If you don’t know what your doing in the Registry, you can mess up your computer pretty good. Today we show you how to prevent users from accessing the Registry and making any changes to it.

Using Local Group Policy Editor

Note: This method uses Group Policy Editor which is not available in Home versions of Windows.

First type gpedit.msc into the Search box in the Start menu.

When Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates then select System. Under Setting in the right panel double-click on Prevent access to registry editing tools.

Select the radio button next to Enabled, click OK, then close out of Group Policy Editor.

Now if a user tries to access the Registry…

They will get the following message advising they cannot access it.

Using Registry Enabler & Disabler 3

If you’re using Home or Starter version of Windows 7, you can use a neat utility called Registry Enabler & Disabler (link below). This app works on XP and Vista as well.

There is no installation involved so you can run it from a flash drive, disable the registry, then take the flash drive with you while a the user is on the machine.

Again, if the user tries to access the Registry they will get the following error…

Using one of these options will stop users from gaining access to the Registry or running any registry hacks. Of course if you have a shared computer, you may want to set up other users with a Standard Account, as they won’t be able to make changes to the Registry anyway.

Download Registry Enabler & Disabler 3