The Windows Registry

The windows registry is a huge file containing many settings essential for the smooth performance of your computer’s operating system, software and hardware.

Like the majority of computer users you probably haven’t heard of the term “windows registry”.

Or you may have heard about it but have no idea what it is for.

It is an essential component of your operating system.

And the thing is, it can become corrupted, contributing to slow performance.

What Is The Registry?

The windows registry is a section of the operating system containing thousands and thousands of computer settings.

The settings stored within the windows registry are for our operating system, for software that we install and for hardware.

Whenever we make changes to our operating system or install or uninstall software and hardware, changes are made to the windows registry settings.

For example when I change the size of the icons on my desktop, changes are made to the area in the registry which deals with desktop items, so that my changes are remembered.

Any changes I make to via my computer’s control panel are stored in the registry.

Often the registry is known by its operating system name, Windows 7 registry, XP registry, Vista registry, NT Registry, Windows 2000 registry etcetera.

What Does It Look Like?

The windows registry is huge, confusing and complex to navigate. It contains settings and sub-settings laid out in a very large hierarchy.

Below is a picture where you can see the highest level of the windows XP registry hierarchy.

At the highest level, the registry has five headings, HKEY_Classes_Root, HKEY_Current_User, HKEY_Local_Machine, HKEY_Users, HKEY_Current_Config.

If you were to click on the plus signs next to each of the headings thousands and thousands of subfolders would open up containing all of the operating system, software and hardware settings.

Don’t Be Tempted To Fiddle With Your Registry

There are many settings in the registry that are crucial to the smooth and speedy performance of your operating system, software and hardware.

These settings should not be changed.

In actual fact it is very hard to know which windows registry settings refer to which software, hardware or operating system settings.

Even having said this, I still firmly discourage you from tinkering with registry settings.

Changing registry settings may have undesired effects on your computer’s performance.

If you do decide to make some manual changes to the registry, you should do a registry backup first.

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