Optimising the Windows 98 Registry
Windows 98 compresses the registry by default at restart if it finds that there is more than 500KB of empty space in the registry. This is controlled by the line Optimize=1 in the Scanreg.ini file in the \Windows directory.
To compress the registry manually:
1. Restart in MS-DOS mode.
2. At the MS-DOS prompt, type scanreg/backup. This will backup your registry.
3. Now type scanreg /opt.
4. Scanreg will compress the registry.