Registry Live Watch is a freeware, portable app to monitor user-defined registry keys for changes.

Registry Live Watch has been around for years. It goes back so far that it wasn't tested on Windows 8, even. We did check it on Windows 10, and it ran flawlessly.

Understanding the registry is essentially a requirement here. If HKEY_LOCAL_MachineSoftware means nothing to you, then you won't be able to make sense of Registry Live Watch.

Otherwise, for a niche registry monitoring app, it's got plenty of features. You will start by deleting the root key, then the specific key. Next, you can decide to watch for changes on the keys, values, security, or all.

You can then decide on an event action. You can write it to a log file, pop up a message, or execute a program. Should you want to run an app, you can browse to the executable you want.

Once that's all setup, large icons are available to Start Monitor, Clear Log, Save Log, Tray, About, and Exit.

We were able to test it by entering SoftwareGoogle and running Google Chrome. As seen in the third screenshot below, Registry Live Watch detected Chrome, notified us, and logged the action.

We admit to not recalling a need for this type of app, but for those who do, it's well thought out, portable and free.