Registry Booster Online Help - Glossary of Terms

An ActiveX control is essentially a simple OLE object that supports a variety of interfaces. ActiveX Controls have become the primary architecture for developing programmable software components for use in a variety of different containers, ranging from software development tools to end-user productivity tools. ActiveX controls register themselves in the Windows Registry.

Applications are programs that are designed for end users such as word processors, spreadsheets, Customer Relationship Management and database software.

The procedure that allows you to store your data on a separate storage medium so that you can reproduce the data with 100% accuracy if and when data loss takes place.

Microsoft defines COM or Component Object Model as "a platform-independent, distributed, object-oriented system for creating binary software components that can interact. COM is the foundation technology for Microsoft's OLE (compound documents), ActiveX® (Internet-enabled components), as well as others".

COM (Component Object Model) is a technique or an interface standard which objects and applications use to communicate. The standard is required since not all objects within your system 'know' each other's attributes, properties and capabilities. Therefore, an interface is required to allow standard ways of querying objects for respective functionality and subsequent execution of that functionality. Microsoft emphasises "COM specifies an object model and programming requirements that enable COM objects (also called COM components, or sometimes simply objects) to interact with other objects. These objects can be within a single process, in other processes, and can even be on remote machines. They can have been written in other languages, and they may be structurally quite dissimilar, which is why COM is referred to as a binary standard—a standard that applies after a program has been translated to binary machine code...A COM object is one in which access to an object's data is achieved exclusively through one or more sets of related functions. These function sets are called interfaces, and the functions of an interface are called methods. Further, COM requires that the only way to gain access to the methods of an interface is through a pointer to the interface".

Therefore, COM is a software architecture or standard developed (by Microsoft) to build component- (or object-) based applications. COM objects have a unique identity, which expose interfaces thereby allowing applications and other components to access a variety of features. COM objects are more versatile than DLLs because they are entirely language-independent, have built-in inter-process communications capabilities, and fit easily into an object-oriented program design. COM was first released in 1993 with OLE2, largely to replace the interprocess communication mechanism DDE used by the initial release of OLE. ActiveX also is based on COM.

Put simply, COM is a technology that allows objects to interact across process and machine boundaries as easily as within a single process. COM enables this by specifying that the only way to manipulate the data associated with an object is through an interface on the object

A control is usually a visual interface object that allows a user to interact or control a function or setting. For example, slider controls for volume control, or the scroll bar or a radio button.

A custom control is subsequently a control that is non-standard to Windows or proprietary to the application that is being installed. An example, in a car racing game, a custom control would be the speedometer. It is not a native Windows control but is required by the application (car racing game).

Buttons are standard controls, so are sliders, progress bars, listview, treeview, toolbars, menu bars, etc. Anything that deviates from these or anything proprietary is usually called a custom control and these usually relate to visuals.

A DLL or dynamic link library is, simply put, a collection of small software programs any of which are called up by a larger program (e.g., Microsoft Word) that is running on your computer. The components of DLLs have several functions including calling up a specific device such as a printer or a CD or DVD player to perform a specific operation such as printing or playing music or a movie. DLL files that support specific device operation are known as device drivers.

DLL files are dynamic libraries linked from and to applications that use them during program execution for specific operations instead of being compiled into the main program. These sub-components are stored in separate files and may be identified through their three-letter extension reflecting the acronym.

One of the advantages of having DLL files is to save putting a burden on your computer's memory since DLLs are not loaded into RAM until the file is needed. In other words, the print driver will not be loaded as long as you are editing your Word document. Once you click on the print button, Word runs the printer DLL to print your document.

Your computer, therefore, may have hundreds of DLL programs that are waiting to be activated (or are already activated) as soon as the required operation is needed. Some DLLs are required for you to utilise the Windows and program graphical user interfaces; others are used to connect to the Internet or to send emails; others still are called by your audio programs to drive your sound card. Some are common to many programs, others are not.

A file association allows you to control certain aspects of how the Shell's treats different file types.

The Shell associates these aspects with file types, which are based on extensions. The Windows registry stores the data that define file associations.

In the Windows Explorer window below, the Shell displays different icons for each file, based on the icon associated with the file's type. If you were to double click the New Microsoft Word Document, the Shell launches MS Word and uses it to open the file because, on this system, MS Word is associated with .doc files. You can control these actions using file associations.

In such operating systems as Windows, one or several letters (generally three) at the end of a filename. Filename extensions usually follow a period (dot) and indicate the type of information stored in the file. Common file extensions include pdf, .exe, .gif, .jpg, .tif, .mp3, .avi, .doc, .xls, and .zip.

A system for organizing directories and files, generally in terms of how it is implemented in the disk operating system.

An object is a software bundle of variable items of data (state) and related behaviours implemented through methods. A method is function (subroutine) associated with an object. For example, an event is a common object used in window systems to represent the action of a user pressing a mouse button or a key on the keyboard.

In general, a software object is made up of a set of data and the functions that manipulate the data.

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) is a standard developed by Microsoft. It allows you to create objects with one application and then link or embed them in a second application. Embedded objects retain their original format and links to the application that created them. In other words, OLE allows objects from one application to be embedded or linked within another (e.g., taking an Excel spreadsheet and putting it into a Word document).

OLE documents (also known as compound documents) seamlessly integrate various types of data, or pbjects. Sound clips and spreadsheets are good examples of components found in OLE documents. For example, if you are working on a Word document and create a linked to a number of cells in an Excel spreadsheet, the data for the linked item is stored in the original spreadsheet document. The Word document contains only the link to the original Excel spreadsheet. When you double-click the cells, Excel is launched and the original spreadsheet document is loaded from where it was stored.

OLE incorporates many other different concepts that all work toward the goal of seamless interaction between the applications installed on your computer. These areas include the following:

Linking and embedding are the two methods for storing items created inside an OLE document that were created in another application as explained by the above examples.

Activating an embedded item in the context of the container document is called in-place activation. The container application's interface changes to incorporate the features of the component application that created the embedded item - if you double click on a linked Excel sheet within a Word document, you will notice how part of the user interface around the Excel document changes.

Compound files provide a standard file format that simplifies structured storing of compound documents for OLE applications.

Uniform Data Transfer is a set of interfaces that allow data to be sent and received in a standard fashion, regardless of the actual method chosen to transfer the data.

Drag and drop is a direct-manipulation technique to transfer data among applications, among windows within an application, or even within a single window in an application.

The Component Object Model (COM) provides the infrastructure used when OLE objects communicate with each other.

While the term "program" refers to an executable code (the exe file for MS Word, for example), a process is a program that is being executed. When you start a program in Windows, the executable will be loaded into RAM. Windows will then add the new process to its internal process list and make sure the process receives some CPU time as well as memory and other resources.

The Windows registry is a central database of information needed to configure your computer system for general settings and preferences, software applications, and hardware drivers and devices. Keeping your registry in a good state of repair and conducting regular maintenance is imperative because the registry contains important data that is used all the time during system operation.

As you continue changing preferences, installing and uninstalling software and hardware, the registry grows and becomes more complex. In addition, the chances of errors and missing, obsolete or corrupt entries increases exponentially.

Registry fragmentation is a phenomenon similar to fragmented hard drives. Your computer will slot new pieces of data in empty areas of your registry. If the file is too big for the slot, your computer will break it up and put a piece in one slot and another elsewhere. This creates gaps, wasted space and increase the probability of corruption of your registry.

Registry repair software fixes all your registry problems including all errors and instances of fragmentation.

It tunes up and streamlines your computer registry to enhance your computer experience and eliminating related system seizures and crashes. Registry repair software keeps track of all registry entries repairing issues and ensuring your computer to work at peak performance. Using the software regularly allows you to minimise registry related problems (see, What are the most common Registry problems?).

Fragmentation is a serious problem and occurs when application processes modify the registry continually and incrementally . Eventually registry file sizes may exceed the Registry Size Limits imposed by Windows. This causes subsequent modifications to the registry to fail. Most registry repair software allow you to defrag your registry ensuring that such issues do not occur. This is true prevention.

Running registry repair software regular prevents registry errors and fragmentation thereby eliminating related system seizures and crashes.
Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer including your registry.

Although you can repair your registry (see, How do I repair Registry problems?) manually, this is not advisable. Registry repair without appropriate software requires a high degree of expertise. Even your decision on which software to use/buy must not be taken lightly. You wouldn't want to skimp on your software purchase. You must be careful: you could end up with removing critical registry entries and information that will damage your system and jeopardise its stable operation. This would mean spending more money to get costly computer repair and, most probably, recovering lost data (in certain instances this may not be even possible).

The process of reinstating a set of data to its original state before the data loss or related incident has occurred.

The Windows user interface gives you access to a wide variety of objects necessary for running applications and managing the operating system.

The most numerous and familiar of these objects are the folders and files that reside your hard drive. There are also a number of virtual objects that allow the user to do tasks, such as send files to remote printers or access the Recycle Bin.

The Shell organizes these objects into a hierarchical structure and provides users and applications with a consistent and efficient way to access and manage various objects. Users interact with the hierarchy (or namespace) through the Shell's graphical UI or through an application.

The Shell namespace organizes the file system and all objects managed by the Shell into a single tree-structured hierarchy. Think of it as a larger and more inclusive version of the file system.

One of the main jobs of the Shell is to manage and provide access to all the objects that make up the system. The most numerous and familiar of these objects are the folders and files that reside on computer disk drives. However, the Shell manages a number of virtual objects (non file system), as well. A few examples include:

Some virtual objects do not require physical storage at all. The printer object, for example, is a collection of links to networked printers. Other virtual objects, such as the Recycle Bin, contain data that is stored on a disk drive, but needs to be handled differently than normal files. Virtual objects can also be used to represent data stored in a database. In terms of the namespace, the various items in the database could appear in the Windows Explorer as separate objects, even though they are all stored in a single disk file.

Virtual objects may even be located on remote computers. For instance, to facilitate roaming, a user's profile might be stored on a server. To give users access to their files from multiple PCs, the My Documents folder on the desktop PC they are currently using will point to the server, not the hard disk of the desktop. Its path will include either a mapped network drive or a specific path name.

Like the file system, the namespace includes two types of object: folders and files. Folder objects are the branches (and twigs) of the tree; they contain file objects and other folders. File objects are the leaves of the tree; they are either normal disk files (e.g., a Word document) or virtual objects, (e.g., a Shortcut or printer links).

Folders that are not part of the file system are sometimes referred to as virtual folders. Like file system folders, the collection of virtual folders generally varies from system to system. There are three classes of virtual folders:

You can see a visual representation of how the namespace is structured in the Explorer Bar of the Windows Explorer. For example, the following screenshot of Windows Explorer shows a relatively simple namespace.

The ultimate root of the namespace hierarchy is the desktop. Immediately below the root are several virtual folders such as My Computer and the Recycle Bin. The file systems of the various disk drives can be seen to be subsets of the larger namespace hierarchy. The roots of these file systems are subfolders of the My Computer folder. My Computer also includes the roots of any mapped network drives. Other branches in the tree, such as My Documents, are virtual folders.

Special types of files that contain preset links to various single files, folders and devices. Windows has a series of shortcuts placed on the computer desktop to allow access to files and devices at one click of a button.

The menu and general instruments available for the user to communicate with the program. In Registry Booster the user interface is designed to be highly intuitive and exceptionally simple to use.

Virtual devices are also referred to as a virtual peripheral - a virtual device mimics a physical hardware device, essentially, "tricking" your system into believing that a device exists when actually it does not. For example, fax software can act as a virtual printer. When want to send a document to your fax modem, you would print it "normally" to the fax/modem (virtual printer) device, which then sends information to another fax / modem or fax machine instead of your printer actually printing the file.