How to refine your Windows Registry

The Windows Registry is something that a surprising number of people are completely unaware of or actively avoid ­ and with good reason.

Continuing our series of ‘back to basics’ articles aimed at those just starting out in computing (or experienced users who fancy a quick refresher), this feature will explain the need-to-know elements of one of the core components of Windows.

When Windows is working well, the Registry shouldn’t need touching and it’s not a place where novices should need to tread.

But there are occasions when Windows misbehaves in such a way that a manual edit of the Registry may be unavoidable. So to better understand your foe, read on.

What’s the Registry?
The Registry as we currently know it was first introduced way back in Windows 95. Prior to this, those with long memories may remember the INI files used by Windows 3.1x (such as win.ini and system.ini) to store program and driver configuration information.

Third-party developers could also use their own INI files for configuring applications, which could result in the files being scattered all over your hard drive.

The Registry was Microsoft’s attempt to rationalise system configuration and clean up this anarchic system of INI files.

It’s essentially a large database (stored in the /Windows/System32/config folder) used to store settings relating to Windows itself, along with any hardware and software that is installed. It’s integral to the operation of Windows.

When a change is made to settings using the Control Panel or a program’s options or preferences screen, these changes are recorded in the Registry.

As a result, there is often no reason to delve into the Registry ­ using Windows is a much easier way of adjusting settings. But by learning about how the Registry works, it is possible to take greater control of your computer and access otherwise hidden settings.

But before continuing, it may help to explain exactly how Windows uses the Registry.

First off, it’s important to realise that the Registry is not a static file ­ all the time Windows is running, Windows processes, services and applications are constantly querying and modifying entries in the Registry.

If you download and run a Registry monitoring program such as Microsoft’s free Regmon utility, you can see what’s happening to the Registry in real time, and it’s quite amazing how busy it is in there.