RegAnalyzer Tool to Automate Windows 7 Registry Forensics Analysis

Abstract

Use of computers for performing crimes is increasing day by day. It has become necessary for investigator to collect evidences from suspect’s computer. Windows 7 has become mainstream operating system for users and thus its forensics investigation is becoming important. One of the areas of interest is windows registry. It contains valuable information that can be helpful for the forensics analysis. Registry contains the basic information like date when Operating System installed, owner name and the advanced information such as the software and hardware devices installed on system, storage devices attached to system, services running on system, history of recently used documents and so on, which will help the analyst to decide the way of further analysis of system depending on the its environment. Though it has such valuable information it is very difficult for an analyst to manually search and analyze it to collect evidences because of its complex structure. So in this paper we presented details of Windows 7 registry, its use for forensic analysis and proposed design for a tool (RegAnalyzer) which will automate task of windows 7 registry analysis for forensics investigator so he/she can use it for the further investigation of system. Keywords: computer forensics; registry forensics; registry structure; windows 7 forensics; windows registry