What And Where Are Windows Registry Files On Your Computer?Are you curious about what the windows registry files actually look like? What about where they are located on your computer? And how big they get? The Registry Editor tool that you can start up by clicking the Start button, then clicking on Run, typing "regedit" and clicking the OK button or hitting the enter key will show you what the inside of the registry looks like. But it's also interesting to know what they physically look like, how big they can get, what they are called and where on your computer they are located. The names and quantity of your registry files and where they are actually located in your computer's directory structure depend on which Windows operating system you are using. Windows 95, 98 and 98 SEThe files that make up the registry in Windows 95, 98 and 98 SE are the system.dat and the user.dat files. The system.dat file and the user.dat file for the currently logged on user is located in the C:/Windows folder. The user.dat file for users who are not logged on are located in the C:/Windows/Profile/username folder.All of these system files are hidden and therefore you won't be able to see them unless you enable View Hidden Files in Windows Explorer. To do this open Windows Explorer by pressing the Windows keyboard key and at the same time holding down the E key. Then click on the "Tools" menu and choose "Folder Options". In Advanced Settings you can select "Show hidden files and folders". Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003There are more registry files in Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 than there are in previous versions. They are stored in the C:/Windows/System32/Config folder. The registry for these operating systems is broken into six different files Sam, Security, Software, System, Default, Userdiff.One of the problems that can occur with the registry is that it can get very bloated. It can contain so many computer settings that it expands quite considerably in size. This can lead to slow performance because of the length of time that it takes to locate the registry entries that are relevant to the operations of various components of your computer, be they hardware or software. Let me give you an example. My computer runs Windows XP. I operate the registry cleaner tool called
Registry Mechanic
by
PCTools.com
which I think is the best registry scan, repair and optimize tool available on the market. Even though I run this regularly to keep my registry free of errors and operating smoothly, the "Software" file that makes up one of the components of my registry is 34.5 megabytes in size!!! That is quite a big file.
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