If you are using Windows OS, I literally know everything about you
In this post, I will show how to investigate Windows registries, where you can find numerous information about the user accounts, computer-specific information, users of applications like Skype, Mail, etc. information about networks computer was connected to, devices that were used with the computer and the list goes on and on. Not to mention how much this information can be valuable in case of criminal investigations.
Windows Registries
The Windows registry stores two critical information:
- settings for the Windows operating system and applications that are installed on the system
- configuration of all installed hardware
For daily usage, knowing about Windows Registries can be useful for you if you want some specific configuration to your OS or Apps you are running — e.g. setting dark mode, improving network speed, changing boot, restricting access to some users, etc.
Quick and Easy, If you are running Windows you can view your registries in Registry Editor which should look something like this:
Over time the name of the registry(hive) file changed a bit — the following image summarizes it:
