Registry Editing regedit

[vizskywalker 0]

Many topics here tell you to edit the registry to activate special functions and warn you not to mess with anything else or you may crash your computer. From this you have gathered an idea that the registry is important, but do you really understand it?

 

Unless you work for Microsoft, the answer is probably no, but even without a full understanding of the registry, you can still work your way around it without worrying too much.

 

The first thing to know about the registry is what it is. The registry is a huge list of machine keys, little pieces of information used by Windows and programs to run properly on your computer.

 

To edit the registry Windows provides us with a little tool called regedit. There are freeware tools out there as well, but regedit works just fine. To get to regedit, click Start->Run, type in regedit, and click OK. You can also create a shortcut to regedit by ricght clicking on the desktop, going to New->Shortcut, type in regedir for the program and regedit for the name.

 

Now to actually use regedit, open it up, and you will see a screen like this:

 

The left part of the screen is a list of the different folders that keys are stored in, this relates to how it affects the computer. The prefix HKEY means it is a folder storing keys. CLASSES_ROOT stores all of the base information that Windows requires to run such as the different file types and other such things. CURRENT_USER stores all of the information about the user currently logged on. LOCAL_MACHINE stores information mostly about the hardware on the computer as well as all of the software installed. USERS stores information on all of the users set up on the computer. CURRENT_CONFIG stores information on the current configuration of the computer.

 

The right part of the screen contains the data about particular keys. It contains the name of a piece in the first column, the type of variable it is in the second column, and the value of the piece in the third column.

 

The different variable types are:

REG_SZ - a string

REG_BINARY - a binary value

REG_DWORD - a 32bit integer

REG_MULTI_SZ - a multi-string

REG_EXPAND_SZ - an expandable string

 

The most common three tpes are REG_SZ, REG_BINARY, and REG_DWORD.

 

To add a new key, click the plus sign next to one of the main keys (those preceeded by HKEY_) to expand the key. Then right click on the subkey you want to add a key to and highlight new, then click key. To add values to a key, select the key by clicking on it. Then right click in the right part of the window and goto new and pick the type of variable you want the value to be. To change a value, double click on its name and enter a new name and value.

 

To delete a key or value, right click on that key or value and select delete. Be forwarned, deleting a key deletes all of it's values.

 

The most common reason to edit the registry is to remove the last trace of uninstalled programs. Sometimes traces remain of programs that have been uninstaleed because they were placed in an unorthodox location. To remove these last traces, of course search the hard diskd for any files or folders containing the name of the program or an abbreviation or shortened form of the program and remove them. But also search the registry.

 

To search the registry, hit ctrl+F. Type in the search parameters, and to find everything, make sure Keys, Values, and Data are all checked. Then click Find Next. To find the next instance of the previous search term, press F3. When the search has made a complete sweep of every key, it will display a popup saying "Ginished searching through the registry."

 

Because the registry affects almost every function on your computer, and it is very cryptic, it is important to backit up before doing anything. To backup the registry, open the backup utility provided by Windows, by going Start->All Programs->Accesories->System Tools->Backup. If the wizard pops up, click next, make sure backup files is selected then click next. Click let me choose what to backup and click next. On the tree in the left part of the window, expand my computer, then check System State and click next. Choose where to save the backup and click next. The Backup utility will back up your registry file.

 

To restore the registy, select restore from the beginning of the wizard, select the backup file and click next.