The registry has in fact been around this the days of Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11 for Workgroups, but has only been truly implemented with the release of Windows 95.

Normally is information was needed to be stored, then Installation Files (*.ini extension files) would be used for application and Windows to manage information. This is perfectly fine, but with the huge number of applications being developed, you would find on a search of your hard drive for these installation files that many hundreds and even thousands would be found. With the use of drives smaller than 2 GB at the time and the 16-bit FAT (File Allocation Tables) each file has a minimum cluster size depending on the size of the hard-drive. This would mean that every one of these installation files and every other file on your machine would have a minimum amount of disk space taken up. Even if a file contained no information, it could have a size of several KB’s, which I am sure by now you can see the problem.

Due to this problem a resolution was required. This is where the registry came in. One central database, in which all information is stored rather than many of the installation files being required. The Registry as mentioned above has been around since Windows 3.1 and 3.11, but was only used for storing application extensions and shell information and not for general storage of data. When Windows 95 from introduced in July 1995 the Windows Registry had been developed into a general storage for information, to save on the use of installation files.

If you were to browse the registry using the RegEdit.exe application provided with Windows, then you would find that it was a hierarchical structure, which stores information of different types. You can also use third party registry editors like the one provided with Norton Utilities, which offers more features.

To summarise the registry, it can simply thought of a centralised database to store information in a more efficient way, used by both the Windows Operating System and other applications.

We have already established what the registry is and what its basic function is, but what are the advantages and disadvantages of this new data storage and how is data structured in the Registry database.

There are many advantages as well as disadvantages for the use of the Windows registry. A selection of advantages and disadvantages are listed below.

Advantages:

1. If there is an error on your computer, just one file needs to be recovered rather than hundreds or thousands of *.ini files.
2. Network administrators as they can easily modify data over a network.
3. Information can be found in one central location for your program(s), which saves having to use several other files on your hard disk.
4. The information is more secure from the novice user, as most Windows users wouldn’t dare (that’s if they knew the registry existed) to look into the registry, thanks to all the warnings that are given by books, Microsoft and more

Disadvantages: