- Managing the Windows 2000 Registry
- Preface
- 1. A Gentle Introduction to the Registry
- 2. Registry Nuts and Bolts
- 3. In Case of Emergency
- 4. Using RegEdit
- 5. Using RegEdt32
- How RegEdt32 and RegEdit Differ
- Learning the RegEdt32 Interface
- Browsing with RegEdt32
- Remote Registry Editing
- Searching for Keys
- Saving and Loading Registry Keys
- Printing Registry Contents
- Editing Keys and Values
- Registry Security Fundamentals
- Securing Registry Keys in Windows 2000
- Securing Registry Keys in Windows NT
- 6. Using the System Policy Editor
- All About System Policies
- Introducing the System Policy Editor
- Managing Policies with POLEDIT
- Distributing Policies
- What’s in the Standard Policy Templates
- Picking the Right Policies
- 7. Using Group Policies
- 8. Programming with the Registry
- The Registry API
- API Concepts and Conventions
- Opening and Closing Keys
- Creating Keys
- Getting Information About Keys
- Enumerating Keys and Values
- Getting Registry Data
- Adding and Modifying Values
- Deleting Keys and Values
- Using Registry Security Information
- Connecting to Remote Computers
- Moving Keys to and from Hives
- Getting Notification When Something Changes
- Flushing Registry Changes
- The Shell Utility API Routines
- Programming with C/C++
- Programming with Perl
- Programming with Visual Basic
- The Registry API
- 9. Administering the Registry
- Setting Defaults for New User Accounts
- Using Initialization File Mapping
- Limiting Remote Registry Access
- Fixing Registry Security ACLs in Windows NT
- Adding Registry ACLs to Group Policy Objects
- Encrypting HKLMSAM with SYSKEY
- Miscellaneous Good Stuff
- Using the Resource Kit Registry Utilities
- reg: The One-Size-Fits-All Registry Tool
- Spying on the Registry with RegMon
- 10. Registry Tweaks
- User Interface Tweaks
- Add Your Own “Tip of the Day”
- Disable Window Animations
- Speed Up the Taskbar
- Enable Tab for Filename Completion
- Run a Different Screen Saver While Waiting for a Logon
- Enable X Window-Style “Auto Raise”
- Enable “Snap to Default Button”
- Suppress Error Messages During Boot and Logon
- Set NUMLOCK Key During Startup
- Display Version Number
- Filesystem Tweaks
- Security Tweaks
- Clear the System Pagefile at Shutdown
- Prevent Caching of Logon Credentials
- Turn Off “Save Password” Option in Dial-Up Networking
- Prevent Users from Changing Network Drive Mappings
- Control Who Can See Performance Monitor Data
- Control Which Drives Are Visible Throughout the System
- Change When the Password Expiration Warning Appears
- Allow Members of the Printer Operators Group to Add Printers
- Set the Number of Authentication Retries for Dial-Up Connections
- Keep Users from Changing Video Resolutions
- Set the Authentication Timeout for Dial-Up Connections
- Keep Remote Users from Sharing a Mounted CD-ROM or Floppy
- Keep Users from Customizing “My Computer”
- Performance Tweaks
- Automatically Delete Cached User Profiles
- Enable Automatic Reboot After a Crash
- Record Evidence of a Crash
- Enabling Automatic Logon After Boot
- Power Off at Shutdown
- Force Hung Tasks to End When Logging Off
- Set a Time Limit for Shutting Down Tasks
- Speed Up System Shutdowns
- Automatically Try to Detect Slow Network Connections
- Don’t Automatically Create 8.3 Names on NTFS Volumes
- Disable the Printer Browse Thread
- Forcibly Recover a Crashed PDC
- Hiding Servers from Network Computers
- Network Tweaks
- Create a Shared Favorites Folder for All Network Users
- Automatically Use Dial-Up Networking to Log On
- Enable the WINS Proxy Agent
- Set the Number of Rings for Answering Incoming Dial-Up Networking Calls
- Turn On Logging for Dial-Up Networking
- Keep a Dial-Up Networking Connection up After You Log Out
- Set the Dial-Up Networking Automatic Disconnect Timer
- Printing Tweaks
- User Interface Tweaks
- 11. The Registry Documented
- A. User Configuration Group Policy Objects
- B. Computer Configuration Group Policy Objects
- Index
- Colophon
By now, you’ve probably gotten the impression that working with the Registry is serious business. How serious it can be may not become apparent until the first time one of your Windows 2000 machines stops working because of a problem with the Registry. This stoppage may be slight--say, Office 2000 stops working--or it may be profound, resulting in the Blue Screen of Death or a lockup before the logon dialog appears.
Either way, this chapter will teach you two things: how to prepare for that eventuality, and how to recover from it smoothly when it does happen. If you’re wondering why this chapter is here instead of further back in the book, the reason is simple. It’s a very good idea for you to know how to restore your Registry before you learn how to edit it.
Scaring people is often a good way to get their attention. For example, you may have had to suffer through intentionally vivid films of auto accidents in drivers’ education class; the rationale behind this kind of shock treatment is to blast the viewer out of his comfortable “it won’t happen to me” mindset. This tactic is often effective, but, when exaggerated, it can backfire.
Instead, ask yourself a question. “Self, what would happen if my Windows 2000 machines were abducted by aliens?” Just think: all your hardware, and the data it contains, gone in a heartbeat. Sure, it’s easy to disregard the risk of hardware failure, fire, theft, or Registry corruption--that won’t happen to you--but aliens? Look what happened to Elvis.[15]
Instead of panicking and running out into the streets like people do in alien-invasion movies, wouldn’t it be nice if you could lean back in your chair and smile, knowing that your Registry data could easily be restored without breaking a sweat? There’s nothing like that state of calmness that comes from having a known good backup of your critical data, and that’s why I encourage you to read, and heed, the material in the rest of the chapter. Don’t panic, but don’t fall asleep, either.
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