Registry Tools

Anchor Link Advanced Registry Doctor
License: Shareware – Lite $19.95 – Pro $24.95 Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 9.4.08.10 – Released: 2010-08-10 Windows: XP, 2003, Vista, 7
File Size: 5.45 MB Both 32- and 64-bit compatible
“Advanced Registry Doctor (ARD) will cure your registry and thus provide a better performance of your Windows OS. Lots of programs, including MS Windows itself, have a bad habit to alter the registry in such a way, which causes appearance of different problems. Today you may install some new software on your PC and the next day it may happen that you’ll get annoying error message while your Windows loads. You ignore the problem, but eventually it puts its stamp on the whole OS. Some errors are noticeable while some other aren’t. Some are innocent, but still it’s possible you will find few, which will make you suffer.”
Anchor Link ERUNT and NTREGOPT
License: Freeware – Donations appreciated Last Reviewed: 2012-12-05
Version: 1.1j – Released: 2005-10-28 Windows: NT, 2000, XP, 2003
File Size: 773 KB
“ERUNT the Emergency Recovery Utility NT — With this program you can back up the Windows NT, 2000, 2003, XP registry to a folder of your choice. In case of an emergency, restore the registry with Windows 9x, Me, NT, 2000, 2003, XP or MS-DOS using the all-in-one restore program. Command-line switches are supported, i.e. to backup the registry automatically at Windows startup.
“The download includes NTREGOPT — NT Registry Optimizer, Registry Optimization for Windows NT, 2000, XP. The program works by recreating each registry hive ‘from scratch’, thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously modified or deleted keys. The optimization done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the minimum size possible.”
Anchor Link ERUNTgui
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2012-03-10
Version: 1.5.0 – Released: 2012-01-18 Windows: All
File Size: 2.2 MB Portable version available on-site
“ERUNTgui is a graphic user interface for the popular registry backup and restore program ERUNT created by Lars Hederer.”
Anchor Link Open RegEdit Stanley’s Pick
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 2.0.04 – Released: 2009-03-19 Windows: All
File Size: 2.28 MB
“I hate the way Windows XP and ME opens RegEdit. It always starts at the last Key I was at. If it is in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Hive and at a Key way down there and I want a Key in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Hive, I need to scroll up and close all the keys and then find the one I want. So I developed this neat tool to open the Registry Editor at My Computer. No extra work, I even made shortcut keys for it. I hit the Control-Alt-N (N for new), RegEdit opens at My Computer. If I press the Control-Alt-L (L for last) keys, RegEdit opens to the last Key I was at. If I press the Control-Alt-G (G for go to) keys, up pops a window and I can tell RegEdit to open at the Key I want. What a big time saver.”
Anchor Link Open Regedit in IE
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 1.4 – Released: 2008-05-18
File Size: 290 KB
“Many tips published on various websites heavily use registry modifications and additions. These articles and tips usually tell you that in order to perform this or that, you need to open Regedit.exe (the registry editing tool), navigate to this or that registry path, and create, delete or modify registry keys and values.
“In order to make your life easier, Shay has created this Internet Explorer add-in, that allows you to easily open Regedit and point it to the exact registry path, without the need to manually open Regedit.exe and begin to look for the relevant entry.”
Anchor Link Reg Organizer
License: Shareware Last Reviewed: 2013-03-05
Version: 6.02 – Released: 2013-03-04 Windows: XP, 2003, Vista, 7, 8
File Size: 4.48 MB Portable version available on-site
Both 32- and 64-bit compatible
“Reg Organizer is an extensive and extremely powerful set of registry tools required for effective system registry management. This software lets you view, edit, and safely clean the registry. It allows you to preview the registry files you want to import (including the ability to preview files directly from Windows Explorer) and supports editing the contents of the registry files. It includes registry cleaner, which will safely compact, repair, and optimize the registry.”
Anchor Link RegAlyzer
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 1.6.2.16 – Released: 2009-04-29 Windows: 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista
File Size: 1.67 MB
“RegAlyzer is a tool to browse and change the registry. I wrote it because of a few features I missed in the original regedit tool. A short list of the pros of RegAlyzer:
» Improved search function (results list)
» Hierarchical bookmark support
» Jump to key by command line parameter
» Jump to key by typing/copying it into dialog (instead of browsing)
» DWord editing with parallel hex/decimal/binary display
» Support of QWord (64 bit integer)
» Display of .reg file contents without importing it
» Support of version 5 files (Unicode) even with Windows 95/NT
» Low-level display of security settings with option to export it”
Anchor Link RegDelNull
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 1.1 – Released: 2006-11-01 Windows: 2000, XP
File Size: 21 KB
“This command-line utility searches for and allows you to delete Registry keys that contain embedded-null characters and that are otherwise undeleteable using standard Registry-editing tools. Note: deleting Registry keys may cause the applications they are associated with to fail.”
Anchor Link Regedit and Regedt32 Differences
Information Only Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Revision: 8.4 – Released: 2007-01-19 Windows: NT, 2000, XP, 2003
“Windows NT-based operating systems include two utilities for editing the registry, Regedit.exe and Regedt32.exe. This article describes the differences between the two utilities for each Windows NT-based operating system.”
Anchor Link Registry Description
Information Only Last Reviewed: 2012-09-11
Revision: 13 – Released: 2012-09-11 Windows: 9x, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista
Info on both 32- and 64-bit entries
“This article describes the registry. It also includes information about how to edit the registry, and lists references for additional information.”
Anchor Link Registry Editor Features
Information Only Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Revision: 7.6 – Released: 2007-05-30 Windows: XP, 2003
“This step-by-step article describes how to use features in Registry Editor that are included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, but that are not included in previous versions of Windows. In Windows XP and later, Regedit.exe is the only Registry Editor tool that is included in the operating system. Regedt32.exe is no longer a part of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. A primary use of Regedt32.exe that was missing from earlier versions of Regedit.exe, was to set permissions and other security settings for registry keys and subkeys. That feature is now available in the version of Regedit.exe that is included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.”
Anchor Link Registry Internal Structure
Information Only Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Author: Peter Norris Dated: 2009-02
“This web page contains the full report of this MSc project complete with the source code to all the programs and utilities that were produced. It is reproduced and made available here in support of the Computer Forensic community in particular and of knowledge in general. This material is copyright Cranfield University.”
Anchor Link Registry Life
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2013-04-17
Version: 1.60 – Released: 2013-04-16 Windows: 2000, XP, Vista, 7
File Size: 15.6 MB Both 32- and 64-bit compatible
“Registry Life helps correct errors in the registry and optimizes it, increasing the working speed and stability of the system. It’s a compact, simple to use, and FREE solution for servicing your system registry.
“Repairing Registry Errors with Registry Life:
To overcome the first cause of this loss of speed, Registry Life offers a handy tool to clean and repair the registry. With this tool, you can run checks on the registry to detect more than ten different kinds of problems. At the same time, this tool deletes informational junk from the registry.
“Optimizating the Registry with Registry Life:
Registry Life includes a tool to defragment and compress the registry. Unlike other similar programs, you can schedule an automatic system registry optimization on start-up.”
Anchor Link Registry Workshop
License: Shareware Last Reviewed: 2013-01-15
Version: 4.6.2 – Released: 2013-01-15 Windows: All
File Size: 1 MB Both 32- and 64-bit versions
“Registry Workshop is an advanced registry editor. It is a perfect replacement for RegEdit and RegEdt32 which shipped with Windows. In addition to all the standard features, Registry Workshop adds a variety of powerful features that allow you to work faster and more efficient with registry related tasks. You can cut, copy and paste registry keys and values. You can undo and redo modifications. You can search and replace registry keys, values and data quickly and easily. It allows edit registry files in the same way as editing system registry. It also offers easy and flexible functions to manage Favorites.
“All changes except changing key permissions can be safely reversed (even registry replacing and importing), using multiple levels of Undo. You don’t need to worry about making mistakes when editing registry now.”
Anchor Link Regmon
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 7.04 – Released: 2006-11-01 Windows: 9x, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003
File Size: 271 KB
“Regmon is a Registry monitoring utility that will show you which applications are accessing your Registry, which keys they are accessing, and the Registry data that they are reading and writing — all in real-time. This advanced utility takes you one step beyond what static Registry tools can do, to let you see and understand exactly how programs use the Registry. With static tools you might be able to see what Registry values and keys changed. With Regmon you’ll see how the values and keys changed.
Note: FileMon and RegMon have been replaced by Process Monitor on versions of Windows starting with Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows Vista. FileMon and RegMon remain for legacy operating system support, including Windows 9x.”
Anchor Link RegScanner
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2012-10-22
Version: 1.95 – Released: 2012-10-21 Windows: All
File Size: 58 KB Portable
Both 32- and 64-bit editions
“RegScanner is a small utility that allows you to scan the Registry, find the desired Registry values that match to the specified search criteria, and display them in one list. After finding the Registry values, you can easily jump to the right value in RegEdit, simply by double-clicking the desired Registry item.”
Anchor Link Regshot
License: GNU GPL – Open Source Last Reviewed: 2013-02-05
Version: 1.9.0 – Released: 2013-02-05 Windows: XP, 2003, 2008, Vista, 7, 8
File Size: 155 KB Portable
“RegShot is a small utility that allows you to quickly take a snapshot of your registry and then compare it with a second one — done after doing system changes or installing a new software product. The changes report can be produced in text or HTML format and contains a list of all modifications that have taken place between Snapshot1 and Snapshot2. In addition, you can also specify a folder (with subfolders) to be scanned for changes as well.”
“A tool called UNDOReg written by Davide !bAsH can be found at ( MajorGeeks ) to undo the changes made to your registry (english version, free software).”
Anchor Link RegSnap
License: Shareware Last Reviewed: 2012-03-15
Version: 7.0.2084 – Released: 2010-11-24 Windows: 9x, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003
File Size: 1.7 MB Requires: IE 4.0 or later
“RegSnap is a tool that can help you to analyze changes made to the Windows Registry. With it, you can compare saved snapshots and learn which keys have been modified, deleted, or added. You can also analyze other sensitive system parts, such as a list of files in Windows, Windows System directories, Program Files and My Documents, win.ini and system.ini files, autoexec.bat and config.sys files. RegSnap generates HTML reports and .REG files to undo and redo registry changes.
“There are two RegSnap versions: Standard and Pro. Standard version is best suitable for home users while Pro version is for corporate users. Pro version supports command line interface and OLE Automation (i.e., could be scriptable from your programs).”
Anchor Link TweakNow WinSecret
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-04-13
Version: 3.3.0 _ Released: 2011-04-13 Windows: XP, Vista, 7
File Size: 5.65 MB
“Changing a wrong value in the registry may cause an unpredictable problem to your Windows. This is why novice users should not edit registry value directly using a registry editor by them self. In TweakNow WinSecret, we have gathered the most popular Windows XP/Vista registry settings and provide them for you in an easy and safe user interface. All settings are divided in the following sections:
• Applications
• Control Panel
• Desktop
• Miscellaneous
• Network and Internet
• OEM Info
• Special Folders
• Start Menu
• User Accounts
• Windows Core
• Windows Explorer”
Anchor Link WAssociate
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2011-02-11
Version: 3.4.0.76 – Released: 2010-09-17 Windows: 9x, Me, NT, 2000, XP
File Size: 595 KB
[ A registry editing tool focused on filetypes. Idea is great, select a filetype, and both (there are always 2) registry keys involved, their subkeys are shown and ready to be edited. Ed. ]
“WAssociate is FreeWare that manages the associations between file name extensions and file types stored in the Windows registry. These stored file types determine the appearance and actions supported for a file by Windows. WAssociate is about being in control when double or right clicking a file, quickly editing context menus, associated commands and changing icons and descriptions. Control freaks have easy access to the Windows registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and more… ”