Before making any major changes to XP or editing the Windows registry it is advised that a system restore point is created. If something goes wrong, this can be used to roll back to a good working configuration.

Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Click 'Start'
2. Click 'Run...'
3. Where it says 'Open:', type the following: %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
4. Click 'OK'.
5. On the 'Welcome to System Restore' screen, click 'Create a restore point'.
6. Click 'Next'.
7. On the 'Create a Restore Point' screen, type a descriptive name for the restore point.
8. Click 'Create.'
9. After the restore point has been created, click 'Close.'

System restore is automatic on many brand name PCs and can cause excessive fragmentation on your hard drive. It is a good idea to defrag regularly. Another option is to disable system restore entirely and regularly backup all dataon the HD to a separate drive, including the system registry.

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