Virtually everything about how your system operates can be controlled through the registry. Registry settings can cause your computer to run very inefficiently, or run very fast and efficiently.
The Windows registry first appeared in Windows 3.1. It was much simpler then, consisted of a single file named REG.DAT, and had only a limited scope compared to the modern Windows registry. Windows 9x versions of registries touch virtually every detail of how the system operates, and are comprised of two files found in the \WINDOWS directory: SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT. Windows NT registries are spread over a number of files.
The registry can be easily modified, and is far less mysterious than you are lead to believe. If you are comfortable changing preferences in programs, such as setting the default font or file locations in your word processing program, for example, you should feel comfortable changing the settings in the Windows registry.
Always follow this procedure when making changes to the registry:
DEMO: Backing up the registry:
Restoring the registry:
Double-click the desired backup file
This process is even better than manually copying the registry files, since the registry files are constantly open whenever Windows is running, so they must be copied from a DOS prompt after resetting their attributes from hidden, system, read-only prior to copying. Additionally, using RegEdit allows you to select only the particular registry keys you want to export, which can be very handy if you only want to fiddle with limited parts of the registry, and not reinstate the entire registry contents to "undo" your changes.
The items that appear as folders in the left pane of the Registry Editor window are know as "keys" and the contents of these keys are called "values." Much like the arrangement of folders organize the files on your hard drive, registry keys can contain other keys as well as multiple values.
Unlike editing a document, changes made to the registry are immediate. You don't manually save the changes. They are instituted the moment you change something in the registry. There is also no "undo" feature in RegEdit per se, so you will want to pay attention and not be sloppy if you decide to make changes to the registry. Remember, a current backup of the registry is important in case you goof something up and need to undo your changes.
Windows automatically checks the registry and makes a backup of the existing one every time you restart your computer. If the Registry Checker software notices a problem, it automatically replaces the registry with the latest known good backup copy. It does not, however, fix references to missing files or programs. That requires aftermarket software. Some well-known vendors include FixIt, System Mechanic, and Norton SystemWorks.
Microsoft used to offer a free utility named RegClean to do this, but they have since removed it from their download sites in an effort to "protect users from themselves." You can still find copies at various places around the Web, such as John Woram's site http://www.woram.com/UTILITY.HTM. BEWARE that RegClean does not work with all versions of Windows, namely newer versions such as XP and 2000.
DEMO: To manually run the Registry Checker software, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information. From the System Information program's main menu, select Registry Checker.
The System Information program provides a powerful tool for looking at many of the inner workings in your system.
DEMO: For example, from the left pane, select Software Environment > Startup Programs to see all the "stuff" that runs when the computer boots up. And you wonder why your computer takes so long to boot!
DEMO: Or the system configuration manager. From the main menu, select Tools gt; System Configuration Utility.
DEMO: By default, the automatic registry backups are stored in the \Windows\Sysbckup\ folder. This is a "hidden" folder. By default, Windows keeps five separate copies of your registry here, using the names RB001.CAB through RB005.CAB. More advanced users can modify the ScanReg.INI file located in the \Windows\ folder to configure a number of specific features relating to registry backups, including the number of backup registry copies to keep.
Read the article on CAB files at http://pcgroup.nwark.com/vpres-a0.htm to learn more about how CAB files.
Simply browsing the contents of the registry without making changes can be a very enlightening experience, and can help you understand a lot about how your system works. However, there are also many very helpful and powerful things you can do by making simple changes to the Windows registry settings.
DEMO: For a simple example of how you can make Windows suit your needs, one of our club members complained about the scrolling single-column display of program selections in Windows 98 at a previous meeting. Don't like it? Change it! Go to the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Advanced and add the following string value (right-click Advanced folder, select New gt; String Value, type in StartMenuScrollPrograms then press Enter). Now right-click the new entry and select Modify. Type false into the Value Data field.
For those of you who like to run Tweak UI, note the fact that it is basically nothing more than a fancy registry editor.
For a very informative article on the Windows registry written in plain English, you may want to read the article at: http://www.itp-journals.com/sasample/E1209.pdf
PC Pitstop www.pcpitstop.com and PC 911 www.pcnineoneone.com are good sites to help you learn more about your computer and run tests that will suggest ways to improve system performance and reliability.
Having chronic BSOD's and other unexplained errors while using Windows 98? Check out: http://www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/fixes1d.html#vxd
WinGuides www.winguides.com has good information about how to tune up your PC, tweak the registry to increase system performance and reliability, etc.
An amazing site for information about how to tweak the registry and various other parts of Windows to maximize your computer's broadband connection can be found at http://www.speedguide.net/.
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