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Setting a maximum size for the registry

The maximum size of the registry is 102 MB, which is 80 percent of the paged pool. The paged pool is an area of physical memory used for system data that can be written to disk when not in use. The paged pool has a maximum capacity of 128 MB - thus, 80 percent of that is 102 MB.

You can create a registry entry for the maximum size by going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control and selecting New | DWORD Value from the Edit menu and providing the name RegistrySizeLimit. (By default, this entry is not created.) Double-click the new entry, enter a value in bytes, and choose Decimal as the type. If no entry is entered, the maximum size is 25 percent of the paged pool. Keep in mind that since the RegistrySizeLimit is not an allocation of space, setting a high value will not ensure that the space will be reserved or available.

Note: Remember that editing your registry can be risky; always have a verified backup before you begin.