Windows Registry Part 2

Every thing is organized into small groups so as to reduce its complexity. Like wise Windows Registry is also been organized into small working sections called HIVES. The name of the hive starts with HKEY and they are defined by their Windows Application Programming Interface API. They usually have a big name which can be abbreviated to a word starting with HK like HKCU and HKLM, they stand for HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE respectively. If we want to check or change the value of a software we can do so by accessing the following path "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vendor's name\Application's name\Version\Setting name", where in we can see the version name, vendor details, application name etc using this registry key. When ever you change a value in this registry it is stored in the current user using HKEY_CURRENT_USER and not in the administrator's account, to prevent the system from failure due to the editing in the registry done by a particular. It is built in this way that there should be a maximum probablity to restore the computer rather than formatting it each and every time when a problem occurs. There is another hive which is used to collect the system's performance data is HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA. the usage of this is to provide runtime information into performance data provided by either the NT kernel itself or by using the other programs that provide performance data. This key is not displayed in the Registry Editor usually, but it is visible through the registry functions in the Windows Application Programming Interface API. The registry values in Windows can be edited manually in by running regedit.exe or regedt32.exe in the Windows directory or in the run window. However, careless registry editing can cause irreversible damage. Thus, performing backups of the registry before editing it is highly recommended just to prevent the system from crashing. Many optimization and "hacking" tools are available in the net to modify the registry portion of the Windows operating system; it is preferable not to use them unless one has a knowledge of registry workings or wishes to learn more about the registry.