Why PCs Are Fragile and What We Can Do About It: A Study of Windows Registry Problems

Software configuration problems are a major sourceof failures in computer systems. In this paper, we presenta new framework for categorizing configurationproblems. We apply this categorization to WindowsRegistry-related problems obtained from variousinternal as well as external sources. Althoughinfrequent, Registry-related problems are difficult todiagnose and repair. Consequently they frustrate theusers. We classify problems based on their manifestationand the scope of impact to gain useful insights into howproblems affect users and why PCs are fragile. We thendescribe techniques to identify and eliminate suchRegistry failures. We propose health predicatemonitoring for detecting known problems, fault injectionfor improving application robustness, and accessprotection mechanisms for preventing fragility problems.