Windows 10 offered us the “Windows as a service” model that is characterized by a series of software updates and a growing list of the operating system’s features. However, there are still some parts of the system like some of the Windows applications and components that is still kept as it is no matter for so many years. For instance, WordPad, this application was not even altered for one bit until the release of the Windows 7 OS in 2009, while Microsoft Paint did not get any remodeling until just recently with the introduction of the Paint 3D.
And of course there still some parts of Windows seems untouched no matter how many updates have passed. One of these parts is the Font Manager from Windows 3.1 which was even passed on to the release of Windows Vista that promised its users to be a major update of Windows during that time.
And of course another part of Windows that is long overdue for overhaul is the Registry Editor which is the one responsible for each applications, system modifications and hardware driver on Windows 10. All through the years nothing changed about the Registry until the Windows 10 update. Though the change is quite subtle but is still very much a breath of fresh air for its users. This subtle change in your computer’s Registry is about a faster way to navigate on it through the help of the Address bar. To find out more about the subtle change in the Registry Editor, continue reading the article.
Quickly Navigate the Windows Registry Using the Address Bar
Navigating the Registry Editor can really get hard and confusing sometimes not to mention dangerous for most users especially if they don’t have the complete grasp in using the Registry properly. That’s why Windows finally revamped this part of the Registry to make it easier for its users to navigate the registry. So if you have to make necessary changes to your Registry, all you have to do to find a key or a value is to use the new address bar courtesy of Windows 10.
And now all you have to do is to type in or paste the path of the key or value to find it and then press Enter. After that, you will be effortlessly redirected to that registry key or value. Now we will compare the Registry navigation between the old and new way of navigating the registry.
Before Windows 10:
Before the Windows 10 update, version 1703, exploring the registry can be a bit difficult as stated earlier. For instance you want to go to the following path:
HKEY _ LOCAL _ MACHINE \SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT \CurrentVersion
The first thing you have to do when using the old version of Windows, is to look for the key name by clicking the plus icon to expand the key and then start drilling down until you are able to find the key you are looking for.
After Windows 10:
With the new change in your Registry all you have to do is to type in or copy and paste the path of the key or value in to the address bar to locate it, after that press Enter.

Now that’s what you call a subtle change with a big difference. However, there are still some parts of the Registry Editor that has to be modified, such as using the Address Bar for a universal search to make it even easier to locate registry paths. Nevertheless, the new address bar is just the start of the more changes to come to improve not just the Registry Editor but all parts of the operating system.