Restore system settings from Registry

Helpline Q&A Directory

I have got a problem with my monitor which only occurs in Windows (not in DOS). On Startup everything seems okay until the Windows 95 screen appears, then everything becomes illegible.

I thought about reloading the driver, but I don't know how to install the software outside the Windows environment. The last thing I remember doing on my PC was viewing the monitor settings. I didn't, however, intentionally alter any setting.

You may not have intended altering any settings, but it sounds as if you have done so. What you need to do is start Windows in Safe Mode, then change the monitor settings back to what they should be. Unfortunately as we don't know anything about your computer we can't tell you what those settings should be. To get into Safe Mode, press and hold the F8 key when the 'Starting Windows 95' message comes up on your screen: you can then select Safe Mode from the Windows 95 Startup menu.

Monitor settings are stored in the Registry, so another way to solve the problem would be to restore from a backup if you had one. Windows 98 automatically creates a Registry backup each day. Restoring an earlier one is a good way to reverse a problem caused by configuration changes that went wrong.

If you have Windows 98 this is what you do. Press and hold down the Ctrl key during booting. This will get you to the Windows 98 StartUp menu. Select Command Prompt. Run the command ScanReg. Select the option to check the Registry. Once the Registry has been checked you will see options to back up the Registry, restore it from one of the backups or exit. Opt to restore a backup, select the one you wish to restore (you can see the dates on which they were created) and select Restore.

This should get the system back to the state it was in when it was working unless, of course, any key files have been deleted or overwritten. To restore those you need a system backup. See tip Back up the Registry.