We tend to take the Windows Registry for granted nowadays, but have you ever wondered how it came into existence and what the story behind it is? What is it that made Microsoft include this new facility, and how was it received?

Let us think back in history to the days of Windows 3.1. Initially, the systems were built with the assumption that only a handful of applications would be installed and that only a few dozens of system and application-wide settings would have to be stored. However, even in 1992, when Windows 3.1 was released, things were changing fast.

The average size of consumer-level hard drives was about 80 MB in 1992. In 1994, when Windows 95 was released, the average size of the hard drives had gone up to 400 MB, and it was not long before every computer sold had at least 1 GB of hard drive memory. While Windows 3.1 was initially targeted at corporate workstations, with each computer used only for one or two significant applications, Windows 95 was already targeted at consumers in the first place, with users expected not only to have a handful of significant applications installed, but also with users expected to be entrusted with performing maintenance on their own.

With the way Windows 3.1 applications stored their settings, this was a sure way towards chaos, as the Windows 3.1 installations deployed to consumers had shown. The original solution was to have each application and the operating system store its own settings in .ini files. However, the .ini model had a few problems.

Although they had several advantages i.e. .ini files were human-readable and almost impossible to become corrupted beyond repair, the operating system did not enforce any rules upon their storage. There was no way to tell where each application would store its settings, since there was no central storage place for them to be placed in. There was also no fair way to manage them, due to the fact that they were scattered all around the hard drive and, as a consequence, they were impossible to optimize.

Microsoft introduced the Windows Registry with Windows 95, but many in house tests had been run prior to this. Rumors that Microsoft was experimenting with a ‘binary-only’ settings storage solution were circulating even back in 1993, but it was only in 1994, with Windows 95, that this solution was promoted on the market.

In its first incarnation, the Windows Registry was stored in a fairly crude fashion compared to the form it has today. There were only four files though, since Windows was only single-user back then, it did not call for the much more complex incarnation of the registry that we know today.

Initially, the introduction of the registry was met with quite some acclaim, especially by the developers, who now had a unified solution for accessing system and application settings and information. Users and the minority of administrators who fashioned Microsoft Windows also praised the introduction of the registry, which put an end to the struggle with .ini files.

Only a few months later, the Windows Registry was featured in a slightly different form, in Windows NT 3.5. Windows NT was initially designed to be used only in networking appliances such as servers. It was adapted for use in a multi-user environment, and it featured a slightly more complex, but equally fragile registry.

Throughout the subsequent desktop versions like Windows 98 and Windows Me the registry did not go through too many changes, which also prompted the appearance of registry cleaning and repairing software. This kind of software thrived all the way until the early 2000s, with hundreds of solutions available.

The existence of registry cleaning software was cut short with Windows 2000 and subsequently, Windows XP and Windows Vista. These were all based on the NT line, which saw several transformations of the Windows Registry, initially in order to correspond to the more demanding requirements of network solutions. The registry grew more robust but it did not eliminate many of its problems. As a consequence, only the best registry cleaning software remained on the market, most of it fading into obscurity, and several new solutions coming up on the market. At the moment, the spotlights are on ParetoLogic's RegCure and also ErrorSmart which are currently the best solutions available.

Microsoft does plan to phase out the Windows Registry, but this will be a long-term move. After being around for such a long time, the registry will still remain for some time to come, if only for compatibility reasons. Thus, it's fair to say that we will have to put up with the registry and its problems for many years.


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