When you use an administrative tool to change the configuration of a system feature or service, the change usually takes effect immediately or soon thereafter.
However, if you make the same change by editing the registry, you might need to log off and log on again, restart the service, or restart Windows 2000.
In general, if you change the value of any entry in the CurrentControlSet subkey, you must restart the computer for the changes to take effect. Also, if you use a registry editor to change values for most entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, you must log off and log on again for the changes to take effect.
When a change to the value of an entry is not immediate, the description of the entry contains an Activation Method field which describes what you need to do to make the change effective.