For many computer users Windows Registry is a restricted mysterious zone. For knowing people the registry can be the powerful tool for customizing the operating system. Registry is a database that contains all the information about Microsoft operating system installed on the PC. You can find there all the settings for Windows and other installed applications.

And if you are an experienced user you are free to control your system from there and change everything you need. Maybe this information is not very useful, because in common situations you do not interact directly with the registry. But instead you use different Windows utilities like those found in the Control Panel or INI, SYS, BAT files. But sometimes this knowledge may be necessary, so I will try to describe you the basics then.

Location

The Windows 95 and 98 registry itself consists of two files on your hard disk, hidden in the windows directory – system.dat and user.dat. And what is more – user.dat file is responsible for user specific system information, but computer and different hardware information is contained in the system.dat file. In Windows 2000 and XP you can find it both in \windows\system\config folder, or somewhere in “\documents and settings\your_username\”.

Structure

Like directories on your hard disk Windows Registry has hierarchical structure (a tree). Each branch branch of a tree is called “key”. Keys may contain other “keys” or “values. The “values” contain information about keys and therefore about the operating system itself. Values could be of different types – dword, binary or string.

Working with Windows Registry

In order to access the registry you must use one of the two programs “regedit.exe” and “regedt32.exe”. Windows 95, 98, and Me use the 16-bit regedit version. But Windows NT, 2000 and XP use both versions. Regedit (due to its 16-bits) offers faster searches, while regedt32 (it is the 32-bit version) is able to prevent automatic saving. To run these programs click “Start”, then “Run” and enter the command regedit or regedt32 depending on which one you need to use.

Registry editor interface consists of 2 panes. On the left side we can see a tree with folders and on the right side there are the values of the currently selected keys. To expand a certain key branch just click on the plus sign that can be found on the left of any folder (or just double-click the folder).

To add some new keys or values just select from the Edit menu “New” or right-click on the pane where you want to create it. The renaming processes is as easy as others above - right-click on an object and click rename, press F2 on the keyboard or just slowly click on it twice.  And at last but not list - you can easily delete any key or value by right-clicking on it, and choosing Delete or by clicking on it, and pressing Delete button on the keyboard.

As I have already said before – the registry is the heart, the control center of your personal computer. So, remember - it is necessary to make frequent back ups of your registry, especially before making any changes to it. Note that it is possible to screw up your entire system if you don't know what you're doing and if you make back ups of the Registry you almost eliminate this possibility.