What Are Registry Keys And Their Values?

Windows stores the operating system information on something called registry keys. This is a way that it can be easily filed and accessed when needed. Many people have heard of them yet the question what are registry keys is still something that is commonly asked. This is why I wish to remove all doubt on what it is they do and how they are important.

There are two kinds of registry keys and they are called the Keys, then the values and what they do is store the information as you would if you were to use a filing cabinet and folders, only in an electronic way. The best way that I can explain is to compare the registry workings to the way you would store names in a company.

Firstly you would have the information of the people stored under their names, but if you were for example wanting to find all the men that worked for the company then you would go into this folder, in there it would be segregated by alphabetic order, so you could decide what person it is you are looking for. The registry keys are set out in the same way, only they are saved electronically, rather than on paper.

The reason why the registry keys were put into place was to make the filing of configuration settings easier and all in the one place. This meant that they were easier to manage and to alter any keys or values.

Inside the registry keys are more storage sections, these are called the values. Basically it is as I explained earlier, the main registry key being the name of the programme you want to access, and the values being the folders within so that you can easily locate what you are looking for.

There are many ways that altering the registry keys can change the set up of your computer, but this should only be done by someone who knows entirely what they are doing otherwise you may cause your computer to crash. One such purpose of the useful editing is that when viruses are present on the computer and cannot be got rid of by the protection and destroy methods you have on your system they can be deleted by going straight to where they are stored in the registry keys.

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