A friend of mine (funny it is always someone else; but true in this case:-) used a registry cleaner ( I believe it was Easy Cleaner) and failed to back up the registry. He thought by going to a restore point would do the job. Anycase after a week since using the Registry Cleaner he has found that the PC is not functioning properly and many programs (including Word/Excel) will not now open. Is there any easy way one can recover the Registry File from about a week ago (prior to using Registry Cleaner) or failing that is there an easy way to sort the problem out Many Thanks

In the Add & Remove window, select the Office program and click on "Repair" You can then run SFC in the Run slot to find and repair any Window files that are damaged. Once Registy Files are gone - it's the end of the line. NO RECOVERY in most cases. You should ALWAYS ALWAYS do a Registry backup before screwing with it. Your only other option is to reinstall the OS from scratch.

I believe easy cleaner makes backups before any deletion. Check it. Please post back within 24 hours or I will delete the post from my follow up list. Thanks. It would be a courtesy if you would post back and let us know if the fix worked or not.

apparently not:-( Q4. EasyCleaner's parts like registry cleaning- and unnecessary files-part list even thousands of unnecessary files/entries, are they save to delete? A4. Usually yes, I recommend you to delete files first to the recycle bin (see Options), restart your computer and see if everything works fine then empty the recycle bin. In registry cleaning I haven't heard a single case where the computer has started to work strangely, but it is better be sure. So I recommend you to take a backup copy of your registry, you can find programs for this from

You can do a system repair. Should fix it.-How to do a system repair.--Boot from the xp cd and go past the recovery console to the install menu. Select repair the existing installation. You won't lose any data except the xp updates. Unless you have a slipstream sp1 cd you will have to d/l sp1 and all subsequent updates. You MUST have at least SP1 installed and the updates for security reasons. Be sure the firewall and A/V is active before going online as you will be susceptible to sasser and msblaster. If you don't want SP2 go to autopatcher.com and d/l SP1 and subsequent updates. Please post back within 24 hours or I will delete the post from my follow up list. Thanks. It would be a courtesy if you would post back and let us know if the fix worked or not.

Thanks for that, I actually have a XP Pro disk with SP2 slipstreamed. (the original installation was installed from this CD). So basically what you are saying is do NOT go to Recovery Console, but go to the install menu and select 'Repair the Existing Installation'................This will then install over the existing and hopefully repair and install any registry files etc that might be corrupt or missing. Thus leaving all my Programmes / downloads /documents still on the hard drive. Thanks for your advice

That's it. You are welcome. Please post back within 24 hours or I will delete the post from my follow up list. Thanks. It would be a courtesy if you would post back and let us know if the fix worked or not.