If you have ever used Advanced System Care by IObit on this system I recommend completing this tutorial by Brink.
It will save you a ton of work and headaches.
Clean Install Windows 7
If you have a method of getting your system back to the way it was when you first got it, (Factory Recovery) that should work also.
Torchwood, thanks for the HP link, but I'd rather repair my system some other way than by using HP's recovery program. The last time I used it after my system crashed I lost more than half my data files because HP's backup program was defective. I'm referring to the one that's part of the Recovery program. Can I simply replace the corrupt registry file from my recovery disks, or do I need a Win installation CD? Will a repair install work?
Layback bear, I'm not interested in doing a clean Windows install. I want to keep my data. Thanks anyway.
You could if you desire back up your data to a external drive and then do a Clean Install.
The reason I didn't recommend a Repair Install is because I don't know if it will repair all the damage that IObit products do.
Using a Factory Recovery will also require you to backup your data to a external drive for safe keeping.
Does Windows offer a way to replace a corrupted registry without having to do a clean install? I understand a repair install isn't possible outside Win 7. I'm trying to avoid having to copy all those files to an external HD and then re-install them. The HP recovery program is inadequate.
You're right, it was. I hired a computer consultant who identified the problem as a failing boot drive. I brought my notebook to him, he backed up all my files, ordered a replacement HD, made a backup image with which he restored all the files to the new HD, and reinstalled Win 7 Pro. After getting the old HD back, I temporarily replaced the new one with the old one and ran chkdsk /f on the old one. Everything looked okay until I saw index entries being repeated or updated in an unending loop. Then I knew it was time to quit that exercise. Additionally, the long HD diagnostic test in my computer's BIOS stopped while testing the HD.
Before bringing the system in for repair, and while in recovery mode at the command prompt, I copied the contents of c:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack to c:\Windows\System32\config. That accomplished nothing as the registry restore files in RegBack were too recent. Only after having the computer repaired did I notice a backed-up registry from 2013 among the restored files. I don't yet know how I could've used this to repair the system and restart Windows. Would it have been possible to, by restoring that backup?
The system runs fine now that Windows has been reinstalled. Does anyone have a suggestion for the best program for creating a recovery backup image? Is it Macrium Reflect or Acronis?
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