Ok, we'll continue on our discussion on Windows Registry. We've learnt about the basic of Windows Registry and how to make a backup of it, so in this articles, we'll try to make it more secure.
PART III
Securing Windows Registry
Windows Registry is very important for the Windows. That makes hackers, crackers, viruses, worms, trojans and something else like that want to attack and infect it to take control or damage your computer. To prevent that thing, we can secure the Windows Registry. As always, there are so many methods to do that.
The first method to secure Windows Registry is by making a backup of it, and then restore it periodically. This is fairly simple but we can't rely on this method too much because most of the attackers will lock our Registry Editor so no registry editing is available. This will explained on the later point.
The second method is by using programs that can control registry editing. There are so many programs for it but I'll only describe one of them here and that is Spybot Search&Destroy. This program is a freeware, so you don't have to waste your money for it. Although so, this program is very useful to control the Registry Editing. By using it, whenever the Windows Registry changed, you can control it by allowing or denying he changes. You can find more about this program at its homepage, www.safer-networking.org . Remember this is only one of those programs, you can still find another similar program by using Google.
* Please note that sometimes those programs can be easily fooled by hackers, crackers, or viruses so don't depend on it too much.
The next method is by limiting the access to the Windows Registry. I won't describe it too detail here because I don't think that it is useful. You can limit others account, but I'm sure you won't limit your own account. With your account Registry editing can still be done easily. I'll just describe something similar to this one on the next method.
Well, we know three methods to secure the Windows Registry already, so now we'll discuss another more complicated method. This method is by using one of the viruses attack method. All we have to do is to lock the Registry Editor so no more registry editing is available.
Here's step by step on how to lock Windows Registry:
1. Open Windows Registry Editor
2. Go to this path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER-Software-Microsoft-Windows-CurrentVersion-Policies.
3. Check if there's a “system” folder in the policies folder or not.
4. If there isn't any, create it. (Right click – new – key – type in “system”)
5. Enter that path/ folder.
6. Create a new Dword Value (Right click – new – Dword Value)
7. Name it “DisableRegistryTools”
8. Change the value from 0 to 1 (Double click – change the 0 into 1)
9. Close the Registry Editor. If you did it right, you won't be able to access your Registry Editor anymore. Sometimes you'll need to restart your computer first.
* There's a simpler method to do, but I won't describe it for now because you have to get to know about Windows Registry better. This method is by injecting the key directly from a notepad.
Well, that's how to secure your Registry by locking it, but remember that by doing this you won't have any access to the Windows Registry anymore.
In that case, how could you access the Windows Registry again?
We'll discuss about this point now.
To unlock a locked Windows Registry Editor, you have to:
1. Create a new user account
2. Click Start menu – Log Off – Switch User (don't choose log off)
2. Login to that new user account
3. Open the Windows Registry Editor from that account
4. Go to this path HKEY_USERS-…….*-Software-Microsoft-Windows-CurrentVersion-Policies-System
5. Find the Registry Key you created before (DisableRegistryTools)
6. Change the value from 1 to 0.
7. Close the Registry Editor. If you did it right, you'll have the access to the Registry Editor from your account again. Sometimes you'll need to restart your computer first.
* Change the …… above to the folder under HKEY_USERS part that has a long name. The folder can be the first, or even the third one. They vary on each computer, so you must use the “try and error” method to determine which folder it is.
That explanation should conclude this part.
In the next parts we'll start using the Windows Registry to customize our Desktop, Start Menu, Layout and many more.
Prepare for it!!!
Ian Dennis