ops 201 reading 08 - ElodieReb/reading-notes GitHub Wiki

Reading Notes for Class 08, Self-Paced Ops 201

Objective

This reading is relevant to our coursework as editing the Windows registry could give an administrator the ability to monitor and control other user accounts, which could come in handy. It also allows an administrator/user to create shortcuts and edit certain application/system settings to one's liking.

Reading Comprehension

Title = Windows Registry Demystified

• The Windows Registry is a collection of several databases where Windows and many programs store their configuration settings
• Each Windows user has its own user-specific settings. When you sign into Windows, it loads the settings from these files into memory. When you change a program's settings, it can change the settings in the registry.
• The registry contains folder-like "keys" and "values" inside those keys that can contain numbers, text, or other data. The registry is made up of multiple groups of keys and values called "hives."
• The registry helps bring together settings for all programs that would otherwise be scattered in many different locations across the disk.
• Each program developer can decide to use the registry for every setting, just a few settings, or no settings. Windows itself makes extensive use of the registry.

Why might you want to edit the registry?

• The registry can be edited with the Registry Editor. There are some things that can only be achieved by hacking the registry. Other settings are available in Group Policy.
• You can often find "registry hacks" online that tell you what settings you need to change to accomplish a particular task.

How to edit the registry

• Open Registry Editor, locate the value you want to change and change it
• Can also download and run .reg files which contain a change that's applied when you run them.

Things I'd like to know more about

• nada