Microsoft Windows operating system stores majority of the settings in a number of database files which are called Registry together. Various other programs can also access and store settings in the registry. There is program called Microsoft Registry Editor which is provided with Windows to allow the users to read, modify and add information to the Windows Registry.
But there is also a third-party freeware application called Registry Explorer that can do everything that Registry Editor is able to do. In fact, Registry Explorer has many more features that the native Registry Editor. It is also a portable application which makes it ideal for the system admins. When a malware has disabled Registry Editor, we can use Registry Explorer to read and edit Registry values.
Compared to the Registry Editor, it offers the ability to display the entire Windows Registry in much more detail and not just the standard appearance. We can sort the list view by any column, display key references and registry keys, last save time and the number of keys and values. We can also view extended MUI and REG_EXPAND_SZ values.
For searching through the entire Registry, it offers full search tools through the toolbar icon “Find All” and through the hotkey Ctrl + Shift + F. We can export the entire Registry or some parts of the Registry to files. Later we can also import Registry values from these files. It has an improved hex editor for adding or modifying binary values.
After using Registry Explorer, if you begin to like it more and more, then you may even replace Registry Editor with Registry Explorer. For this, first of all you have to launch Registry Explorer with administrator privileges. Then in the Registry Explorer, select Options → Replace Regedit.exe and then confirm. After this whenever you try to launch Regedit.exe, it will actually launch Registry Explorer.
Registry Explorer provides a new innovative approach towards reading and modifying the Windows Registry. Many users will agree that it offers much more functionality than the Windows Registry Editor that comes with the Windows operating system. Being a portable application, it is also ideal for portable USB drive tools collection for the system admins.
You can download Registry Explorer from https://github.com/zodiacon/RegExp.