Microsoft Windows Registry Guide, Second Edition

This Book Is Different—Really

This book contains information that you're not going to find in any other book about the Windows registry. You'll learn how to find the places where Windows and other programs store settings in the registry. You'll learn how to write scripts to edit the registry. You'll discover registry hacks that are both unique and useful. And you'll read about my personal experiences with the registry and what I consider best practices. For example, in Chapter 2, “Using Registry Editor,” you'll learn how I quickly document my changes to the registry—right inside the registry itself.

That's all information for power users, but more than half of this book is for IT professionals. Whether you're a desktop engineer, a deployment engineer, or a support technician, you'll learn techniques that will make your job easier. A lot of this book focuses on how the registry affects Windows and Office deployment. You'll learn about creating and deploying effective default user profiles. You'll learn how to deploy settings with Windows and Office. You'll even learn how to build your own Windows Installer package files expressly for managing settings in the registry. The best part is that just about every tool that I suggest in this book is either free or very inexpensive.