Use "Find Files" to locate all .CFG and .INI files. These files can make reinstalling your programs much quicker. (Make sure to check Include Subfolders.)

Decide which of these program files you really want to save, to speed up reinstallation. Then copy these files to a disk. To keep them organized, create folders on your diskette and name them for your programs, i.e. MSWORD, DUKENUKE, etc. Use a file splitter program (dozens are available on the Net) to handle the files bigger than 1.44mb. (Those of you working with recordable CD-ROMs don't have this concern.)

Got some old backup files archived under DOS 6.22 that you can't get Windows to restore? You can get MSBackup from ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/MSLFILES/msback.exe or, knowing Microsoft's wonky Web site, you might fare better at www.fileworld.com/magazine. Once you've downloaded and installed MSBackup, which of course runs only in DOS compatibility mode, you need to restore the catalog. At the main menu of the program, select Restore/Catalog/Retrieve and then your floppy drive. Insert the LAST floppy disk of the backup set and select Continue. If you don't have the last backup floppy, or if there's a problem with the floppy and MSBackup can't retrieve the catalog from it, select Rebuild rather than Retrieve. MSBackup will recreate a catalog as best it can from the other floppies. After the catalog is dealt with, select OK, then Load. Click Select Files and then pick the files you wish to restore. Be careful about restoring any files to C:\WINDOWS or any of its subfolders; you don't want to write over any critical files. Now choose Start Restore and follow the prompts for feeding your floppies one by one into the maw of the beast. When it's done, click OK, then Quit to return to Windows. Your files should be restored.

Win 98 and ME have more sophisticated backup utilities than 95 possesses. Win 98 has a neat little gizmo called the Registry Checker that automatically makes backup copies of your Registry files and, even better, automatically restores the Registry if the damned thing ever becomes corrupt. The rule of thumb is that it makes a backup once per day, depending on how often your Registry changes and how often you shut down and restart your machine. It's not perfect, but it sure helps. If you feel the need to make a manual backup, just find the Registry Checker in your System Tools menu, fire it up, and follow the directions. If you find that you need to restore your Registry from DOS, once you're at the C:\ prompt, type SCANREG/RESTORE and hit Enter. You'll have a choice of which backup to use; choose the most recent one that you're sure is clean.

An even more useful gizmo is Millennium's System Restore, now also found in Windows XP. This neat little feature (similar to the commercial product GoBack) stores backups of your system configuration files in the _RESTORE folder, in compressed .CAB files. Also located in System Tools, System Restore automates the entire process -- you never need to get your virtual hands dirty if you don't want to. Of course, getting your hands dirty is all part of the fun, so if you go into System Restore yourself, you'll see three options. The first allows you to restore your system to a previous configuration, the second allows you to create a manual restart point from where you are now, and the third allows you to undo a system restore. Self-explanatory, no? It's a good idea to create manual restores before installing an application, in case the app trashes your system files and you need to revert to pre-trash status. (No, it isn't only the bigger or more complex apps that can trash your system; a badly written screen saver can wreak havoc as quickly as the most complex program.) What you gain in sanity and ease of mind is paid for in 200-400MB of hard disk real estate, so if you're strapped for space, here's one place to reclaim some turf. Just don't reclaim so much that the System Restore can't function. In fact, before you do anything, I'd suggest you go into the utility's Help file and take the tour/tutorial. Even better, surf Camtech 2000's excellent System Restore tutorial at camtech2000.net/Pages/System_Restore.htm -- you can even download it as a Help (.CHM) file. I believe the tutorial is written for XP users only.

Some caveats, mostly drawn from Fred Langa's excellent article at www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020711S0009: System Restore doesn't back up your user files and documents. It focuses on system-level files and services, but does not back up most files you create. If you screw up or permanently delete an important document or spreadsheet, or want to go back to an earlier version of such a document, System Restore can't help you. System Restore doesn't take the place of full, normal backups. Also, it isn't a pure "system rollback" tool; if you install new software that crashes badly, System Restore may be able to get Windows running again, but may not erase the errant program as a whole; may not delete leftover vestiges of the program that failed to uninstall properly; and may not clean up any messes the troublesome program made outside of the system file areas. Something else to think about: the default settings make System Restore an enormous space hog. System Restore, like the Recycle Bin and the Internet Explorer cache, sets aside space for itself based on a percentage of what's available on your hard drive. This might have been a good idea when disks were small, but with today's large hard drives, the total space set aside for System Restore (and Recycle Bin and the IE cache) can be ridiculous: It can amount to gigabytes, in total! This not only consumes disk real estate, but also creates a huge amount of needless extra data you have to process when you do a normal backup. System Restore is CPU- and disk-intensive when it runs, which is fairly often: at first boot, every 10 hours of continuous system operation, every 24 hours of real-world time, every time Windows Update installs something, and every time you install any software using an installer program that System Restore recognizes (such as InstallShield 6.1 or higher). That's a lot of computer time devoted to dealing with making backups.

There's been a lot of complaints and grousing about System Restore not functioning properly -- I've had some trouble along this line myself. Here are some ideas, again cribbed from Fred Langa's article, that might help you keep System Restore in check:

• Curb SR's voracious appetite for hard disk space by shrinking the amount of real estate it reserves to itself. In Win ME. right-click My Computer, then select Properties, then Performance/File System/Hard Disk. In XP, you'll right-click on My Computer, then Properties, and then the System Restore tab. Select the hard drive you wish to adjust (in XP, each drive can have its own System Restore setting), and click the Settings button. Next, in both operating systems, move the slider to choose a reasonable amount of disk space for the System Restore files. Langa suggests you start by choosing the smallest allowable Restore area (usually a still-hefty 200 megabytes) by moving the slider all the way to the left.

• Here's how you view your "Restore Points" and, if desired, actually restore your computer to a previous restore point: In Win ME, click Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. In XP, click Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. In both operating systems, select "Restore my computer to an earlier time" and click next. You'll then see a calendar with some dates in bold; those are the days with one or more available Restore Points. Note how far back the bold dates go. If you don't want to actually restore your computer, just click Cancel to exit the Restore tool. (In other words, don't go on to the next step and actually to perform a System Restore; you're just checking to see what Restore Points are available.) If you actually do want to perform a system restore, just follow the prompts.

• If you're already making regular, full backups by some other means, you don't really need System Restore at all. Your backups already do far more than System Restore can. Good backups protect everything on your system (system files and user data) and can get every part of your system fully back to trouble-free operation. If you have a good backup regimen in place, consider turning System Restore all the way off. Here's how: In Win ME, right-click My Computer, select Properties, then Performance/File System/Troubleshooting. Then check the box marked "Disable System Restore." Note that unlike XP, Win ME does not allow per-drive settings; it's all or nothing. If you're running XP, right-click on My Computer, select Properties, and select the System Restore tab. Select the checkbox labeled "Turn off System Restore on all drives." Or, if you wish just to disable System Restore on some of your drives or partitions, you can do that, too, by selecting the drive you wish to adjust, clicking the Settings button, and then checking the box marked "Turn off System Restore for this drive." With System Restore disabled, you'll reclaim previously wasted disk space, and also avoid the CPU- and disk-intensive background tasks that System Restore otherwise automatically launches from time to time.

• There's a compromise option between letting System Restore run (more or less) unchecked and disabling it completely: you can use System Restore to set a manual Restore Point just before you install new software or make significant system changes between backups. This way, should the new software mis-install or cause other problems, you can get your system running stably again in less time that it would take to do a full restoration from your backups. But because you're using full backups as your main line of defense, you don't have to leave System Restore running all the time. You can shut it down once you're sure your new software is working OK, or your system change worked out. Used this way, System Restore is a kind of handy, temporary safety net. To do this, first follow the steps above to completely disable System Restore. Then, when you're about to install major new software, or make other significant system changes, simply reverse the process. In Win ME, right-click My Computer, select Properties, then Performance/File System/Troubleshooting. Then uncheck the box marked "Disable System Restore." XP users will right-click on My Computer, select Properties, and select the System Restore tab. Deselect (uncheck) the checkbox labeled "Turn off System Restore on all drives." (if you used per-drive settings, select the drive you wish to adjust, click the Settings button, and then deselect the checkbox marked "Turn off System Restore for this drive.") Once System Restore is re-enabled, manually make a new Restore Point. In Win ME, click Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. In XP, click Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. In both operating systems, select "Create a Restore Point" and follow the prompts. Now install the new software or make your system changes. If the new software installs cleanly or your other system changes go smoothly, you can then turn System Restore back off until the next time you need it. But if there's a problem with the software installation or system changes, you can use the newly created Restore Point to set things right again.

Which one's right for you? Well, since most personal users don't make daily or even weekly backups, and many of us don't use fancy backup programs, System Restore is probably a good choice for these folks. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who uses System Restore should at least restrict the utility from sucking up a quarter of your hard drive real estate, especially those of us with larger hard drives. If you've got a faster CPU along with a bigger hard drive, the time System Restore takes to create Restore Points won't impinge much on your computing sessions. Now, if you're running a slower computer with a small hard drive, well, why are you running ME or XP anyway? Win 98 or even a Linux flavor might do you more good. But if you are short on processing speed and/or hard drive space, disabling System Restore might be your best option. Don't forget that by disabling System Restore, you make it even more important to create your own backups.

Win ME also has a little goodie called System File Protection, which basically automates the backup and restoration of critical system files. This utility usually works in the background with no input asked from you, but if you'd like to find out what it's up to, find and peruse the SPFLOG.TXT file, located in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SPF folder. You can also see the list of protected files in FILELIST.XML, found in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE folder.