Registry
The Registry is a Windows 95 or Windows NT database that holds configuration
data about the hardware and environment of the machine it has been installed in.
It is made up of the SYSTEM.DAT and the USER.DAT files. Many settings that
were previously stored in WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI in Windows 3.1 are in the
Registry.
The Registry can be edited directly, but that is usually only done for very
technical enhancements or as a last resort. Routine access is done via the
Control Panels, the Properties menu options, and many programs you run on the machine.
To access the Registry, run the Registry Editor program (REGEDIT.EXE or
REGEDT32.EXE) in the \WINDOWS or \WINNT directory. The Registry contains six folders,
each named with an HKEY prefix, which stands for ôHandle to a Key.ö
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - Contains file associations and OLE information. It lists exactly the same
information as the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER - The portion of HKEY_USERS that pertains to the current user. It lists the
colors, fonts, and attributes for the desktop environment, as well as any network
connections. If the current user is the only user of the system,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_USERS are the same.
HKEY_USERS - Contains the HKEY_CURRENT_USER information for all users of the system. It is
the USER.DAT file.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - Holds a large number of settings for the hardware, system software, and
applications. Install programs also create folders within this folder and place
information in them, taking the place of the INI files commonly used in Windows 3.1.
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIGURATION - Contains settings for the current display resolution and printers.
HKEY_DYN_DATA - Holds performance statistics, which can be viewed with the System Monitor
(SYSMON.EXE) or Performance Monitor (PERFMON.EXE).