Chapter 4: Customizing the System with the Registry

Overview

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots?

--R. Kipling
How the Leopard Got His Spots

Now and then, you will hear the question: "Can a Leopard change his spots?" This epigraph, taken from the story by Rudyard Kipling, describes how one Leopard and an Ethiopian once managed to do just this very thing. This is a fable, of course, and all the events described in the tale took place "In the beginning of years, when the world was so new". Many things didn't even have their proper names yet, so in order to point something out, you needed to put a finger on it.

Windows NT/2000/XP and products of the Windows Server 2003 family are also very new, especially in comparison to the characters in Kipling's fable. Immediately after their final release, though, the entire user community began discussing the problems associated with optimizing and customizing these operating systems. Some methods of customization were obvious, but others weren't immediately evident (not to say, of course, that they aren't possible). Both the Internet and in many books available today, you can find a large number of tips on how to customize Windows by editing the registry. However, before launching directly into editing the registry, it is always best to try to use the Control Panel applets and administrative tools first (in most cases, this approach is much safer and easier than registry editing). In any event, my goal is to point this out and even "put my finger on it".

As was mentioned above, most tasks related to configuring Windows NT/2000/XP and products of the Windows Server 2003 family can be carried out using Control Panel applets and administrative tools. However, some such tasks can only be completed by editing the system registry directly. This chapter describes various methods of customizing, fine-tuning, and troubleshooting Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows Server 2003. At the same time, this chapter should not be considered to be an exhaustive reference tool for Windows customization. Many other methods of modifying the registry will be discussed later in this book, in chapters dedicated to specific aspects of customization and troubleshooting the system.