Home Tutorials What's the Windows Registry and How Does it Work?

What's the Windows Registry and How Does it Work?

Posted: May 5, 2009

Windows registry is a huge database that stores settings for hardware, computer users, PC preferences, operating and non-operating system software. Whenever a change is done to the "Control Panel" settings, or installed software, the changes are automatically stored in the registry. Windows Registry changed its predecessor's INI files which were used to store configuration settings and tended to scatter making it difficult to track.

The Registry itself is split into a number of different logical sections and entries, according to the function it performs, such as HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (keeps information about registered applications), HKEY_CURRENT_USER (keeps information about user) and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (gathers information collected at runtime). However, problems may occur and registry entries may become more harmful than useful. Even a computer that is 30 days old has hidden errors that can cause system crashes and data loss. It is important to remove unwanted registry keys in order to your computer's overall efficiency.

With our registry key database, you'll get detailed information on the desired spyware registry keys like it's definition, symptoms, related files, what spyware program it belongs to, as well as, manual and automatic removal methods. According to their file name, helps you identify the spyware program associated with it, and you can remove it manually or automatically from your PC.

What's a Registry Key?

Regkey is simply an abbreviation for "registry key." Registry keys are the building blocks that make up your computer's registry. Your computer's registry is a database of settings for your system: it keeps track of your hardware, software, security, users, and preferences. Often, your registry can get clogged with unnecessary data and shortcuts from old applications. If your computer is running slowly and applications are showing error messages, your registry may need repairs. It's possible to edit your Windows registry by running regedit.exe in the Windows directory. However, editing your registry can cause irreversible damage. It's not recommended that you attempt to manually edit your registry unless you know exactly what you're doing. Instead, you should use a scanner to clean up your registry.

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