Just came across the site of Lars Hederer who seems to be a talented german programmer. He has written two tools to optimize and backup the Windows registry for NT kernel based operating systems: ERUNT - The Emergency Recovery Utility NT - Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/XP NTREGOPT - Registry Optimization for Windows NT/2000/XP Read more... NTREGOPT: Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files and optimize registry access. Note: To ensure proper operation of NTREGOPT, you should be logged in as a system administrator. To optimize your registry, simply run NTREGOPT, click OK, and when the process is complete click OK to reboot the computer. You should do so immediately because any changes made to the registry after NTREGOPT has been run are lost after the reboot. ERUNT: There are a few ways to backup the registry with different programs, but they are either not straight-forward to use (REGBACK, REGREST from the NT resource kit) or do registry backups just as a side-effect among other things (NTBACKUP in Windows 2000, System Restore in Windows XP). And though the registry in an NT-based Windows is less likely to become corrupted than in other versions, it can still happen, and for these cases NT is simply missing an option for easy registry backup and restore as there is in Windows 9x/Me, to get the system up and running again in no time. And now, as Windows XP comes pre-installed many new home user PCs and may become the new Windows standard in the next years, I decided to write a program which offers the ease-of-use of Windows 9x/Me ERU by Microsoft (hence the name ERUNT) to backup the registry, as well as providing an auto-backup capability, for example at Windows startup. Or, before installing a new program for testing purposes one could save the registry with ERUNT, install and test the program, uninstall it and restore the registry to be 100% sure that no debris is left from the program. Features: Backup the Windows NT/2000/XP registry to a folder of your choice System and current user registries selectable Command-line switches for automated use of ERUNT Restore the registry in Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP and MS-DOS (all-in-one restore program) You will find more detailed instructions on how to use these tools on Lars' homepage. Direct download NTREGOPT 1.0 Direct download ERUNT 1.0 [includes NTREGOPT] Discuss these tools in our forum here Lars Hederers homepage Use these tools @ your own risk though.