I don't use System Restore. I use ERUNT. And I would've spent half the
time that I spent getting rid of the scumware adjusting settings, etc.
anyway.
No kind of a restore or backup is going to return things exactly as they
were unless you set a Restore Point or make a registry backup *right* before
you do something stupid. ;-)
Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html
Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm
NTREGOPT NT Registry Optimizer
ERUNT The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
Direct download links (the zip files just need unzipping and dropping on the
drive. {Thank you, Jim}
http://aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip
http://aumha.org/downloads/ntregopt.zip
ERUNT [[Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to
make a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole
registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is
saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current
registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is
merged with the current registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of
old and new registry keys.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.he...runt/erunt.txt
NTREGOPT [[Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based
system can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.
The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.
Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.]]
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.he...t/ntregopt.txt
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
In ,
Tonyo UK hunted and pecked:
As a rank amateur, I find this fascinating. I would have thought you would
have created a System Restore Point beforehand. For my money, System
Restore is one of the greatest achievements of XP. Surely that would have
saved you a great deal of time.
"Wesley Vogel" wrote:
The only time I ever got any spyware was when I downloaded a FREE DVD
encoder program. Yea, I read the EULA, but I thought that I was smarter
than they were. It took me an afternoon to get rid of everything. What
really made mad was that the DVD encoder program never even worked. ;-)
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
In ,
WTC hunted and pecked:
I have 4 as well, the last time they ever caught any positives was when
I installed the programs. Also, I use IE for everything since I believe
I have secured it properly. Also I am sitting behind a NAT router which
protects me by dropping unrequested packets.
--
William Crawford
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
"Wesley Vogel" wrote in message
...
I happen to have four anti-spyware programs.
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
In ,
D. Spencer Hines hunted and pecked:
Do you honestly expect folks to install at least FIVE different
Anti-Spyware programs, keep them updated, monitor them and constantly
tweak each one as required?
DSH
"Shenan Stanley" wrote in message
...
[...]
There is no one software that cleans and immunizes you against
everything. Antivirus software - you only needed one. Firewall,
you only needed one. AntiSpyware - you will need several. I have
a list and I recommend you use at least the first five.
First - make sure you have NOT installed "Rogue AntiSpyware". There
are
people out there who created AntiSpyware products that actually
install spyware of their own! You need to avoid these:
Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm
Also, you can always visit this site..
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
For more updated information.
Install the first five of these: (Install, Run, Update, Scan with..)
(If you already have one or more - uninstall them and download the
LATEST version from the page given!)
Lavasoft AdAware (Free and up)
http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/atdn )
Spybot Search and Destroy (Free!)
http://www.safer-networking.net/en/download/index.html
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/atdk )
Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner (Free!)
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate3 )
SpywareBlaster (Free!)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate6 )
IE-SPYAD2 (Free!)
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate7 )
CWShredder Stand-Alone (Free!)
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract..._download.html
Hijack This! (Free!)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
(Log Analyzer: http://hjt.iamnotageek.com/ )
ToolbarCop (Free!)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm
Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Microsoft AntiSpyware BETA (in testing stages - Free!)
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...ware/software/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/fqur )
Browser Security Tests (Free Tester)
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/
Popup Tester (Free Tester)
http://www.popuptest.com/
The Cleaner (~$49.95 and up)
http://www.moosoft.com/