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The Care And Feeding Of Your Registry

Posted by paul on March 18th, 2010

The Care And Feeding Of Your Registry

The Care And Feeding Of Your Registry

Windows has used the registry “file” since the concept of the registry was introduced in Windows 95. The registry is unlikely to go away anytime soon, but it’s conceivable that a complete redesign of Windows may opt to use a different approach to storing and retrieving the information in the registry.

What Is The Registry?

The registry isn’t actually a file, although it started out that way (actually as four files) in its early days. It’s a database of files and information that the computer uses to interact with virtually every application, device and component of the operating system. The registry stores configuration information, application information, device information and much more. The registry can span literally millions of lines of computer code and isn’t readily readable by man or beast.

The big benefit of the registry is that it provides a central place for programs and devices to store required information. Centralizing this information means that it can be managed and optimized, something that wasn’t possible with the herd of .ini files that the registry has replaced.

It is possible to change the registry but a little snip here and a tuck there isn’t recommended. Often, when changes to the code are required, the old code is simply “commented out” or abandoned and replacement code is added. When applications are added to the computer, the registry often gets some new entries. When programs are removed, the removal is supposed to eliminate the unnecessary code, but that doesn’t always (often?) happen.

Microsoft provides tools with which to edit the registry, but that’s not a step to be taken lightly, since changes to the registry are immediate and there’s nothing to prevent a bad change from being accepted into the registry.

Then how do you get rid of the lines of useless code in your registry that build up? I always recommend that users include a trusted registry cleaner like RegCure in their maintenance plans. RegCure has been around for a long time and is one of the best registry cleaners on the market today. I like RegCure because it backs up the registry completely before it makes a single change. If you don’t like the results of the cleaning operation, you can revert to the old registry at the touch of a button.
I recommend and use RegCure regularly. When I Introduce a new user to the product, they’re often surprised by how much faster their computer works after their registry has been cleaned.

Try it! You’ll like it!

Photo Credit: Louise Docker, via Flickr

What Will The Windows 7 Registry Look Like?

Posted by paul on August 7th, 2009

The Windows Registry Won't Be Going Away Anytime Soon

The Windows Registry Won't Be Going Away Anytime Soon

If you’re anxiously awaiting the release of Windows 7, you might wonder, with all the grief a Windows registry can cause, whether Microsoft has decided to retire the registry concept. The answer, in a single word, is “no.” The Windows 7 registry is alive and well and is likely to be a part of future Windows releases.

Why The Windows Registry Won’t Go Away

The registry is a database of information that the OS uses to interact with applications and vice versa. You’re likely to see a Windows registry in future versions if for no other reason than there’s nothing in the Windows design to replace the registry.

For users of Microsoft Vista, I don’t believe the switch to Windows 7 will be as dramatic as one might imagine. Microsoft isn’t going for flash on Windows 7. Instead, it’s aiming to improve stability, reliability and usability. Windows 7 is more likely to be what Vista should have been, and the registry will operate similarly.

There are a lot of nice things about Vista that will be retained in Windows 7. The adoption rate of Windows 7 remains to be seen, but users aren’t likely to run into the same issues that they did with Windows 7. Given that the registry is still part of the mix, one could hope that Microsoft (and the application writers) will do a better job of cleaning the registry when a program is uninstalled.

Right now, users have a few choices when it comes to cleaning up what misbehaving uninstallers leave behind. Most users “leave well enough alone” and trust that the computer will understand that a program that is no longer installed doesn’t need the registry entries that got left behind. Unfortunately this isn’t the case. The computer doesn’t have the intelligence to know what’s needed and what’s not needed, so it follows all of the instructions it finds in the registry, even to its own detriment.

A second option is to edit the registry manually. This works only if you know what you’re looking for and know where to find it. It also helps to be a very accurate typist. With the registry, there is no opportunity to take back what you’ve done, and there’s no automatic mechanism to revert to the last good state. Changes take effect instantly, and you get what you typed in whether you like it or not!

Lastly, users can use a registry cleaner like RegCure, which offers a sane alternative to doing nothing or manually editing the registry. RegCure is designed to seek out the leftovers, orphans and zombies that clog up the registry and slow down your computer.

Photo Credit: Pillowhead Designs, via Flickr

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