First off, welcome to WinCustomize! Glad you're here.

Now then, every program you install, file you create, choices for how programs run and when they do is recorded in the Windows registry. It has to work that way or you wouldn't be able to start, stop or change programs and your computer wouldn't know where to find them.

Stardock's programs behave in the same way every program does. During installation, registry keys are installed and changed. However, Stardock has no registry editor included, never did, and won't screw up your registry...therefore, look at that W11 hack you dl'd and for Gd's sake make a backup of your registry and system if you decide to muck about with the registry, which you really shouldn't do if you don't know what you're doing.

Glad you could recover from your...adventure.

Here's a link which might help: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-back-up-the-windows-registry-2625146

Oh, interesting I had no idea. Thanks for explaining that to me because now I feel totally safe to redownload it again.

What I downloaded had said "We mess with the registry so proceed with caution!" and I, not knowing what the hell the registry was, figured that was fine. And it had said to do a backup, which I did!, but it wouldn't work when I tried to restore it. Only after did I start reading EVERYWHERE how stupid it is to mess with the registry. So lesson learned. I guess I just needed to make sure I wasn't downloading something like what I described because they said it was for very technical advanced computer users, which is clearly not me. 

Very curious about the Registry Hack you used kb349248.

I am a Beta Tester for Themes and have to make changes to the registry all the time. I agree with the others, the registry is not for newbies but anyone can learn how to use it to your advantage.

kellyb.

Have you ever thought about making a backup using say Macrium reflect, it only takes about 10 minutes and makes a complete backup of anything and everything on your primary Hard Drive (mistakes and all). So make a backup(before you start) and learn a little about what registry keys you can use and those you should not, at least this way you will always be able to load the backup in less than 10 mins should something go wrong, it is like a complete copy, passwords, bookmarks, settings, even replicating any other file on your desktop too, just make sure you make the backup first, they say we can learn from our mistakes, and this is true, with a recent backup, making mistakes will not hurt as much while you are learning.

That is why i said working within the registry is not for newbies, that is a given considering the damage a peep can do if they do not know what they are doing.

Small SSDs are low price these days so adding another can leave the Primary drive untouched and allow the first steps into the registry without worrying about doing harm to your daily use machine.