What Is The Windows Registry?
The Windows windows registry is a database which shops settings and alternatives for the os for Microsoft Windows 32-bit variations, 64-bit variations and Windows Mobile.
It consists of details and settings for all the hardware, software application, users, and choices of the PC. Whenever a user makes modifications to “Control Panel” settings, or file associations, system policies, or set up software application, the modifications are shown and saved in the windows registry.
The computer system registry is really a huge file where a great deal of setting can be kept.
This file has actually been around a long time and has actually had various names.
The very first windows variation that utilized the windows computer system registry to save settings was windows 3.11 and the computer system registry because variation of windows was called Reg.dat.
In Windows 95 & & 98 the pc registry files are called User.dat and System.dat and are saved in the Windows directory site.
Windows ME called the windows registry files, Classes.dat, system.dat, and user.dat and saved them in the Windows directory site.
The most recent variations of windows like, Windows NT, 2000, 2003, & & XP shops the computer registry files like this,
The Registry files are saved in %SystemRoot% System32Config:
– Sam
– Security
– Software
– System
– Default
– Userdiff
– NTUSER.dat
– The NTUSER.dat file is kept in the profile folder.
The Windows Registry was presented to clean the old method of keeping text entries in INI files. These entries had actually formerly been utilized to keep setup settings for Windows programs.
The ini files where saved in a great deal of lots of programs and various directory sites utilized their own ini apply for some or all of their settings. In this manner of utilizing ini files all over the system, made them hard to monitor and manage in a sensible and simple method.
What’s Good with the Registry
Altering from having several INI Files per program to one centralised windows registry has some apparent and some not so apparent advantages:
– The computer registry keeps device setup different from user setup. When a user logs into a Windows NT/XP/2003 computer system, their pc registry settings are combined with the system broad settings.
– Group Policy permits administrators on a Windows-based computer system network to centrally handle program and policy settings. This is not utilized in a house environment, just in corporations with a devoted logon server.
Since the pc registry is accessed through an unique API it is readily available to scripts and remote management utilizing WMI, -. Each script does not need to be personalized for each application’s distinct setup file designs and limitations.
– The windows registry can be accessed as one product over a network connection for remote management/support, consisting of from scripts, utilizing the basic API.
– It can be supported more quickly, because it is simply a little number of files in particular areas.
Bad things with the Registry
Not all that shines is gold. The Registry presents some issues:
– It is a single point of failure – damage to the Registry can render a Windows system unbootable, in severe cases to a point that can not be repaired, and needs a complete reinstall of Windows. This is why it is so essential to utilize computer system registry scan and fix energies, while the computer system registry still can be fixed.
– Any program which wishes to control the computer system registry should utilize unique Windows API works whereas a setup file can be controlled utilizing regular text file-processing methods.
– Configuration files can consist of remarks to assist the user by discussing what worths are for and how they can be altered, the computer system registry can not. And the windows registry usage something called guids in a big scale.
– It is harder to backup – it can not be done ‘live’ due to the fact that it is constantly in usage, and hence needs unique software application such as ntbackup.
Due to the fact that you can not quickly extract information from backed up computer system registry files, – Restoring parts of the pc registry is hard
– Any application that does not uninstall correctly, or does not have an uninstaller, can leave entries in the computer registry, which can lead with time to increased file size and reduced efficiency. And as soon as again, here’s the significant reason that you should utilize a computer system registry scan/clean and repair work software application.
As soon as more with the release of the brand-new Vista Operating System from Microsoft, the computer system registry will be redone.
– The computer system registry keeps maker setup different from user setup. When a user logs into a Windows NT/XP/2003 computer system, their windows registry settings are combined with the system broad settings. There are constantly some system broad settings that are typical for all users.
– Configuration files can consist of remarks to assist the user by discussing what worths are for and how they can be altered, the windows registry can not. And the computer system registry usage something called guids in a big scale.