You may think you don’t, but you do – figuratively speaking. It doesn’t have 8 tentacles or live in the water. It’s your registry.

So, what is a registry and what is a Blue Ringed Octopus? As I’ve discussed before, the registry is basically a database where programs (especially Windows) can put various settings.

When I was a kid, nobody (apart from Marine Biologists it seems) had heard of a Blue Ringed Octopus, hereafter referred to as a BRO, but not the sort of bro you’d like to have. I remember the day well. It was a hot summer Saturday. The news reported that some young kid was playing in a rock pool by the ocean when he suddenly and mysteriously, convulsed and died. That kid had found a BRO. Not just found it, but pulled it out of the water and ‘played’ with it. An angry BRO, is a nasty beastie. They are relatively small and would easily fit in the palm of your hand. When they are antagonised they show their characteristic blue rings on the surface of their body. These rings are small (only about 5mm’s or ¼” in diameter and electric blue. Kinda pretty actually. Pretty but deadly. They carry a fatal neurotoxin. Suddenly, everybody in Australia had a quick biology lesson and learned new respect for small creatures.

What has that to do with the registry? Poke at the registry enough without being very careful (and sometimes even while being extremely careful) can get you bitten and your pc becomes unbootable. While many tweaks, fixes and good things can come of manipulating the registry, it can backfire too. Microsoft often issues software fixes that require registry changes but always issue a warning that bad things can happen, and of course if they do, you can be in real strife.

If you want to poke around with a Blue Ringed Octopus, or the registry, be REALLY careful.