Masterpiece stores information to your Windows Registry. Examples of this include your Company ID and Serial Number.
It is also where Masterpiece stores information such as which configuration check boxes you have checked when printing reports.
Some information is stored in the MACHINE area of the registry and other information is stored in the USER area of the registry.
Note: You must be logged into windows as an Administrator for Masterpiece to write to the MACHINE area. For this reason, you MUST be logged in as an Administrator when running Masterpiece for the first time, or when changing system settings or company directories from within Masterpiece. You CAN use masterpiece as a non-administrator user AFTER these areas have been set up, although we suggest running as an administrator at all times if possible. This decreases the likelyhood of various aspects of the program not storing information correctly for your selections.
You should never manually change your registry unless you really understand the consequences. The system registry controls all the configuration aspects of your computer. Changing or Erasing an entry can cause your computer to become totally inoperable.
Operations that require Administrator rights include:
Starting Masterpiece the first time
Changing Data Directories
Upgrading Masterpiece
Other areas that write to the registry but do not require Administrator authority include:
Backing up Masterpiece
Running Reports
Doing Transactions
Setting Toolbar preferences.