Windows Registry is the database used to store configurations, settings and options for Microsoft Windows systems. The database has a hierarchical structure.

The registry contains set-up for components of low-level operating systems and the applications based on that platform. Registry is used by device drivers, the kernels, SAM, user interface, services and all the third party software.

Windows registry also offers a way to access counters to profile performance of the system.

At the time registry was first coupled with Windows 3.1, its main aim was to store information on configuration of components based on COM.

But the use of Windows Registry extended with the launch of Windows NT and Windows 95. It included a large number of per-program INI files wherein configuration settings for Windows had been stored.

Keys and values are the two basic components of the MS registry.

Registry Values refer to the pairs of name/data stored within the keys.

The Windows API functions, querying and manipulating values of registry, get value names in a different way from the key path. They may also use handle which identify the parent key.

Although, the term is a little bit confusing, with values resembling associative arrays, wherein standard definition suggests that a key is the name portion of value.

The terminologies are a proffer from the 16-bit registry of Windows 3, wherein keys did not possess arbitrary pairs of name/data, but instead had just a single unnamed value that essentially needed to be a string.

The Windows registry can be edited in a manual way in MS Windows by executing regedt32.exe or regedit.exe in the directory of Windows.

Although, neglectfully editing the registry can result in irreparable damage or you end up with a slow Windows 7. Therefore, Microsoft and several industry experts, including the writers and editors of leading trade magazines, have highly recommended to perform backups of the registry prior to editing it.

Windows 3.x, also known as the “Registration Info Editor” or “Registration Editor”, demonstrated the implementation of current Registry tools.

Typically, it was merely a database of applications that are used to edit OLE objects embedded in documents.

Here is the test of alertness as there are a lot of distinctions between the two editors available on these operating systems.

For the first time, the two programs were merged into one by Windows XP, which adopted the traditional REGEDIT.EXE as interface and added to it the functionality of REGEDT32.EXE.

With REGEDIT.EXE being the enhanced editor and the other one, i.e. REGEDT32.EXE, invoking the former one, there doesnt seem any difference on the newer operating systems including Windows XP.

Following functions can be performed using the Registry Editor:

• Importing and exporting .REG files, exporting data in the binary hive format
• Creating, manipulating, renaming and deleting registry keys, subkeys, values and value data
• Finding particular strings in key names, value names and value data
• Bookmarking user-selected registry keys as Favorites

Apart from Microsoft, Registry could also be edited in LINUX with the help of open source Offline NT Password & Registry Editor for files’ editing.