Corrupted Registry - Finding a new one

Look at the date of the .reg file. To merge it, double click on the file

Hi Rich, thanks! I have a bunch of really old one and I'm trying (and hoping) to find a more recent one (fingers are crossed). What happens when I double click it? I'm assuming you mean from Windows Explorer. Right now my system is so messed up, I can't search for anything using Windows Explorer. When I click on search, the left pane comes up blank and I never get the option to search. SO... I'm doing all of this at the command prompt. But I can go back into Windows Explorer and go to the file and double click it. When I do, what will happen? If it merges, what gets overwritten or combined? What takes precedence? New or old?

Thanks again for the help!

-Jim

When you double click you will get a confirmation message:

"Do you want to merge this file into the Registry" ( or something similar )

When you confirm, it merges the entries into the registry.

This sounds risky to me . . unless you are sure the backup is good, you might be better off reinstalling the operating system