Using Regedit you can add, delete, edit or rename a sub-key or value. Navigate to the appropriate section of the Registry that you wish to edit. This is similar to the folder and sub-folder concept in Explorer, and clicking on the hive's "+" sign will make it expand to show the keys. Clicking on the "+" sign for each key will further expand them to show the sub-keys, and so on. If you are following instructions from a manual, the hive names are sometimes abbreviated as follows:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT: HKCR
HKEY_CURRENT_USER: HKCU
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: HKLM
HKEY_USERS: HKU
Thus, the hive location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\HighContrast will be abbreviated as HKCU\Control Panel\Accessibility\HighContrast.
Note: In all the Registry hacks that begin in Chapter 4, we have used the following abbreviations:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT: "HCR"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER: "HCU"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: "HLM"
Clicking on a key or sub-key will show, in the right pane, the values it holds. If it contains no values, at the minimum it will show a "(Default)" setting entry, which will not contain any data. DoubleII click each individual setting to open its data values. You can then edit the value as required.
Double click setting to edit value
To add a key, right-click on the parent key (similar to the parent folder in Explorer) and select New > Key. Enter the name of the key and press [Enter]. To add a value, select the key, rightclick and select NEW, and the data type for the new value. Give a name for the value and press [Enter]. Double-clicking the value will enable you to modify it.
New Key
As mentioned in Chapter 1, the value type is determined by the context, and there are three basic data types: String, DWORD, and Binary.
New key created
"String" is a human-readable text entry and is used for most user-defined entries such as text, filenames, file paths, and so on. DWORD is a Boolean entry, which is usually a set of values such as yes, no, 0, 1, 2, 3, and so forth. Binary is raw binary data stored directly as 1s and 0s (binary format) and is entered either in binary or in hexadecimal format. New Key Modifying a newly added value setting .
Adding a Key value setting
Modifying a newly added value setting
