Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop, Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz, 1 GB RAM,
51 GB Hard Disk, OEM version of MS Windows XP Media Edition 5.1.2600 - SP 3

I know I've been very, very bad but I edited the registry w/o backing up the
system and now, am frightened to reboot. After reading recent posts about
staying out of the registry, I subscribed to this forum to find out if what I
deleted will affect rebooting. Yes - after the damage is done.

In the past 6 months, purely out of boredom while recovering from surgery,
I've installed, played & uninstalled over 100 online games from dozens of
websites purchasing only 6 licenses. After uninstalling the unwanted games,
I assumed my hard drives' byte value would return to the size it was before I
installed the game. Well...it didn't. Tracking files from
Trymedia-ACTIVEmark plus user pref & config files for each game remained in
Program File folders, Docs & Settings for both all users & my own folder, and
some Start Up folders. Even though I uninstalled the games from Add/Remove
Programs & deleted the user pref files through Windows Explorer, it recovered
only a half to three-quarters of the disk space before the games were
installed. I had to Defrag three times due to remnants of these games
scattered all over the place. Sadly, this is where I had the epiphany of
removing the remaining garbage using regedit as misguided as I was after
reading threads on the forum.

The keys and directories I removed from the registry trees were only under
the game developer directories in LOCAL_MACHINE & CURRENT_CONFIG. I left the
game developer directories alone, the games with purchased licenses and did
not touch ANY of the Windows system files. After removing about a dozen
keys, I got skiddish and came here. Now, I'm scared to reboot.

Since I didn't touch any Windows data, can I reboot or do I need to have my
hard drive re-imaged by Dell?

MB
(anxious & embarrassed)

Windows Registry Editor has no 'undo' feature, and you made no backups.
You are in a similar position to Humpty Dumpty after he had a great
fall. Hope for the best.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Lagomorph Mom wrote:
> Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop, Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz, 1 GB RAM,
> 51 GB Hard Disk, OEM version of MS Windows XP Media Edition 5.1.2600 - SP 3
>
> I know I've been very, very bad but I edited the registry w/o backing up the
> system and now, am frightened to reboot. After reading recent posts about
> staying out of the registry, I subscribed to this forum to find out if what I
> deleted will affect rebooting. Yes - after the damage is done.
>
> In the past 6 months, purely out of boredom while recovering from surgery,
> I've installed, played & uninstalled over 100 online games from dozens of
> websites purchasing only 6 licenses. After uninstalling the unwanted games,
> I assumed my hard drives' byte value would return to the size it was before I
> installed the game. Well...it didn't. Tracking files from
> Trymedia-ACTIVEmark plus user pref & config files for each game remained in
> Program File folders, Docs & Settings for both all users & my own folder, and
> some Start Up folders. Even though I uninstalled the games from Add/Remove
> Programs & deleted the user pref files through Windows Explorer, it recovered
> only a half to three-quarters of the disk space before the games were
> installed. I had to Defrag three times due to remnants of these games
> scattered all over the place. Sadly, this is where I had the epiphany of
> removing the remaining garbage using regedit as misguided as I was after
> reading threads on the forum.
>
> The keys and directories I removed from the registry trees were only under
> the game developer directories in LOCAL_MACHINE & CURRENT_CONFIG. I left the
> game developer directories alone, the games with purchased licenses and did
> not touch ANY of the Windows system files. After removing about a dozen
> keys, I got skiddish and came here. Now, I'm scared to reboot.
>
> Since I didn't touch any Windows data, can I reboot or do I need to have my
> hard drive re-imaged by Dell?
>
> MB
> (anxious & embarrassed)

"Lagomorph Mom" <LagomorphMom@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsC28B0C2-C704-4453-A32F-D05E7554A4E2@microsoft.com...
> Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop, Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz, 1 GB RAM,
> 51 GB Hard Disk, OEM version of MS Windows XP Media Edition 5.1.2600 - SP 3
>
> I know I've been very, very bad but I edited the registry w/o backing up the
> system and now, am frightened to reboot. After reading recent posts about
> staying out of the registry, I subscribed to this forum to find out if what I
> deleted will affect rebooting. Yes - after the damage is done.
>
> In the past 6 months, purely out of boredom while recovering from surgery,
> I've installed, played & uninstalled over 100 online games from dozens of
> websites purchasing only 6 licenses. After uninstalling the unwanted games,
> I assumed my hard drives' byte value would return to the size it was before I
> installed the game. Well...it didn't. Tracking files from
> Trymedia-ACTIVEmark plus user pref & config files for each game remained in
> Program File folders, Docs & Settings for both all users & my own folder, and
> some Start Up folders. Even though I uninstalled the games from Add/Remove
> Programs & deleted the user pref files through Windows Explorer, it recovered
> only a half to three-quarters of the disk space before the games were
> installed. I had to Defrag three times due to remnants of these games
> scattered all over the place. Sadly, this is where I had the epiphany of
> removing the remaining garbage using regedit as misguided as I was after
> reading threads on the forum.
>
> The keys and directories I removed from the registry trees were only under
> the game developer directories in LOCAL_MACHINE & CURRENT_CONFIG. I left the
> game developer directories alone, the games with purchased licenses and did
> not touch ANY of the Windows system files. After removing about a dozen
> keys, I got skiddish and came here. Now, I'm scared to reboot.
>
> Since I didn't touch any Windows data, can I reboot or do I need to have my
> hard drive re-imaged by Dell?
>
> MB
> (anxious & embarrassed)

If you find that after restarting your computer it will not boot into Windows
your first option would be to boot into Safe Mode and choose Last Known Good
Configuration. To boot into Safe Mode, restart your computer and keep hitting
the F8 key until you see this screen.

http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...-safe-mode.gif

Use the up arrow key on your keyboard to select Last Known Good Configuration
and hit the Enter key.

Another option would be to run System Restore (Start -> All Programs ->
Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore) and take your computer back to
the state it was in before you started your great registry adventure.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Thank you Nepatsfan for providing viable options for "my bad". Will post the
outcome.

MB

"Nepatsfan" wrote:

> If you find that after restarting your computer it will not boot into Windows
> your first option would be to boot into Safe Mode and choose Last Known Good
> Configuration. To boot into Safe Mode, restart your computer and keep hitting
> the F8 key until you see this screen.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/library/med...-safe-mode.gif
>
> Use the up arrow key on your keyboard to select Last Known Good Configuration
> and hit the Enter key.
>
> Another option would be to run System Restore (Start -> All Programs ->
> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore) and take your computer back to
> the state it was in before you started your great registry adventure.
>
> Good luck
>
> Nepatsfan
>
>
>

As fate would have it...when I attempted to burn a DVD w/ personal files
before the dreaded reboot, an update for Sonic needed to restart my computer
before I could use it.

I was lucky----this time. Other than seeing the blue windows splash screen
twice, my computer, for now, escaped tragedy from my impromptu registry
editing. But just because it worked this time, doesn't mean I'll be using
regedit any time soon. Don't want to press my luck.

MB