Patent ID: 7194625

Claim:
A method to detect tampering with registry settings in a computer, comprising: generating by an application program running in the computer a user identity value associated with a user identity that is authorized to change a system registry of the computer, the user identity value is generated by a one-way function; storing the user identity value; generating by the application program a registry security value associated with said system registry each time a system registry setting is changed within the application by an authorized user, the registry security value is generated by a one-way function; storing the registry security value; when reading from the system registry, generating a new registry security value, comparing the new registry security value with the stored registry security value and allowing processing to continue if the new registry security value is equal to the stored registry security value; and when monitoring the system registry for attempts to change the system registry, (1) prompting for user identity information and generating a new user identity value and comparing it with the stored user identity value, and (2) generating a new registry security value and comparing it with the stored registry security value, and if both of the new values match the stored values then allowing the user to make changes to the system registry.