Re: How to set a path in Win2K?

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Thomas J Hawley  on Thu, 22
Feb 2001 11:35:55 EST


> There's no need to venture into the Windows Registry (a potentially
> hazardous operation) to set the path.

It surely is potentially disastrous. No dispute there. But emphasis
on the "potential"; you'd have to do something really dumb, like erase
the %PATH% or accidentally kill some unrelated but critical key, to
suffer an unrecoverable penalty. I think there's a lot to be said for
working directly with the registry; after all, it is by deliberate
design the heart of the matter in Windows, just as CONFIG.SYS is the
heart of the matter in OS/2, and various INI files in Unix. While
pointing out the potential catastrophic dangers, nobody has ever
suggested that users shouldn't fiddle with the latter files. I think
that NOT tackling the registry directly and "getting comfortable" with
it just enlarges and validates the ignorance that Windows thrives on.
The less Windows users know, the more dangerous their interventions.
The implicit message is, Windows users aren't savvy enough, whereas
Unix|OS/2 users will manage just fine. And in fact, that's generally,
patently true -- but it isn't true for everybody. IMO, hacking the
registry is about as much fun as I'm ever likely to have with Windows,
given that the quotidian experience of simply running it affords few
highs (a good place to learn basic things that can be done to improve
Windows is http://www.jsiinc.com/TIP0000/Tip0000.htm). It's
imperative to be fully backed up and to make copies of the registry so
that you can recover from a botched edit. But gosh, there are so many
things that can't be accomplished anywhere else, e.g. forcing every
command line utility to open in full-screen session, or forcing
Windows Explorer to use "Details" view all the time instead of
displaying uninformative icons.

The biggest rule when working with the registry is, if you don't know
EXACTLY what you're doing, then don't do ANYTHING! Just poke around,
and explore. Get expert advice. Hit "Cancel" when you quit.

******************
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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