Windows registry is a vital portion of the Windows 95, 98, XP and NT operating systems. It is a database of sorts, keeping the configuration settings and .dat files together. A program installed in the computer is jampacked with information that is automatically transferred to the registry. What are these pieces of information? They can be about the hardware, the memory and other Windows applications.
The registry is made up with a lot of folders and more subfolders. “Hives” or keys also constitute a registry. These hives are the following:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. You know why Windows know that a .doc file is from a MS Word document? It’s because of this registry key.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER. This key records the information of the user currently using the computer.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. This contains hardware, security accounts manager or SAM, security, software and system information.
HKEY_USERS. This key registers information on all the recognized users.
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG. This computer registry key contains more hardwore information.
HKEY_DYN_DATA. This is under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key that deals with Plug and...