Editing the Registry

written by Deborah V. Gardner

This article first appeared in The Central New York Personal Computer Users Group's newsletter, NewsBytes, July, 1999.

How many times have you heard someone exclaim, “Don't touch the Registry! You'll really mess up your computer!” Or you have a small problem with a piece of software not acting the way it should and you are told, “Don't get into the Registry because you will really have problems. Reinstall the software instead.”

Read on and then make up your own mind whether you wish to try your hand at editing the Registry. This article will try to demystify the Rgistry and show you how to edit it without any dreaded messages from Windows 95/98.

The Registry is actually two files, USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT. When you edit the Registry the changes are written to one of these two files. The Registry might also be edited indirectly when you make changes to certain Windows components, i.e. changing the mouse settings within the Control Panel.

For those of you who used DOS/Windows 3.x, the Registry is the replacement for the WIN.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS and SYSTEM.INI files. (Note: Your system probably still has these files. They are there to handle legacy software.) Working with the Registry makes editing all these files look easy!

Backing up the Registry

Before editing the Registry back it up! To do this you must be able to view all files. In Explorer, click on View, Options and then click on View all files. (Win 98: View, Folder Options, click on the View tab and click on Show all files.) In the Windows folder find USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT. Copy (don't move) these files to a temp folder.

Now run the Registry editor. Click on Start, Run and type “REGEDIT” without the quotes. Press <Enter>. You should be following a set of instructions from a book or a magazine. A good set of instructions will give you detailed steps on how to find the item you wish to change.

The next step is to make a Registry patch. When you make the patch, you are simply exporting that part of the Registry you are about to change to a .REG file. Then, if you get hopelessly mired in an unsuccessful change, a double-click on the patch will restore that part of the Registry. To make a patch, select the folder (by clicking on it once) where the modification will take place. Then click on File, Export Registry. A dialog box will appear prompting you for a name. Be sure you do not add an extension bcause Windows will automatically add .REG to the filename.

Making the Modifications

Look at what you are modifying before you modify it. That will help you determine these little, but extremely important, details.

Don't make a whole group of changes to the Registry at one time. Make only one change. Close the Registry. Observe the change. Often, for the change to take effect you have to refresh the desktop (click on an icon and press F5) or reboot the system. Just make sure the desired change took effect and that your system is working properly before making another change.

If everything is working fine, you might want to attempt another change. If you do, be sure to once again make a patch and, after editing the Registry, close it and take the necessary steps to be certain that all is working properly. After making several changes, you may want to back up the entire Registry again.

Conclusion

Now you know what you need to do before you make changes to the Registry. And, with a little caution, you can now tweak your system when you find a great tip that involves editing the Registry.

One last note: A good book that explains the Registry in detail and is written in easy-to-understand language is The Windows 95 Registry, A Survival Guide for Users by John Woram.