HKEYS
HKEYS refers to the five principal root hives of the Windows Registry, a hierarchical database used by the Windows operating system to store configuration settings for the system, installed software, and user preferences. The registry is organized as a tree of keys and values, with HKEYs serving as the top-level roots from which all other keys branch.
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR): information about registered file associations and Class Registration, providing a merged view of HKLM\Software\Classes
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU): user-specific settings that apply to the currently logged-in user, including software preferences and environment
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM): machine-wide configuration that affects all users, including hardware, software, and security policies.
- HKEY_USERS (HKU): contains data for all loaded user profiles, including per-user configurations and the default profile.
- HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (HKCC): hardware-related configuration profile representing the current hardware configuration.
Some contexts also reference HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA, which provides dynamic, read-only data used by performance monitoring tools rather
Access and editing of HKEYS typically occur through tools such as the Windows Registry Editor (regedit) or