A Futuristic Digital Forensic Software Framework for Analyzing the Registry of Windows Based Systems

Today computers and the internet have become an integral part of one‟s life. However, with the increasing use of computers and the internet, comes a major problem called computer crime. There has been a considerable increase in computer crime. Digital Forensic is the buzzword for the current era that deals with the acquisition, preservation, and analysis of digital evidences. Operating system is main component of any computer which can be meticulously explored to examine computer crime. This study focuses on the windows operating system only. Windows registry is the cornerstone of windows operating system. Moreover, it acts as potential source for evidential data and thus proves to be a fertile area for crime investigation. However, the process is tedious and time consuming and cannot be dealt with manually. In order to address these issues, this paper proposes a futuristic software framework for analyzing registry of windows based systems. The proposed framework is built using Visual Basic (VB) and Windows Application Programming Interface (APIs). The proposed framework is developed as a part of Digital Forensic Tool for Windows Registry Analysis Software and it is anticipated that when completely developed, it would act as a vital component.