Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Applications
User interface tools (32-bit shell)
Windows 95/98
core
Registry
Virtual
Machine
Manager
Installable
Filesystem
Manager
Configuration
Manager
Device drivers
Hardware
Figure H.1
Windows 95/98 architecture
When a computer is initially upgraded from Windows 3.
x
to Windows 95/98 the upgrade
program reads the SYSTEM.INI file and system-specific information which it then puts into
the Registry. Many INI files are still retained on the system as many Win16-based applica-
tions use them. For example, Microsoft Word Version 6 uses the WINWORD6.INI to store
package information, such as location of filters, location of spell checker, location of gram-
mar checker, and so on. An example is
[Microsoft Word]
WPHelp=0
USER-DOT-PATH=C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\TEMPLATE
PICTURE-PATH=C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD
PROGRAMDIR=C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD
TOOLS-PATH=C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD
STARTUP-PATH=C:\DOCS\NOTES\
INI-PATH=C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD
DOC-PATH=C:\DOCS\NOTES\
An important role for the registry is to store hardware-specific information which can be
used by hardware detection and plug-and-play programs. The configuration manager deter-
mines the configuration of installed hardware (such as, IRQs, I/O addresses, and so on) and it
uses this information to update the registry. This allows new devices to be installed and
checked to see if they conflict with existing devices. If they are plug-and-play devices then
the system assigns hardware parameters that do not conflict with existing devices.
The advantages of the registry over INI files include:
•
No limit to size and data type - the Registry has no size restriction and can include binary
and text values (INI files are text based and are limited to 64 KB).
•
Hierarchical information
-
the registry is hierarchically arranged, whereas INI files are
non-hierarchical and support only two levels of information.
•
Standardised set-up - the registry provides a standardized method of setting up programs,
whereas many INI files contain a whole host of switches and entries, and are complicated
to configure.
