Figure 3-2. Select New from the Edit menu to add a new key or value to any part of the
Registry
The Structure of the Registry | 87
The Registry
The Structure of the Registry
There are five primary, or ???root,??? branches, each containing a specific portion
of the information stored in the Registry. These root keys can??™t be
deleted, renamed, or moved, because they are the basis for the organization
of the Registry. They are:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
This branch contains the information that comprises your file type associations
and the registered software components (called classes) used by
Windows and many of your applications.
This entire branch is a symbolic link,* or ???mirror,??? of HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes, but is displayed separately here for convenience
and, of course, to confuse you.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
This branch simply points to a portion of the HKEY_USERS root key (later
in this section) representing the currently logged-in user. This way, any
application can read and write settings for the current user without having
to know which user is currently logged in.
In each user??™s branch are the settings for that user, such as Control
Panel settings and Explorer preferences. Most applications store userspecific
information here as well, such as toolbars, high scores for
games, and other personal settings.
The settings for the current user are divided into several categories, such
as AppEvents, Control Panel, Identities, Software, and System.
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