A corrupt registry stops WinXP starting

I have a continual problem (6x)that has driven me to despair. I have WinXP HE installed on 5GB of C:\ that is FAT 32 file system , the remaining 35 GB HD is using NTFS. My problem.. “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt \windows\systems32\config\systems ” Microsoft aricle #Q307545 has a repair procedure using Recovery Console, will this restore my computer to its original state prior state, if I follow their procedure?? Why am I continually getting this problem, what are the causes of my errors, what can I do to prevent this problem from occurring in the future. Your help would be greatly appreciated.