Windows Registry - What is it?
The windows registry is a sort of Bermuda triangle within the computing world. There are those who are very comfortable modifying and amending it, whilst there are those who simply wont go near it. I am one of the latter.
The problem with the registry is that it is simply too important to be playing with, it isn't something you can experiment with and "try new things" if you simply do not know what you are doing.
The windows registry is basically the heart of the computer. Others around the internet will describe the registry as the brain of the pc or the central nervous system. To keep things simple here. We will call the mysteries windows registry the heart of the pc.
Just to give you an idea, by changing on small registry key from 0 to 1 can mean that you are unable to turn your computer off!
So what is it? What is the Windows Registry?
Technically the Windows registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. Everything is stored here. Everything from each users settings to software installations, hardware profiles, property sheet settings for applications, folders and icons and any ports being used, devices, kernel, windows services and third party applications.
The registry contains a number of registry values located within registry keys, all within a registry hive. Making changes to these values and keys using Registry Editor will change the configuration that a particular value controls.
As you can imagine, the operating system or OS for short, refers to this database constantly, and this is why keeping the windows registry working properly is critical for the continued use of your computer.
Additional articles
What is a Registry cleaner and what does it do!
Want to learn more?
Windows Registry on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry
Windows Registry information for advanced users from Microsoft