Extracted from the "Rationale" section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry 1) Since file parsing i

Extracted from the "Rationale" section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry 1) Since file parsing is done much more efficiently with a binary format, it may be read from or written to more quickly than a text INI file. 2) Strongly typed data can be stored in the registry, as opposed to the text information stored in .INI files. 3) Because user-based registry settings are loaded from a user-specific path rather than from a read-only system location, the registry allows multiple users to share the same machine, and also allows programs to work for less privileged users. 4) Backup and restoration is also simplified as the registry can be accessed over a network connection for remote management/support, 5) It offers improved system integrity with features such as atomic updates. These points are mostly bogus IMO, but apparently this was their initial rationale for implementing it.