Registry Editor is an advanced tool for viewing and changing settings in your system registry, which contains information about how your computer runs.
Windows stores its configuration information in a database (the registry) that is organized in a tree format. Although Registry Editor enables you to inspect and modify the registry, normally you do not need to do so, and making incorrect changes can break you system. An advanced user who is prepared to both edit and restore the registry can sagely use Registry Editor for such tasks as eliminating duplicate entries or deleting entries for programs that have been uninstalled ore deleted.
WARNING!!! Incorrectly editing the registry may several damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.
To start the Registry Editor
Click on Start>Run, type Regedit and press OK
WARNING!
Be very careful while you are running the registry editor. You can easily render your machine unable to boot if you play with settings your aren’t familiar with!
You may want to immediately back up your Registry before doing any editing.
Making a Backup of the Registry
A quick way to make a backup of your registry is to select File>Export from the menu of the registry editor. You can choose to save the complete registry, or only the key you whish to make changes to.
However, this isn’t fail save. The best way is to create an Automated System Recovery (ASR) disk. For more information, type Automated System Recovery in the Search box on Windows XP’s Help and Support Center (click Help and Support on the Start menu).
