The Windows Registry is one of the most complex functions in Windows. It’s a scary place with a lot of options, but once you get familiar with the basics, you’ll realize Registry can help you change settings that aren’t available anywhere else. You can use it to customize just about anything on Windows.
Since the Windows Registry is complex, editing it can be challenging. Microsoft understands our concerns and is bringing a new way to edit the registry with PowerToys version 69.
For those who don’t know, PowerToys is a set of utilities for Windows, originally introduced in Windows 95. The PowerToys are designed to provide productivity features through open-source utilities called toys. It was first released in 2019 and has since received several updates and new features.
PowerToys v69 has a new feature called “Registry Preview” that modernizes and simplifies registries with a more visually appealing interface. The new interface allows you to quickly change the registry files. To get started, open PowerToys and enable it in settings, and you’ll see the option in the left sidebar.
Click Registry Preview to launch the tool and or select one or more .reg files using Explorer. Select the Registry Preview option from the context menu to edit the selected registry. Of course, you can access PowerToys Registry Preview directly from the app and make the changes you want.
At this time, Microsoft has confirmed that it limits registry editing to 10 MB per file. You will see the correct error in the app if your registry file contains invalid content or a critical error.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the registry contents are displayed on the left side of the app and the contents can be updated at any time.
The top right area of the app displays a visual tree structure of the keys in the file, helping you better understand the importance of each key in the file. The tree structure is updated whenever you change something in the app.
An option called “registry key values” allows you to select a specific registry key from the visual tree structure. Finally, you can click “Write to Registry” to modify the registry. Registry Preview is not the registry, but a new way to modify it.
In addition to Registry Preview, the update has several other improvements. For example, Microsoft makes improvements to the quality of life of the “Awake” feature and the system stays awake until the specified expiration time and date.
Microsoft also fixed an issue with the sampling time and grid. This bug causes Color Picker to incorrectly use the grid color as the base.
