Why?

Everyone wants a fast and stable computer, and by optimizing the Windows registry, system folder, and your root directory, you can make a big difference. You can remove or correct registry errors that may cause your computer to crash, and you can optimize the registry's organization to speed it up.  By removing unwanted registry keys, your computer will run faster.  You may want to use this tutorial along with HowTo Speed Up Windows by Removing Background Processes. 

How?

1. Backup your Registry (follow the link for instructions) in case you need to Restore your Registry later if problems occur.  Then go through the steps below. Most of these use programs you can download for free from the Internet, but some require you to purchase them.

2. You *must* Backup your System Files before doing the following step.  Then you can restore them if necessary. The root directory of your hard drive contains a lot of files that are necessary, and you must be careful when deleting them.  However, removing some of them can help to speed up your computer. Be careful when doing this, but you should be able to restore these files by booting to a boot disk and restoring the files as noted in Restoring System Files.  The files below you should not delete:

c:\command.com
c:\autoexec.bat
c:\config.sys
c:\msdos.sys
c:\io.sys
c:\drvspace.bin
c:\dblspace.bin
c:\suhdlog.dat
c:\bootsect.dos

Autoexec.bat works kind of like your startup folder, except these programs start up even before you get into Windows.  Aside from a virus scanning program, you most likely do not need any of the files here.  To find out, edit the file in Windows by righ clicking on it and going to Edit. Type REM in front of each line, which will prevent that line from being executed. This is simple to do and won't cause any problems because you can easily edit it to restore it to its original state!  If a problem exists, boot to a floppy disk. Then enter the following command:

edit c:\autoexec.bat

Then delete the REM in front of the line or lines that may be causing the problem, save the file, and restart. Windows 98 doesn't even need an autoexec.bat file, so removing these lines should do nothing but make your computer run faster. CD-ROM and sound card support are provided through Windows, so you can remove any lines related to these hardware devices.

3. If you have Norton Utilities, run Norton WinDoctor to get rid of some of the quick, easy to fix registry errors.  Let WinDoctor repair all errors automatically.  Restart your computer to make sure everything is still running okay. 

4. You can find and clean out unused DLL files from your Windows\System directory with a handy free tool called Clean System Directory, which you can download here.  After running Clean System Directory, restart your computer to make sure everything is still running okay. 

5. Get and run the latest version of Microsoft's RegClean.  You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com, but you will have to search through the site to find the most recent version.  You may also be able to find it here or here.  This program will likely do the best job of cleaning the registry since it is written by Microsoft for their own operating system.  This program is automated and should thus be easy to use. Again, restart your computer to make sure everything is still running okay.

6. Now you can try another tool to remove any unnecessary registry keys that RegClean may have missed. EasyCleaner can be downloaded for free here.  There is a lot of documentation there as well that you may find useful. After running it, restart your computer to make sure everything is still running okay.

7. If you're craving more registry optimizations, you can make another swipe through the registry with CleanReg, which is a little more complicated to use than the others. It may be overkill to run this program also, but your registry will thank you for it :) If you use it, restart your computer once more to make sure everything is still running okay. 

8. You may want to run ScanDisk or Norton Disk Doctor now.  Then, if you have Norton Utilities, you should run Norton Optimization Wizard to optimize your registry, optimize your swap file, and optimize your file structure with Speed Disk (an enhanced defrag utility). After completing all of these steps, you should have a quick and reliable machine once again! :)