When - and why - should you store data in the Windows Registry?

Question

As a developer, tools that store configuration/options in the registry are the bane of my life. I can\'t easily track changes to those options, can\'t easily port them from

Answer 1

(late to the discussion but) Short Answer: Group Policy.

If your customer's IT department wants to enforce settings related to Windows or the component(s) you're writing or bundling in, such as a link speed, or a custom error message, or a database server to connect to, this is still typically done via Group Policy, which makes its ultimate manifestation as settings stored in the registry. Such policies are enforced from the time Windows starts up or the user logs in.

There are tools to create custom ADMX templates that can map your components' settings to registry locations, and give the administrator a common interface to enforce policies (s)he needs to enforce while showing them only those settings that are meaningful to enforce this way.