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| Starting in Windows 3.1 and then Windows 95, Microsoft introduced the concept of a system "registry" in which all configuration information about a system and about user preferences was held. The longer you use Windows, and especially the more you install and uninstall applications, the more crowded the Registry gets. And the chances for complications and problems grow (the system becomes slow , freezes or the system even crashes). In any case, the bigger the Registry gets, the longer it takes to load the Registry. When you open the Registry , you can see six branches : HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, HKEY_LO- CAL_MACHINE, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_USERS and HKEY_DYN_DATA. Within each branch is a number of keys. A key is simply a Registry folder that contains settings, also called values. |
The Registry Editor is installed on every Windows system . Most people start it by using the "Run" command in the Start menu and then typing REGEDIT. Once you have started the Regedit you will notice that on the left side there is a tree with folders, and on the right the contents (values) of the currently selected folder. Like Windows explorer, to expand a certain branch, click on the plus sign [+] to the left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by selecting "New" from the "Edit" menu, or by right-clicking your mouse. And you can rename any value and almost any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2 on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and choosing "Delete". An example on how to improve your Internet connection speed by modifying some settings in the registry you can see on the Internet page. Note : Whenever possible try and use the administrative tools such as the Control Panel or the System Policy Editor to make changes to the registry. One of the dangers of editing the Registry from within the Registry itself is that you are not prompted if an invalid key or entry is incorrect. This can cause the Registry to "crash" or corrupt. Be careful! And it is always a good idea to backup your registry before making any changes to it. There is always the possibility of changing or deleting a critical setting causing you to have to reinstall the whole operating system. It's better to be safe than sorry!
Examples
• Disable right-click on desktop (All versions)This tweak removes the context menu that normally appears when the user right clicks on the desktop or in the Explorer right results pane. Open the registry and find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer (or the same under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, if you want to apply this restriction system-wide). Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called NoViewContextMenu, and set it to '1' to enable the restriction ('0' to disable the restriction). Close the registry and restart Windows. • Clear URL history (All versions) Internet Explorer caches any URLs that are typed into the address bar. This may become a privacy issue on a shared computer, or a nuisance if there is a particular URL you want to remove without clearing the whole history. Open the registry and find HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ TypedURLs and delete any value you want to remove. Or remove the entire key to delete all entries. Restart Internet Explorer for the change to take effect. • Disable ability to customize toolbar (All versions) By right clicking on a toolbar you are usually given the option to Customize, which allows you to change which functions are available from the toolbar. This tweak allows you to disable that function. Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer (or the same in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for a system-wide restriction). Create a new DWORD value named NoToolbarCustomize and set the value to '1' to disable the ability to customize the toolbars. Restart. • For more registry tweaks order by email Registry.zip (100 KB, 5 Euro/US$), which includes more than 50 different tweaks in the registry. Disclaimer : Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use the information on this page at your own risk. |
