>You can use The windows scripting host as long as you have IE4 installed.
>lo = CREATEOBJECT("WScript.Shell")
>lc = lo.RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\...")
>OR
>lo.RegWrite(("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\...", anyValue [,strType])
>where strType can be REG_SZ, REG_EXPAND_SZ, REG_DWORD, and REG_BINARY

No, it isn't IE4. It's the Windows Script Host that has to be installed. It's an optional component under Win98, but can be downloaded and installed from MS. It's freely re-distributable.

And the syntax examples should read:

lc = lo.RegRead("<b>HKLM</b>\Software\Microsoft\...")