Lock file types. The File Type Doctor utility mentioned in ???File Type Associations,???
later in this chapter, has a feature that uses permissions to
lock file types, thus preventing applications from ???stealing??? them.
See Chapter 8 for more information on the various security systems in Windows
Vista.
Back Up the Registry
In a way, the Windows Registry is a weak link in the operating system??™s stability
and robustness. It??™s remarkably easy to damage, but very difficult to
repair. And unless you go to the trouble of making your own backup copy,
it??™s not necessarily easy to replace it if it??™s damaged (unlike, say, DLLs, which
can be pulled right off the Vista CD). A broken Registry??”either due to physical
corruption or errant data??”might cause Windows to behave eratically
(or more so than usual) or it may prevent Windows from starting at all.
The System Protection feature (also known as System
Restore, and discussed further in Chapter 6) is found in
Control Panel ??? System ??? Advanced system settings ???
System Protection tab. Windows automatically creates a
restore point once a day, plus each time you install an application,
device driver, or any update from Windows Update.
Restore points contain essential Windows system files and
Registry settings, although it??™s not clear how much of the
Registry is backed up, nor is it possible to restore all or part
of the Registry alone.
So, what??™s the big problem? Why not just zip up the Registry files or copy
them to a CD? The files that contain your Registry data (called hives) are
constantly being read from and written to, so Windows locks them to
ensure they can??™t be modified, deleted, or even read directly.
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