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Windows Registry

There’s an old saying that “A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing”, and this certainly applies to the Windows Registry. In this week’s tech tip, we’ll try to give you just a little bit more knowledge than that, so you can be really dangerous!

The registry is that part of Windows that stores all of the info about how your particular computer is configured. It keeps track of all the hardware and software on your machine, the user settings, locations of certain files, and things like that. This information is located in two binary files, called SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT. And since you now know that the Registry is actually two things rather than one, you’re already ahead of most of the population.

There are a number of little programs you can get for tweaking the Registry, such as Xsetup, TweakAll, and our personal favorite, TweakUI. These utilities come with a nice GUI and some safeguards that make it harder to do serious damage, but the fact is that just about anything you can do with one of these tools can also be done with the Registry editor that’s built right into Windows. This is a program called Regedit, and it’s available in every Windows version from 95 to XP, with only minor differences from one to the next.

To use the Regedit program, select Run from the Windows Start menu, type in REGEDIT and click OK.

About now, we should tell you that editing the Registry is not an activity for the uninformed or the faint of heart. Changes to the Registry can have profound effects on your operating system, including preventing it from running at all. So, before you change anything you first want to make a backup copy, which we will describe in a moment. The other thing to know about the Registry is that changes do not take effect until the system is rebooted (or at least until you log off and back on again), so a typo doesn’t necessarily mean doomsday if you catch it in time.

Now, about that backup. When you clicked OK earlier, it opened the Registry Editor window. Click on Registry on the far left of the menu bar, and from the drop-down menu select ‘Export Registry File’. At the location you specify (and make sure it’s one you will remember), duplicate copies of the two registry files will be created with the extension DA0, as in SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0. Later, if you decide you don’t like your changes, you can bring back the old version by selecting ‘Import Registry File’.

Now that you’ve made a backup (you DID make a backup, didn’t you?), let’s have a look at the Registry. In the left-hand pane of the Editor window is a tree that looks just like Windows Explorer, except that the main folders under My Computer are all labelled HKEY something. Each of these have subfolders that can be seen by clicking on the + to the left to expand the tree. The individual Registry entries for any selected folder are displayed in the right-hand pane, in two columns called Name and Data. Just for grins, open a few folders to see what is in them.

One interesting folder is found at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Run.

Here you will find a list of functions that start automatically whenever Windows starts. If the system crashes soon after Windows boots up, the culprit may be something listed here. Viruses and other malicious programs also like to list themselves in this folder. Deleting a program’s entry from this folder will prevent it from starting automatically when Windows does.

However, since this is our first time to the edge of the abyss, let’s just close the Registry Editor window and walk away without making any changes. If you are feeling bolder next time, here are some things you can try to shake things up a bit:

Hiding All Icons from the Desktop
Start Regedit
Go to HKey_Current_User \ Software\ Microsoft \Windows \ Current Version \ Policies \ Explorer
Right click on the right panel and add a New / DWORD
Name it NoDesktop
Give it a value of 1
Logoff or Reboot the computer
Now all icons on the desktop are hidden.

Changing the Location Of Special Folders You can modify the registry to change the location of special folders like:
-My Documents
-Favourites
-My Pictures
-Personal

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Double click on any locations you want to change and alter the path

Logoff or restart for the changes to go into effect

Removing Programs listed from the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs Section

If you’ve removed an installed program by simply deleting its files, you may find that it still shows up in the Add/Remove programs list through the control panel, and now you can’t get it off the list because there is nothing left to uninstall. In order to remove it from the list (so you don't need to re-install in order to just remove it again):

Start the Registry Editor
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Uninstall
Delete the offending program from the list here.

At the next User Group meeting, mention casually that you haven’t found anything quite as effective as editing the Registry for getting rid of traces of those old legacy programs.

Disclaimer - The Micro 2000 Tech Tip is a free service providing information only. While we use reasonable care to see that this information is correct, we do not guarantee it for accuracy, completeness or fitness for a particular purpose. Micro 2000, Inc. shall not be liable for damages of any kind in connection with the use or misuse of this information.