This Week: The Registry

The Windows '95 Registry contains all the information that was in '.ini' files in Windows 3.1. Basically it stores all the configuration information for windows and other windows programs.

The registry is stored in two files in the windows directory, 'SYSTEM.DAT' and 'USER.DAT'. These files are backed up every time you restart windows in to two file's called 'SYSTEM.DA0' and 'USER.DA0' respectively.

There is also another file called 'SYSTEM.1ST'. The use for this file is that if the 'SYSTEM.DAT' file is corrupt, and the backup ('SYSTEM.DA0') is also corrupt, it uses it to create a new registry.

You can edit the registry by loading a program called 'REGEDIT.EXE' on your computer.

The structure of the registry is a bit like a hard disk there are many levels (sort of directories) and in those there are different entries (sort of files).

Thing's to do:

Here's a list of neat thing's you can try with your registry.

Locking the Desktop

To lock the desktop (not allow anyone to change it) goto the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

and change the value of the 'NoSaveSettings' entry (if it is not there then create a binary entry, and rename it to 'NoSaveSettings') to '00 00 00 01'

If you want to change it back to allow changes to the desktop then just change the value of the entry to '00 00 00 00'


Previewing Pictures

If you change the following path:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Paint.Picture\DefaultIcon

and change the value in that to: '%1' (percent one) it will make the icon for any .BMP, .DIB or .RLE file a preview of what the picture actually looks like (if you have the full version of QuickView then it will work with a lot more types of graphic files)

This can seriously slow down the refresh rate of managing your files in Explorer though.

Non-Registry related Tip:

If for some reason your icons for files are scrambled or look 'odd' then you might want to try and delete a file called 'ShellIconCache', in the windows directory.

If you need help with any of the Tech Tips, or just general help, then please feel free to e-mail the j-dom Tech Tips editorial team at: j-dom.support@chuck.paralex.co.uk.

by Chuck (also available from his home page)

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