The Registry Keys and Their Subkeys

Changing a Value in the Registry

To learn how to change a value, we'll use an example. If you've ever tried to change the name of the Recycle Bin, then you know that it can't be done by regular means. For some reason, Microsoft decided that you should not be able to change it. We'll do it by changing its value in the Registry. If you are going to do these exercises, don't worry, we'll change the Recycle Bin info back in the next exercise.

Start the Registry Editor by typing REGEDIT at the RUN menu. Click on the '+' beside HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. The keys you see at first, have to do with file associations. Scroll way down until you see the key CLSID. Click on the '+' beside CLSID. What you see now, are called Class Identifiers (CLSID). They may look a little intimidating, and we may talk about them later. You should, however, notice that these are in numerical and alphabetical order. Scroll down until you see the key:

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Click on this key and the values will be displayed in the right hand pane of the Registry Editor. You should see:

(Default) "Recycle Bin"
InfoTip "Contains deleted items, etc..."

The first value is the default name for the Recycle Bin. To change it, double click the default value entry in the right pane (double click the word (default).

An Edit String box will pop up. Change the name inside the text box to Trash, and click OK. Remember, there are no prompts, no little box is going to pop up and ask you if you're sure. As soon as you make the change, it's done.

While we're here, look at that other value called InfoTip. That's the text that pops up as a tip whenever you hover the mouse over the Recycle Bin's icon. Let's change it! Double click the entry 'InfoTip' that you see in the right pane. When the Edit String box pops up, change the value to This is a silly Tweak. Click OK to save changes and close the Registry Editor.

You probably won't see your changes yet. You have to click any open area of the desktop and then press F5. This refreshes the desktop and your changes should be visible. Some changes don't take effect until the computer is restarted, so keep that in mind.

Now, you should see that your Recycle Bin has been renamed Trash. Hover your mouse pointer over the Trash Bin and see what info tip pops up. It should say "This is a silly Tweak."

CLSIDs, or Class Identifiers, are used by programmers when they write OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) programs. Each individual program has to have its own unique ID for the operating system, and CLSIDs are the answer. I know they're impossible to humanly understand, but there are ways to find them.