Completely parse the Windows XP Registry

Source: Arong Forum

Today, let's take a closer look at the important commands on the registry menu and what role these commands play in the specific operations of the Registry (this article uses Windows XP as an example ).

"Instructor, I often hear you talking about primary keys and subkeys. What are they? What is the relationship between them ?" The instructor just entered the classroom, and Zhu Zhengyi, a student from Changchun No. 8 Middle School, raised such a question.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you these important concepts ." The instructor apologized, "the registry contains four concepts: root keys, keys, subkeys, and values. In the first lesson, you should know that the Registry itself is composed of five system root keys. Of course, there are differences between different Windows versions in this regard. For example, Windows 98 has six system root keys."

"Oh, are all root keys in the Registry in the form of sub-directories of the master 'HKEY _ 'Configuration unit ?" Zhu Zhengyi's students suddenly realized.

"Yes. Keys and subkeys are not attached with data. They are only responsible for organizing access to data. They exist as sub-directories of user-defined or system-defined keys. The lowest end is the value. This value is located at the end of the structure. It is like a file in a file system that contains the actual data used by the computer and Its Applications for execution ." Instructors praised the answer from the northeast student and gave further explanations.

Application of Adding Functions

"As we have learned about registry import and export in Lesson 1. The focus of this lesson is other commands on the menu. For example, if you want to add a primary key to the Registry, you can follow the steps below ."

After that, the instructor typed "regedit" in "run", opened the registry, and found the folder to add the primary key. Right-click the folder to add the primary key, in this case, open "Edit> New> Primary Key", enter a name for the new primary key, and press Enter. "Of course, for new users, you must back up the registry before doing so that they can restore the original registry after restarting ." Instructors remind everyone.

Exercise add key value

The instructor considered that the previous operation was to add a primary key, but more often used in the Registry to add a key value.

Then he opened the registry and said, "Now I will show you how to add a key value ."

① Select the folder path for which you want to add the new key value, and right-click the folder to which you want to add the new key value.

② Point to "new" and click the type of the key value to be added. These types include "string value", "binary value", and "DWORD" value, the newly added key value is displayed as a temporary key value. enter a new value for the newly added key value, and then save and exit.

Out-of-class practice: Prohibit prompt box pop-up frequently

"It's time for students to practice again. How can someone volunteer to try it ?" The instructor looked at everyone and said.

"Me, let me try it ." As you can see, it turned out to be the Chinese graduate student who performed very well in the class. He quickly walked to the instructor's demo computer and said, "We all know that if the remaining space on the computer disk is less than MB, in Windows XP, a prompt box "insufficient disk space" is displayed in the system tray area. After you close it, it will appear again after a while, which is annoying. I tried to add a value in the Registry to disable the appearance of this prompt box ."

In the registry, this student opens "HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMi crosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPolicies Explorer", right-click "Explorer", and choose "New> DWORD Value" from the context menu ", name the value "NoLowDiskSpaceChecks" and double-click the value to set "value data" to "1 ".

In order to verify the correctness of this operation, the instructor held the D disk space to only 100 MB, and the dialog box did not appear again.

Modification is not simple

Modification is the most important step in registry operations and is also frequently used. You can use the registry to improve system performance. The following example shows how to modify the registry data.

How to modify DWORD values

"As we all know, Windows XP will automatically open the disk scan program when the computer is restarted after an abnormal shutdown. However, there will be a 10-second wait time before disk scanning. You can use the registry to shorten the wait time ."

① After completing the instructor, open "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession Manager" in the left-side window of the Registry Editor and find the "AutoChkTimeOut" DWORD Value in the right-side window;

② Double-click the value to enter the editing dialog box. In the "base" area, select "hexadecimal" as "decimal ", set the value in the "value data" column as appropriate data based on your needs. For example, if "0" is entered, it indicates that there is no waiting time before disk scanning, input "3" indicates that the wait time before disk scanning is 3 seconds.

Practice outside class: Hide Disks

In the next practical period, Zhang Xueping from Baotou, Inner Mongolia, performed operations to hide the disk drive under the guidance of instructors.

1. Go to the Registry Editor, open "HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMi crosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPolicies Explorer", and add a new DWORD Value named "NoDrives" in the window on the right.

2. double-click the value to edit it and select "base" as "decimal". If "value data" is set to "1", disk A is hidden; if it is set to "2", the drive B is hidden. If it is set to "4", the drive C is hidden. Other drive letters can be hidden according to this rule and so on, as long as "value data" is doubled from the previous value.

"If you do not want to hide the disk drive letter, what is the value ?" One student asked.

"0! You only need to change the value to 0 ." The instructor said, "In fact, modifying the Registry can also achieve many functions, such as hiding the recycle bin and shielding the display options of the control panel, after class, you can try similar operations."

Easily delete key values

In the Registry, the delete operation is often used to remove the Startup Program and delete the old installer. To delete a registry key or key value, click the key or key value of the registry to be deleted and run the DELETE command on the edit menu.

Finally, the instructor explained this with the most typical unmount system self-starting project.

Open the Registry Editor and go to "HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMi crosoftwindowscurrentversionrun”. is the key value of qq.exe displayed? If you do not want the QQ program to run with the system, right-click the key and choose "delete" from the shortcut menu.

To verify whether the program was successful, the instructor restarted the computer and found that the QQ program did not run automatically with Windows startup.