Article - Editing the Windows Registry

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Editing the Windows registry
Published on 8/9/97

Since the introduction of Windows 95 around two years ago, many people have become aware of the system registry. The registry contains a large amount of data about your system, including configuration settings and program information. The registry is not just a single file on your machine; rather, it is a compilation of data from various system files. The bulk of this data comes from two files, system.dat and user.dat, both of which are found in the Windows directory.

The registry is made up of two components, keys and values. The keys are basically the "locations" that store the values, which in turn contain the actual data. All values are in one of three different formats, and most can be viewed and changed by the user. The values can be in the form of alphanumeric text, as well as binary data and and DWORD values. As far as the major keys go, there are six of them. There are three root keys and three aliases that point to other parts of the registry. Listed below are these six keys:

This key contains information about file types, extensions, and actions performed on files. It is an alias for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\classes.

This key includes information about the current user, including user display preferences and user customizations. In most cases it is an alias for HKEY_USERS\.Default.

This key is almost the same as HKEY_CURRENT_USER, but contains information about the machine, not the user.

This key, specifically HKEY_USERS\.Default, contains information for the current user. This key also contains data for all users in general.

This key contains information for all currently installed software. In most cases it is an alias for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Config\0001.

This key contains configuration and performance statistics. In this key, unlike the others, you cannot change the values, because they don't really exist. They are created when Windows retrieves the information by accessing a device driver.

Before we go any further, we would like to point out that tinkering with the registry can be extremely hazardous to your computer. Before you do anything, you should make a backup of the registry. To do this, first open the Registry Editor, by running the regedit.exe utility. Once in the program, you can select 'Export Registry File...' from the 'Registry' menu. This will allow you to save a registry file, which ends in the .reg extension. The information contained in this file can be later imported back into the registry if something goes wrong. (For more information on registry files, see the article, Is Your Registry Secure?)

There are many nifty things you can do in the registry. You can troubleshoot software problems, see how your favorite applications store their data, and tweak your system to your liking. To edit a registry value, find the appropriate key, select it, and double-click (or select 'Modify' from the 'Edit' menu). As you experiment, be sure to test your modifications one at a time, before proceeding any further. If you're looking for some ideas, be sure to check out our upcoming special feature on advanced Windows 95 tips and tricks.

Editing the registry can beneficial to your system, yet at the same time it can be dangerous. If you know what you're doing, great; if not, be careful. Just keep in mind what you've learned in this article, and everything should be fine. Additionally, the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) has a nice little help file to go with it.