Here is the Difference.
If the Application was Written or Designed to Make use of Values in the Registry
then Editing these values is Not HACKING, even if these values are not exposed in some control Panel
or not Documented in the user manual.
But they are intended by the design of the application to be available and used when needed.
If you are using a low level editor such as a Hex Editor, and you are Making Changes to the Applications Binary Code
That is Hacking.
Even the OS, was Designed to use Registry values that Don't normally exist.
Often KB articles will Instruct you to ADD a new registry Key and set it's value.
updates might be made to the OS to enable use of new Registry Keys.
Then Instructions on how to Add and enable them are made.
That is Not Hacking.
If the OS was not Coded to use that Registry Key in the First place.
then It would never know what to do with the new Key you just added.
The OS was written with the Intent that at some time, that registry value would be used.
You Didn't Hack the OS, you just edited the registry to enable a Setting.
Maybe it is because as I stated a few posts back
that over time the Definition of Hacking has become so loosely defined, that
it's no longer clear to many today.
I know the Difference between Hacking and Editing a setting.
And making a registry edit, is NOT hacking.
Telling members that you need to HACK the registry,
just adds to the ***** mongering that already exists surrounding
the registry.
If Instead of all these values being in the registry,
and they were in a Configuration File in the Data folder,
Would you still call it hacking if Instructed to
Use Notepad, Open the configuration file and edit the Path?