4 Best Ways to Improve Poor Windows Server Efficiency After Updating Windows

The Windows Registry is a centralized hierarchical database that is used by Windows to store system settings, hardware configurations, and user preferences. Just like permissions and ownership concepts exist for objects in the NTFS file system, they exist for Registry keys as well. You may need to modify these keys in certain situations. For that, you need to take ownership as well as set permissions (access rights) on them. For example, in order to tweak the Explorer command bar, Winaero’s Explorer Toolbar Editor takes ownership of certain registry keys and changes their permissions as well.

The registry contains important configuration information for the operating system, for installed applications as well as individual settings for each user and application. If a user wants to edit the registry manually, Microsoft recommends that a backup of the registry be performed before the change.

ShareTweetShareShareEmailCommentsThe Windows registry is a hassle to edit under normal circumstances, but sometimes you’ll encounter keys that are protected by the system. When you try to add or edit a protected registry key or import settings from a .reg file into a protected key, you’ll run into a few different errors. They say you lack permissions for making changes. However, since it is just a permissions issue, we can get around this by granting your user account in Windows the correct permissions.

Hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\services

NT Explorer is more user-friendly than the Registry, and you’re less likely to make errors. Then, edit the file associations from the File Types tab. Any user needs to note that the Registry Editor is a tool that allows you to change multiple settings regarding how Windows works. Hence, you cannot run the Registry Editor as a simple standard user on a standard Windows installation. So it is necessary to know what you’re doing.

Taking ownership is quite simple and can be performed with the following steps. Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Temporary Files key. Click the Temporary Files key to highlight it, and in the right Regedit pane you’ll see a DWORD value named LastAccess that has a value of 7 associated with it. Highlight LastAccess, right-click it, and choose Modify from the menu.

• Moreover, you can manage all your browser plug-ins, find unnecessary duplicates, clean your drivers and more.
• We show you how to use Regedit in Windows 10 to safely modify the windows registry, export keys, and import backups.
• The paid version provides automatic browser cleaning, real-time monitoring and technical support, which can greatly improve system performance.
• You can browse to a location in the registry and add, rename, and change data, or delete keys and values.
• The CCleaner software also comes in a paid version (CCleaner Professional), but the freeware version is sufficient for most Windows registry cleanup tasks.

This is shorthand referring to the predefined registry keys HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS respectively. To see WindowsSCOPE finding registry keys being used, open the Windows Registry Editor and find a random key. To open Windows Registry Editor (regedit), in Windows go to Start → Run and type ‘regedit’. It is highly advised to only look at and not edit the registry files found.

Name your backup file in the resulting window and click Save, and the entire Registry will be saved in one massive file. Keep this file handy on a separate hard drive; if something goes wrong, you can always re-import it to restore your old Registry settings. One thing to note is that each Key Name begins with REGISTRY. This just defines that it is found in the registry.

How Do I Open And Edit The Windows Registry?

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT contains data about file associations. The application-setup programs register the file zlib1.dll download extensions for each application. This subtree is an alias or pointer for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes Registry key. Use NT Explorer to edit this subtree’s values.

When a program is removed from control panel, it is not completely removed and the user must manually check inside directories such as program files. After this, the user needs to manually remove any reference to the uninstalled program in the registry. Editing the registry is sometimes necessary when working around Windows-specific issues e.g. problems when logging onto a domain can be resolved by editing the registry.