What is The Windows Registry?
The Windows registry is a database which stores settings and options for the operating system for Microsoft Windows 32-bit versions, 64-bit versions and Windows Mobile.
It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to "Control Panel" settings, or file associations, system policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the registry.
The registry is actually a big file where a lot of setting can be stored.
This file has been around quite a while and has had different names.
The first windows version that used the windows registry to store settings was windows 3.11 and the registry in that version of windows was called Reg.dat.
In Windows 95 & 98 the registry files are named User.dat and System.dat and are stored in the \Windows\ directory.
Windows ME called the registry files, Classes.dat, User.dat, and System.dat and stored them in the \Windows\ directory.
Finally the newest versions of windows like, Windows NT, 2000, 2003, & XP stores the registry files like this,
The Registry files are stored in %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\:
? Sam
? Security
? Software
? System
? Default
? Userdiff
? NTUSER.dat
? The NTUSER.dat file is stored in the profile folder.
The Windows Registry was introduced to tidy up the old way of storing text entries in INI files. These entries had previously been used to store configuration settings for Windows programs.
The ini files where stored in a lot of different directories and many programs used their own ini file for some or all of their settings. This way of using ini files all over the system, made them difficult to keep track of and handle in an easy and logical way.
What's Good with the Registry
Changing from having one or more INI Files per program to one centralized registry has some obvious and some not so obvious benefits:
* The registry keeps machine configuration separate from user configuration. When a user logs into a Windows NT/XP/2003 computer, their registry settings are merged with the system wide settings. This allows programs to more easily keep per-user configuration, as they can just work with the 'current user' key, whereas in the past they tended to just keep system-wide per-program settings. There are always some system wide settings that are common for all users though.
* Group Policy allows administrators on a Windows-based computer network to centrally manage program and policy settings. This is not used in a home environment, only in corporations with...next Registry Repair Software
Disclosure Policy
It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to "Control Panel" settings, or file associations, system policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the registry.
The registry is actually a big file where a lot of setting can be stored.
This file has been around quite a while and has had different names.
The first windows version that used the windows registry to store settings was windows 3.11 and the registry in that version of windows was called Reg.dat.
In Windows 95 & 98 the registry files are named User.dat and System.dat and are stored in the \Windows\ directory.
Windows ME called the registry files, Classes.dat, User.dat, and System.dat and stored them in the \Windows\ directory.
Finally the newest versions of windows like, Windows NT, 2000, 2003, & XP stores the registry files like this,
The Registry files are stored in %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\:
? Sam
? Security
? Software
? System
? Default
? Userdiff
? NTUSER.dat
? The NTUSER.dat file is stored in the profile folder.
The Windows Registry was introduced to tidy up the old way of storing text entries in INI files. These entries had previously been used to store configuration settings for Windows programs.
The ini files where stored in a lot of different directories and many programs used their own ini file for some or all of their settings. This way of using ini files all over the system, made them difficult to keep track of and handle in an easy and logical way.
What's Good with the Registry
Changing from having one or more INI Files per program to one centralized registry has some obvious and some not so obvious benefits:
* The registry keeps machine configuration separate from user configuration. When a user logs into a Windows NT/XP/2003 computer, their registry settings are merged with the system wide settings. This allows programs to more easily keep per-user configuration, as they can just work with the 'current user' key, whereas in the past they tended to just keep system-wide per-program settings. There are always some system wide settings that are common for all users though.
* Group Policy allows administrators on a Windows-based computer network to centrally manage program and policy settings. This is not used in a home environment, only in corporations with...next Registry Repair Software
Disclosure Policy