Registry edit required to get some software to work.

Hi,
One of our software providers has instructed us to make some changes to our Win 8 PC's registry to get the software to work properly. They have sent me details of what changes are required:

• Open Windows Registry Editor (Regedit)
• Right click HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - click PERMISSIONS - click ADVANCED
• Click/Check: REPLACE ALL CHILD OBJECT PERMISSION ENTRIES WITH INHERITABLE PERMISSION ENTRIES FROM THIS OBJECT
• Double click the entries: USERS, CREATOR and ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES
• For each entry:
  • TYPE: Select Allow
  • Applies to: Select This key and subkeys
  • Click/Check: Full control and Read
  • Click OK on Entry detail screen
• Click OK on Entries list screen

I know very little about Windows Registry other than not to touch it. These changes seem quite extreme. Can someone tell me what they are basically doing?
The software company is being a little coy. I just want to understand what I am doing.

Any assistance appreciated.

Thanks

Hi there

IMO the SOFTWARE providers should do all this in their install setup. The only time you should have to make registry changes should be for an emergency fix and even then they should be able to send you a .reg file which will do it automatically.

I'd be very loathe to purchase software from someone who relies on the END USER to make registry edits -- if you make a mistake you can easily hose up a system.

Cheers
jimbo

Thanks Jimbo. I'm inclined to agree with you. We have had a long relationship with this company. It's recently changed hands though and the new management seem to have an "interesting" way of doing business. My concern is not so much for getting me to make the changes, its a more a case that the changes seem to be quite generic along the lines of granting all users full control of the computer.

Basically the changes grant all users full control over the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key and all of it's subkeys and values. Normally only Administrators and the SYSTEM account are granted that level of access. This by no means full control over the computer but far more than is needed or desirable. "Extreme" is an appropriate description. On a computer with non-admin users a better one would be "Dangerous"