Windows opened.

It's not exactly ideal, but if the hard drive still posts you should be able to do it.

Before I give you the location of the file, I have a few warnings:
1. This is not the same as a system restore point. Using this method of registry repair can, and often does, cause many of your current hardware drivers to cease function. If you have components like video cards, video capture boards, modems, LAN adapters, etc. they will need to be reinstalled on the computer before they're operational.

2. If the issue is related to the SOFTWARE registry tree, using the SOFTWARE registry file to repair will remove the registry entries for your Add/Remove programs list, so you will probably need to reinstall nearly all of the software on the computer, because these registry entries are often used to help update your software, rather than scanning your computer for the location of your files.

3. If there is any possibility that the errors are a result of another component in your computer, this can hide the actual problem amidst a plethora of other needs.

The file containing the original registry entries for the first time you opened windows is found here:

'C':\WINDOWS\repair

C is replaced, as normal, with whatever drive your OS is on. Please note that, since you're doing this repair by connecting the hard drive from your damaged computer to another computer, the OS you're doing this to is NOT the one you're operating. Making this repair on an otherwise functional computer is far from ideal.

The location that these files should be copied (not simply moved) to is

'C':\WINDOWS\system32\config

I don't recommend moving the file named "software" because, as I said above, this may require you to reinstall everything.

For more information and other details:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

This will not wipe your secondary storage, so all of your documents and such will still be intact. In fact, even if you move the software registry file, the program installs will still exist on the hard drive. It can be quite tedious to manually remove these issues, and, if at all possible, try to use the Windows Recovery console on the disks that came with your computer or your Windows OS disk. Ideally, you would use this method to fetch your data and then format the drive along with a fresh OS reinstall, but it seemed like that might have been out of the question for you.