REPLACE THE REGISTRY EDITOR
The Windows registry is a massive database of configuration settings for your hardware, software, operating system, preferences, profiles and more, and serves as your PC’S nerve centre. We often recommend tweaking the registry to troubleshoot problems and unlock secret features, but what about the Registry Editor itself? This is Windows’ own tool for making changes to the registry, which you access by typing regedit into the Windows search box. Apart from adding new registry keys and values and removing old ones, it barely changes in appearance from one Windows version to another and has an interface that’s so fiddly to use it might as well be labelled ‘do not touch’.
For a simpler and faster way to browse and edit the registry, install O&O Regeditor from www.snipca.com/40158. This free program offers the same ‘tree branch’ structure as the Windows Registry Editor but with a friendlier interface and extra features that make navigating the registry less intimidating. These include the ability to copy, paste, import and export registry keys; save frequently used keys as ‘favourites’ to make them easy to find; and a proper search tool that lets you explore, edit (see screenshot below far left) and delete results directly (unlike the clunky search box in the standard Registry Editor). O&O Regeditor is portable, so doesn’t require installation, but you can set it as your default program for opening ‘.REG’ files via its File menu. It works equally well in Windows 10 and 11, and on 32bit and 64bit systems.
Also useful is the free tool Registry Backup from Tweaking.com ( www. snipca.com/40168), which lets you back up your entire registry before you make changes or in case it gets corrupted - an option Microsoft dropped in Windows 10 in favour of system restore points. Simply click the Backup Now button (see screenshot left) to save a copy of your registry (you can specify where you want to save this on the program’s Settings tab), then click Restore and select that backup when required. Registry Backup can be run from a USB stick and works in
in Windows 10 and 11.