Question

1. The Windows registry is organized as a tree, with subtrees including:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

For each one, give a clear one or two sentence description of what kind of information is stored there. (If your source uses unfamiliar terms to describe the subtrees, make sure you provide interpretations of the terms.)

Answer 1

HKEY - Stands for HANDLES OF REGISTRY KEY

HKEY_CURRENT_USER- This registry key is responsiible for saving the currently logged in users's software and windows configuration.For e.g for specific user what should be the layout of the keyboard, what should be the default setting of the secondary devices installed.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE- This registry key is responsible to save the information of the software as well as operating system installed in the system. This key attaches driver to its hardware so that each and evey hardware works properly by using correct drivers.

HKEY_USERS - This registry key is responsible for for saving information regarding all the users active on the system. Each user is assigned a SID that helps differentiate different users,making any change in this registry will directly propagate the change to HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG - This registry is responsible for acting as a pointer to registry that keeps track of hardware being used. This registry is just a duplucate of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlProfiles/Current, meaning whatever is changed in former will be changed in latter and vice versa.