Backup your hard drive

Backup your hard drive

You may not know this, but Windows 98 comes with a backup utility. It may not be the best thing in the world, but it's free. Just open up My Computer and right-click a drive that you want to backup, select Properties from the popup menu. On the multi-tabbed dialog box that appears, select the Tools tab. Now, click the Backup now button. If you didn't install Backup when installing Windows 98, you will be prompted how to do so.

Checking the free space on your hard drive

Right click on My Computer icon on the desktop then click open. A window will open and will have icons of all the drives on your computer. Right click on drive c and click on properties. This will bring up another window with pie charts showing used and free space on the hard drive.

System Restore Windows XP Home and Pro versions

Windows XP has a utility called system restore. This feature allows you to roll back your registry and installed programs, among other things, to a previous point in time.
To do this, first click on the start button then move your mouse pointer to all programs and select accessories. From accessories find system tools then click on system restore. Once in the system restore, click on restore my computer to an earlier time then click next.

In the next window you'll see a calendar with bold numbers. Those are restore points, just click on one of them and click next. A message will appear that lists the changes. Approve the changes then click next. The computer will restart with the new changes you made.

You can undo the changes the same way, you just go back into the system restore and you'll see a button that says undo my last restoration and click next. Your computer will be restored to the point it was before you made the last change.

System Restore Windows 98.
In Windows 98 the system restore is a little harder to get to but performs the same function.

You need to restart the computer in dos mode. When you get to the C:\ prompt type scanreg/restore and press enter. The next screen will have a list of six dates. Choose the date that was before your computer started acting up and press enter. A message stating the system has been restored will appear. Restart the computer and the changes will take immediate affect.

With both types of system restores, Windows XP and Windows 98, you have to be careful not to go to far back. Anything you installed after the restore point will not work properly, you'll just have to reinstall.