The Registry Checker is normally started through the registry. You can change whether it is launched by changing following these steps.
- Open your registry and find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run].
- To enable the Registry Checker create a string value called "ScanRegistry" and set it to "C:\Windows\Scanregw.exe /autorun".
- To disable the Registry Checker delete the string value called "ScanRegistry".
- The change will take effect the next time the system is started.
The other configuration options for the Registry Checker are stored in the SCANREG.INI file found in the Windows directory (e.g. "C:\Windows\Scanreg.ini"). To change these parameters open the INI file using a text editor such as Windows Notepad.
Each parameter is listed in the format Option=Value, to change a value edit the text after the equals sign for the options below.
Backup=
A value of 1 (default) causes a backup copy of your registry to be made the first time you start your computer on any given day (determined by the system clock).
A value of 0 disables registry backup (not recommended).
Optimize=
A value of 1 (default) automatically optimizes your current registry if it contains 500 kilobytes (KB) of unused space.
A value of 0 does not automatically optimize your current registry.
MaxBackupCopies=
A value between 0 and 99 (default is 5) saves the last 5 registry backups in the backup folder. Only five backups are displayed using the Registry Checker for MS-DOS, higher numbers can be restored manually.
BackupDirectory=
To change the location in which registry backups are saved, type the full path to the folder. By default, this entry does not contain a value, and registry backups are automatically saved in the Windows\Sysbckup folder.
Files=
This entry does not exist by default, and is used to specify additional files you want to back up in the .cab file. To specify additional files to be backed up, type Files=[folder code],[file name], where [folder code] is the numerical code for the folder in which the file you want to back up is located, and [file name] is the name of the file you want to back up. If you want to back up multiple files in the same location, separate each file name using a comma (,) and no spaces.
The following table lists the possible folder codes:
| Code | Folder |
|---|
| 10 | Windows directory (e.g. C:\Windows) |
| 11 | Windows System directory (e.g. C:\Windows\System) |
| 30 | Root directory (e.g. C:\) |
| 31 | Root host directory (e.g. C:\) |
For example, if you want to back up the WIN.INI and CONTROL.INI files located in the Windows folder, include the following line:
Files=10,win.ini,control.ini
Or if you want to back up the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files located in the root directory, include the following line:
Files=30,autoexec.bat,config.sys
Restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
