regedit won't change values-help please (W98)

[sharps45]

Is there somewhere in the config.sys or autoexec.bat that can disable regedit changes to values or deleting them? I can't change a value, as soon as I do, it resets. Any ideas??

[DanK]

What are you trying to change?

[sharps45]

Trying to disable a program by changing a 1 to a 0. It will work in safe mode, but not on regular desktop. Can you go from safe mode to regular without rebooting?

[DanK]

When you log onto windows are you the administrator? if not then i'd guess thats why your changes are not being saved

[sharps45]

It's my home computer, so how do I check that and how do I change to be the administrator? I'm not stupid but I am ignorant about some things. thanks

[jute]

In Win98 (that's what I assume you're using), anyone who uses the computer is an administrator, unless some 3rd-party security software has been installed previously.

Have you installed any security or system-tweaking software that may have prevented changes to the registry?

If it works in Safe Mode, then probably something that loads during normal boot (a driver or a program) is causing the problem. You might want to try msconfig, look in the startup list and see if you can find anything suspicious.

[sharps45]

In my startup, I did the selective startup process, and eliminated each in turn, and finally all of them, and the problem was still there. I did notice that the Load Startup group items had a grey check in the box, and if I clicked on it it would clear, but upon restart, the grey check would be back. It was a shaded check, not a black check. If this means I have something embedded in my computer to stop me from making registry changes and indeed any startup changes, where would I find it and how to delete it. I do remember a little DOS, so if I have to go there I can give it a whirl. thanks

[jute]

Just a shot in the dark... perhaps you can try booting into DOS mode (by hitting Ctrl-F5 immediately after you get past the BIOS POST screen and Win98 starts loading) and type scanreg /restore or scanreg /fix at the C:\> prompt. This will sometimes restore a corrupt registry to a usable state.

Or...maybe you can replace Explorer.exe with a fresh new copy from the Win98 CD. It solves some problems in some cases.