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I have had a blast with this. Fun and useful. And I agree...with a little bit of practice, one can get some extraordinary results. Thanks.

It's always good to hear from you Dennis, and thanks for your post. I just read the linked thread and I'll try that approach too.

First, thank you for Recuva. In one of my "stupider" moments, I deleted the entire contents of my backup USB drive last night. It contained lots of portable apps, as well as a bunch of mp3, mpeg, avi, and jpeg files. I guess the good news is that I still have additional copies (scattered among several flash drives and cd's) of many but not all of those deleted files. Being a fan of CCleaner and also being familiar with the Piriform forum, I installed Recuva. I'm not familiar with the product, and I'm nerdy enough to usually thoroughly read about an app before actually using it. But I was panicked last night and used Recuva right away via the wizard. It wasn't hard (thanks for the simplicity!). The quick scan found nothing. So I did a deeper scan and went to bed. This morning it listed over 8000 files, the vast majority of them being recoverable. I created a folder on my desktop and saved those files to it. I noticed that Recuva doesn't organize the files that it finds in the same format they were originally in when they were on my backup drive. That's okay. It's wonderful that the files were retrievable in the first place. So the task ahead of me is to go through my flash drives, cd's, and the recovered files and try to rebuild my backup drive once again to the way it was. Lesson: Buy a secondary USB backup drive and periodically backup your primary backup drive to it. I didn't realize until this morning there is a portable version of Recuva and I plan on adding it to my portable app tool flash drive. So I now want to uninstall Recuva from my system. Questions: Does simply using Windows Add or Remove Programs cleanly uninstall Recuva? Do I also need to manually delete anything from, say, Program Files? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hello tomn. You'll get opinions from both sides of the "Is registry cleaning a good idea" aisle. Here is an alternate opinion http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html. And here is an interesting, albeit somewhat lengthy, thread http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/registry-cleaner-2 My own opinion: If in doubt, don't.

Dennis, I don't want to send you on a wild goose chase with my response, because I don't know if it has any relevance whatsoever to your MS Update issue. But I had a similar experience last night with one of the updates repeatedly popping up. I don't recall what update number it was, but I do think it was related to the net framework (version 2.0 because I didn't install 3.5). Here's what I experienced. First, some background: My backup drive is always plugged into one of my usb ports and I have it configured as a forced folder in Sandboxie. I noticed that after all the updates were installed yesterday, and I rebooted, I got an alert that one of the priority updates that I just installed still needed to be installed. I also noticed that my Sandboxie icon in my system tray contained the red dots that indicated something was running in it. What was weird was that prior to the MS Update installs, my sandboxes were empty. Lastly, I noticed that the sandbox that was now active was the one with the forced folder configuration. So I deleted the contents of that sandbox, and tried to install the MS update again. Same results. I tried it a third time. Again, same results. Through trial and error, I found out that whenever that particular update was being installed, data was also being written to my backup drive. I have no clue why. And since my backup drive is identified as a forced folder, SBIE was intercepting/containing it, along with whatever data was being written to my C drive. So, as best I can surmise, the update kept being installed in the sandbox. Everytime I emptied the sandbox, that update was being removed from my system as well, hence the repeated priority update message. I ended up temporarily removing the forced folder configuration in SBIE (I guess I could have merely unplugged my backup drive instead), installed the MS update again, and haven't had any further occurrence of the priority update message. Strange, though, because when I opened my backup drive folder, I saw three or four folders that it looks like the update put in there. They were named just a bunch of numbers and they were empty. Right or wrong, I deleted them from the backup drive. Thus far, I've had no reoccurrences of the priority update message and when I go to Windows Update, it states all priority updates have been installed. Anyway, that's my story. If it helps, great. If not, then perhaps I'll just chalk it up as a Halloween mystery. Chris

Thanks Dennis. This is a very helpful post. You may recall I'm a Sandboxie user, but have been very interested in Returnil as well to complement SBIE. I like the functional simplicity that RVS seems to offer. Your post answers some questions I had about the choice of RVS options during the installation process. Like Hazelnut, I also saw your thread over at Wilders. I think I'll sit tight for now to see how things unfold with the RVS 2010 issues.

I think you guys hit the nail on the head. I've been away for a couple of days, but got back home and first gave Dial-A-Fix a try and used the Yes option that preserves the Datastore file (thanks Andavari...this looks like a nice utility ). I rebooted and the Windows Update web site still showed IE8 as being downloaded on my system. Then I copied the Datastore.edb file to a new storage drive and deleted the existing one from C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore. Windows Update no longer indicates IE8 being downloaded. I wanted to perform a final test by moving the Datastore.edb file back to its original location and then check Windows Update (it should once again indicate IE8 being downloaded), but I was unable to do so. I kept getting a file in use message. I tried to reboot, but that didn't help. All-in-all, it seems like this mystery has been solved and I appreciate everyone's help. Take care.

@Icedrake and Dennis, Thanks for the suggestion about the Update history files in the SoftwareDistribution folder. I haven't tried that. I've got a new storage drive; it seems like I could just move Datastore.edb onto it to see what happens. I'm going to be out of town for a few days again, but will give it a go when I get back. @Glenn, I searched for 'IE8' via Windows Explorer to see if the folders you mentioned were on my system, but I came up empty. It was worth a shot though. All, Your posts are most welcomed and have been very helpful! I've also put Dial-A-Fix on my flash drive and plan to learn more about it.

Yes. I rebooted in-between emptying my SoftwareDistribution\Download folder and going to the Windows Update web site. Good question, though. I appeciate it, Icedrake.

Hello folks. I appreciate the comments and input. I'm learning a lot. I went ahead and emptied the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder last night because I wanted to get rid of the IE8 download that occurred courtesy of Windows Update. (Please recall that IE8 was not installed on my system; it was only downloaded.) Then I went to the Windows Update web site but, unfortunately, it is still indicating that IE8 is downloaded onto my system. If, in fact, IE8 was downloaded into the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder, and I emptied the contents of that folder, I'm confused why Windows Update is still saying IE8 remains downloaded. Any thoughts?

Hi Dennis. Good to hear from you. I checked C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ on my system. That folder has about 110mb of data consisting of 4 sub-folders and 13 files. I'm not at all familiar with what I'm seeing as I look at that information and I'm having trouble determining which sub-folder pertains to the IE8 download. I'm worried about deleting the wrong thing...(maybe it's safe to delete everything in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download ???). There is one sub-folder in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download that has a date of 7/30/09, which is around the time that IE8 got downloaded to my system. But, when I open that sub-folder, I don't see anything that clues me in on whether it pertains to IE8. I also recall recently downloading and installing an IE7 security patch. So I'm not sure what would happen if I deleted that 7/30/09 folder and it was not the IE8 download but rather the IE7 patch...or something else. Do you have any suggestions? Also, do you mind if I PM you if I have more follow-ups?

I appreciate your suggestion abu...but IE8 is not appearing in Add/Remove Program because, as I noted, IE8 is not installed on my system. Windows Update is telling me it's downloaded on my pc, but not installed. So I'm trying to figure out where it has been downloaded to so I can remove it if I want. That's interesting. It sounds like you had the same experience as I did in that Windows unilaterally downloaded IE8 on your system as well without you giving permission. That's kind of disturbing in that the setting that I selected in my Windows Security Center says "Don't automatically download or install" updates. Thanks for highlighting that point. Are there any other suggestions regarding where I can find this downloaded IE8 on my system?

Thanks Mike and Andavari for your input. Anyone have any suggestions how I can locate the downloaded (but uninstalled) IE8 on my system in case I want to remove it?

As the title states, I'm looking for some advice. Background: I currently have IE7 on my system. I always run it sandboxed (Sandboxie) and have had zero problems. Regarding Windows updates, my settings are to notify me when updates are available, but not to download and install them. For a couple of months now, I have ignored the updates alert message that IE8 is available for download and installation. Issue: A few days ago I clicked the updates alert icon in my system tray and got the message that IE8 was now downloaded on my system and asked if I wanted to install it. I closed that message without installing it. How IE8 got downloaded is a mystery; maybe I was sleeping-walking one night and did it then. ??? Questions: 1) My hunch is Firefox is the preferred browser by most posters in this forum. But for those who use or have good knowledge of Internet Explorer, what do you think of IE8? (I'm trying to figure out if I should reconsider my reluctance to use it.) 2) If I want to keep IE7 for now, how do I remove the downloaded (but uninstalled) IE8 from my system? I don't know where to find it. I tried looking for it in Windows Explorer by searching for it by name, but was not successful. Thanks in advance.

I'll just add that I took Dennis's advice to try DVDShrink and couldn't be happier.

Hi Dennis, and thanks. I'll be away from home for a few days but will check into this when I get back. - Chris

I have a Simpletech backup drive, about three years old. Up until about a year ago, it functioned normally. The typical operation was (1) I would plug it into one of my computer's usb ports, (2) I'd get a little chime telling me my computer recognized it, (3) Autoplay would immediately kick-in and rapidly display all the files it was scanning, and then (4) I'd see it identified in My Computer as the G drive and open up the files. About a year ago, it would sporadically not be recognized by my computer when I would plug it into a USB port to backup data. What I mean is sometimes above (3) and (4) would not occur. Again, this would be an occasional thing and switching it on and off a couple of time usually corrected it. Not knowing if it helped any, I performed a check disk function on it a couple of times over these months. The problem seemed to slowly increase in frequency over the year, especially if I had it turned off for a day or longer and then turned it on to connect it with my pc. But now, over these past two days, I've been completely unable to get it to be recognized by my computer. Above (1) and (2) still occur, but (3) doesn't occur. These past two days sometimes the G drive will appear in My Computer and sometimes it won't. But if it does, clicking on it results in the following message: "G:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable." I have a sinking feeling in my gut. Is the news as bad as I think? (Edit: I should also note that I'm fairly sure my usb ports are okay. I can plug flash drives into them without any problems at all.)

Thanks for the above information. I have Automatic Updates set to notify me when updates are released. And I look at them as soon as I get the notification. This particular update notification (and for clarity purposes, I'm referring KB951847) did not appear on my system until a week or two ago. So, the disparity between the release date of 8/11/08 that you state in your email versus when the notification appeared on my system is a mystery. Thanks for the comment. I'll probaby go ahead and install it. After reading Aethec's post I got curious to see if I could figure out the reason for the delayed notification of this update on my system. So I googled the update number KB951847. FWIW, I didn't find an answer to my timing question, but came across this thread: http://www.askwoody.com/2009/net-patch-patch-patch/

I have Windows Automatic Updates set to notify me when updates are available, but not to install them. And, as most of you know, a couple of weeks ago an Microsoft issues an update described in this topic title. I've got .NET Framework 2 Service Pack 1 installed, but I'm totally unfamiliar with what this program does. So I'm in a quandry whether or not to download and install it. I checked out this site for information http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951847 but it was clear as mud to me. I also searched this forum and came up with this thread http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...=.net+framework I'd appreciate a helpful, dumbed-down definition for .NET Framework (e.g., why it's relevant...what it's used for...how necessary is it...etc.) and advice whether or not I should download and install the newest 3.5 SP1 version. Thanks in advance.

No accusation was intended. Your reputation is well-respected and regarded and I've learned important information from your many posts here. I'm only factually reporting what happened. Perhaps a false positive...although if so, it will be the first one I have had with Nod32.

Out of curiousity, I clicked on the above web link. That website contained another link titled something like click to hear defective drive sound. Moments after I clicked on that, my antivirus (Nod32) lit up and quarantined two instances of what it defined as a variant of a Win32/Nuwar worm. I was sandboxed at the time...which shut down around the same time as the quarantined messages (perhaps because Nod32 closed IE?). I'm no malware expert. I did a secure delete of the sandbox's contents (although my guess is that Nod32 removed the malware from there during the quarantine process). I removed/deleted the quarantined files. And I ran two full scans with SuperAntiSpyware and Nod32...everything came up clean. I hope nothing is lurking undetected on my system. I definitely got more than I bargained for.

Here's one link explaining how to do it with VLC. http://www.wikihow.com/Rip-a-DVD (scroll down past the section about DVD Decrypter.) There are several YouTube videos as well. The problem is they're all based on using a non-current version of VLC and, based on my efforts, the newest version (0.9) behaves differently.

Hi Dennis. I have 4 youngsters, seven years old and younger. DVD's don't seem to last long here. I buy kids movies for them and it doesn't take long for the dvd's to be damaged. So I want to be able to copy those original dvd's onto my hard drive and then burn them onto backup dvd's for the kids to use (while I keep and protect the originals). That way, I won't be hyper about how the kids are handling them and I won't be seeing money fly out the window. I've got some experience recording and editing streaming audio. But I'm new to video apps. I first became aware of VLC when I was reviewing information on Portable Apps web site. I like that VLC is portable and, presumably, doesn't write to the registry. But, as stated in my preceding post today, the new version (0.9) seems quirky and the documentation is not particularly helpful.

I recently discovered VLC and have been trying to rip dvd's to my hard drive, with little success. Googling the subject, I 've found instructions on Youtube and other sites, but they all seem to apply to a non-current version of VLC. The version I have is 0.9. Specifically, I get frequent crashes if I select Custom for my profile and then individually select entries in the Encapsulate - Video - Audio sections and then click Stream. Oddly enough, if I make no selections in those sections, then streaming seems to occur okay. But, that makes no sense to me. Can anyone tell me the procedure they follow to rip DVD's in version 0.9?

Ugh! I knew this. Just had a brain fart moment I guess! That's fine. My style of not immediately downloading and installing new versions of software isn't necessarily because I'm skeptical of the stability of the upgraded product. For me, I just figure "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"...at least, not immediately.