Theoretically you could, but unless you're a long-time major NT hacker I doubt whether you'd find the cause of your problems.
The Registry is a huge binary tangled mat of interdependencies and utterly obscure values, only one of which needs to go Tango Uniform for your system to go off to la-la land. Five files in the system32\config folder - Default, SAM, Security, Software and System.
Registry backups (and I commend ERUNT -
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
- to you) are only one answer to the problems of a stuffed XP. I've just had to reinstall my son's XP Pro (boring-boring) because of a corrupted kernel driver that I couldn't track down. Still, I suppose that it had been up for 3 years, which is exceptional for a Windows install.
Linux is easier since there isn't a registry, just hundreds of text configuration files scattered around like confetti. If you can figure out where it barfed you can at least get at it and have a chance of fixing it. Still, Linux has it's own problems too.
Good luck
