Mastering the registry, means learning a new language with its own syntax. At first there seems to be no pattern just strange words and hexadecimal numbers. For example, HKEY_Local_Machine Dword 0x00004B.
Activities in this first stage are confined to tentatively changing a few values from zero to one.
After a while you begin to crack the code, HKEY_Current_User means the personal settings of the account logged on. It hits you that a String Value is text and DWORD is a number.
As you advance from changing existing values to adding new values you realize that the words are not case sensitive and the mixed case is just to make 'Values' easier to read.
Now you reach the stage where a little knowledge is dangerous, you discover export and realize that you can import settings quickly by double clicking .reg files. Because you are having such fun you start taking risks, you cannot imagine anything can go wrong.
Complacency will inevitably lead to disaster. Just as surely as children playing with knives get cut, or those playing with matches get burnt, so those messing with the registry will get: Machine will not boot Stop 0x0000051 error.
Stop messages like the above cause the heart to beat faster, you realize that you have gone too far and deleted or overwritten a vital section. At this stage it is either do or die. Either you vow never to touch Regedit again, and rebuild the machine from scratch, or you stay calm and rise to the next skill level.
5. Respect for registry editing
Knowledge, power, and respect go hand in hand. In times of crisis you remember good practices, firstly you try F8, and Last Known Good. If that does not work then there is safe mode.
Once safe mode gets you in then you have a variety of tactics. Best is probably to restore the registry from the system state backup you made just before your Regedit session. You did backup didn't you?
If that does not work then boot into a parallel installation (if you have one). If there is no time for a parallel installation try and get a command console session started. Either run winnt32 / cmdcons in advance of your Regedit changes, or put a bootable OS CD in the caddy, and select Restore from the menu.
The .sav files could be your salvation I once used a parallel installation to find the original %SystemRoot%\System32\config folder and renamed software.sav and so got the machine to restart. Once the machine started I was able to import a .reg file that I can cunningly exported before trying a risky experiment.
In this final stage, you always have an eye on safety. Make those backups, assemble those tools, export the registry section regularly.
