Power Users First

Power Users First; Then IT Professionals

Even the most focused IT professional is a power user at heart, so this book presents information for power users first. Thus, here are the first five chapters in Part I, "Registry Overview":

• Chapter 1, "Learning the Basics" This chapter is an overview of the registry in Windows XP. It includes common terminology and an explanation of how Windows XP organizes the registry. You'll learn important concepts, such as the different types of data that you can store in the registry and the difference between little-endian and big-endian storage of double-word values. What exactly is a GUID, anyway? You'll find out here.

• Chapter 2, "Using the Registry Editor" Registry Editor is your window into the registry, so this chapter teaches you how to use it effectively.

• Chapter 3, "Backing Up the Registry" Backing up the registry protects your settings. This chapter shows quick-and-dirty ways to back up settings as well as methods for backing up the entire registry.

• Chapter 4, "Hacking the Registry" This chapter is a power user's dream because it describes some of the coolest hacks for Windows XP. For example, it shows you how to customize the dickens out of Windows Explorer.

• Chapter 5, "Mapping Tweak UI" Microsoft now has an updated version of Tweak UI, and this chapter describes it in detail. You don't just learn how to use Tweak UI; there's no sport in that. You'll learn exactly where in the registry Tweak UI stores each setting so you can apply them using your own scripts.

Part II, "Registry in Management," contains information useful to both power users and IT professionals. In this section, you'll learn how to manage Windows XP's registry. You'll also learn how to use the registry as a management tool:

• Chapter 6, "Using Registry-Based Policy" This chapter focuses on Group Policy and system policies. You'll learn the differences between them and how each policy can be used to manage computers and users. Importantly, you'll learn how to build your own policy templates for Group Policy.

• Chapter 7, "Managing Registry Security" Windows XP secures settings in the registry. This chapter shows you how to manage the registry's security. It also shows you how to poke selective holes in the registry's security so that you can deploy and run legacy applications on Windows XP.

• Chapter 8, "Finding Registry Settings" Finding the location where Windows XP stores a setting in the registry is easy, as long as you know which tools to use. I'll give you a hint: Microsoft Word 2002 is the second best registry tool. You'll also learn about tools that you can use to remotely monitor the registry.

Part III, "Registry in Deployment," is primarily for IT professionals. This part of the book helps you use the registry to deploy Windows XP and Office XP more effectively. It includes the following chapters:

• Chapter 9, "Scripting Registry Changes" A plethora of methods are available to you for customizing registry edits. This chapter teaches the best of them, including REG files, INF files, and Windows Installer package files. It also describes tools such as Console Registry Tool for Windows, which comes free with Windows XP. This is useful for editing the registry from batch files.

• Chapter 10, "Deploying User Profiles" Default user profiles are an effective way to deploy default settings to users. This chapter describes not only default user profiles, but mandatory and roaming user profiles as well. What's unique about this chapter is that it describes a useful process for building profiles that ensures they'll work for all users in your organization.

• Chapter 11, "Mapping Windows Installer" Windows Installer is a relatively new service that's a better way to install applications. This chapter describes how Windows Installer interacts with the registry. It will also help you clean up the registry when things go wrong with some Windows Installer–based applications.

• Chapter 12, "Deploying with Answer Files" This chapter shows you how to script Windows XP's installation and how to add registry settings to the mix.

• Chapter 13, "Cloning Disks with Sysprep" Many companies that maintained up to 50 Microsoft Windows 2000 disk images now can use just a single Windows XP disk image. They do that by generalizing their disk images so that they work on the widest possible variety of hardware. That's the topic of this chapter. This chapter also shows how Sysprep interacts with the registry.

• Chapter 14, "Microsoft Office XP User Settings" A big part of an Office XP deployment project is deploying user settings. This chapter describes a variety of ways to do just that. You'll learn about tools that come with the Office XP Resource Kit, for example, as well as techniques for using them.

• Chapter 15, "Working Around IT Problems" This is a special chapter that addresses the comments and questions I frequently hear from IT professions. How should you handle coexistence issues between Microsoft Access 97 and Microsoft Access 2002? That's just one of many IT issues you can address by using Windows XP's registry.

Part IV, "Appendices," is a reference that describes the contents of the registry. In the few pages available in this book, I can't possibly describe every registry value. But Part IV describes the most interesting settings. These appendices describe the relationships between different portions of the registry, including how a variety of registry keys and values interact.