There is really no such thing as a 3rd party "Registry Editor" software, and there is also no need for it:
Every windows, even from the earliest windows versions on, comes with a built in registry editor which is regedit.
Now, a word of caution first: Editing the registry manually is something you should not do if you don't know exactly what you are doing. A wrong modification using the windows regedit tool can break functionality of your programs – if not your whole computer! Always perform a backup of the registry first before you do any changes in the registry!
How do you start regedit, the windows registry editor?
Simple: On your computer, you select Start -> Run (On Vista Win7 click on the symbol in left lower corner) and then type regedit which will start the built in registry editor. It might look like on the picture on the left.
Now, be warned that we have literally thousands of entries here. Simply searching for a text-string (press CTRL-F key) in the registry could take a minute or two, even on a fast computer.
The registry is structured and laid out with what Microsoft calls Registry Hives. We have a few main registry hives which are
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
Simple spoken: Most (if not all) of your settings for Windows, drivers and your applications might be somewhere saved amongst thousands of thousands of entries somewhere in the registry.
In the menu of the editor, you can see some options for importing and exporting the registry (or parts of it).
And of course you can add and actually edit particular entries (called registry keys) by simply right clicking, or clicking on the entry in question.
A value can be changed in the box which pops up when you click an entry in the right window of the registry editor, while the left side displays the hives and the overall structure of the registry.
There are various kinds of data, like strings, binary value, DWORD and more. A string would simple be a text, an example would be the pathname for an installed program.
It would go way too far now to give an in-depth explanation of how the registry is built up and what relationships there are. This article's purpose is merely to show that each windows has this built-in registry editor and how to start it for those interested.
You can read more about the registry and how to optimize it at http://www.bestregistrycleanerhelp.com
