Registry is the name of Windows hierarchical database, that Windows uses to store options and configurations for a Microsoft Operating System.

The entire settings for low-level operating system components along with applications operable on that operating system are contained in the registry. It finds application in the kernels, SAM, device drivers, services, third party applications and user interface.

The Windows Registry also enables to access counter which helps in analyzing the performance of system.

The Windows Registry was first launched in the market with Windows 3.1 to store important configuration information for COM-based components.

But the use of Windows Registry extended with the launch of Windows NT and Windows 95. It included a large number of per-program INI files wherein configuration settings for Windows had been stored.

The Registry database includes two basic elements values and keys.

Registry Values refer to the pairs of name/data stored within the keys.

The Windows API functions, which query and maneuver registry values, obtain the names of values distinctly from the key path and/or from the handle that recognizes the parent key.

The terminology seems to be misleading because the values resemble to an associative array. This associative array uses standard terminology for referring the name part of the value as a key.

These terms are an archive from 16-bit registry in Windows

Theres provision for manually editing registry in MS Windows by carrying out the execution of regedt32.exe and regedit.exe in Windows directories.

However, sloppy registry editing can lead to a slow Windows 7 or losses that cant be reversed. So, performing registry backups must be the priority, and the same has been advised by the software giant Microsoft and various other professionals, authors and editors of business magazines.

A direct implementation of the current registry tool was seen in Windows 3.x, known as the “Registration Editor” or “Registration Info Editor”.

Typically, it was merely a database of applications that are used to edit OLE objects embedded in documents.

Here is the test of alertness as there are a lot of distinctions between the two editors available on these operating systems.

Microsoft Windows XP was the first system in which both the programs were integrated into one. This integrated program contained the interface of REGEDIT.EXE and the functionality of REGEDT32.EXE.

With REGEDIT.EXE being the enhanced editor and the other one, i.e. REGEDT32.EXE, invoking the former one, there doesnt seem any difference on the newer operating systems including Windows XP.

The Registry Editor permits users to carry out functions that follow:

• Importing and exporting .REG files, exporting data in the binary hive format
• Creating, manipulating, renaming and deleting registry keys, subkeys, values and value data
• Finding particular strings in key names, value names and value data
• Bookmarking user-selected registry keys as Favorites

Linux platform too allows for editing the registry with the assistance of an open source tool called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor.

What is the Privacy Protection Act of 2006?

A person’s telephone records contain valuable personal information like his billing or home address and credit card information. Unfortunately, this information can be sold or used without the knowledge of its rightful owner. To stop these illegal acts from spreading into wider territories, the United States government came up with H.R. 4709, also known as the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006, which protects citizens and law enforcement officials by criminalizing the act of pretexting in order to solicit or sell confidential phone records.

The timing of this law couldn’t be more perfect. Everyday, more and more people’s lives are destroyed by this terrible privacy bug. Hundreds, probably even millions, have lost many of their personal belongings and dignity because of people who have nothing but personal glory in their minds.

A positive response to the government’s new privacy law is the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) new set of policies that require telephone companies to execute extra caution in dealing with customers’ personal information. These policies, together with the Privacy Protection Act of 2006, will give more telephone consumers enough reason to relax and believe that they are now safe from fraudulent intruders.

The harsh penalties of the Privacy Protection Act of 2006 shall serve as a relentless warning to identity and information thieves. A person caught pretending to be someone else in order to persuade telephone companies to release confidential customer information, and the act of acquiring customer account information by the use of the Internet, or through any other fraudulent computer-related activity, will be subject to 10 years in prison and may be asked to pay a fine of $500,000.00. Only those duly authorized by federal or state laws are exempted from this law.

Trilegiant’s Privacy Guard can protect you from identity theft.

Trilegiant’s The National Card Registry can protect you from credit card fraud.