Registry Basics
What is the Registry?
Windows Registry is a central database in Windows. The database contains most of the "pointers" and "settings" for Windows, programs, hardware and users. Pointers tell Windows or programs where to find the resources required to perform specific actions. The ways that many actions are (or are not) performed are controlled by settings.
Just about any setting that you change -- either in Windows or a program -- changes the registry. There are some notable exceptions. Firefox, Thunderbird and many other "wiser" programs avoid the Registry entirely by saving settings, etc. in their own file folders.
Almost any time you are using your PC there are a swarm of things going on behind the scenes in the Registry, almost like bees around a hive. (In fact, the major elements of the Registry are called hives.) You can observe these with Regmon.
Registry references:
