Buzzzzzby

Thanks to your post I'm gonna get the update right now. However, you should anyway be able to clean whatever files/folders you like by using 'Options > Include' I think.

My sad experience (of Acronis True Image 9) is that there is a real chance that it will let you down when you most need it! No matter that you validated the image when you made it; when Windows dies and you come to restore it you get the message "This is not a True Image file or the folder is corrupted" - or something like that. You never KNOW it will work unless you actually use it to do a restore, and from my experience I wouldn't trust it to perform in a crisis even then! I'm sure it often works for some people - but when it doesn't it can leave you up merde creek without a paddle. And please don't tell me it's my imagination - there is much about the problem in forums. Also - I reckon it's easier to make an (ERUNT) Registry backup before installing and trying out a new program, then reverting the Registry back if the program fails, than doing the same thing with Acronis? Regards,

Wewpt, - I'm not sure if this is any use to you but I'll lay it out anyway. Wouldn't it be possible to make a pre-SP3 install Registry backup using ERUNT. Install SP3 Find your corrupted Registry keys (if any) using RegScanner or something similar (if they all contain $%&) and fix them. If none of it works Uninstall SP3 Reinstall the Registry backup you made using ERDNT.exe (part of ERUNT) and you'll be back to just where you started from. (with exactly the same Registry) The difference between ERUNT and RegEdit Export is that ERUNT replaces the lot whereas RegEdit just pastes back the exported copy into what's already there, creating a bit of a mess. (So I've read) If I've misunderstood what you want just ignore this. Regards,

To try to recover a bit of face here....... If you're still losing your System Restore points, but you want another excellent way of making backups of your registry on a automatic daily or 'choose when' basis, have a look at this post. You can keep the backups where you like, so they should be able to avoid any 'cleaner' programs. Regards,

Scooter B, I haven't seen any reference to your Windows type, but if it's Vista have a look at my post here. Regards,

Hi dcdivenut, You say you're running Vista, so there may be some hope here. Have a look at this page about the free 'Shadow Explorer'. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Regards,

Please disregard any references in my previous post to VISTA and System Restore points. I now see that when I installed CCleaner I had just gone and applied the same CCleaner settings in Vista as I previously had on XP and assumed it had fixed the same problem since the Restore points remained after a clean. Actually in my Vista there seems to be NO such problem to fix anyway. I find I can run CCleaner with all boxes ticked (excepting Free Space) and it doesn't delete ANY Restore points. My Vista runs perfectly with CCleaner. However, on my XP system unchecking the 'Empty Recycle Bin' DOES allow me to keep Restore points (for 3 days at the moment), but I guess that depends on the amount of available free space on the disk. However they then disappear if I use 'Wipe Free Space' with Eraser. Still looking at that. Sorry for the Vista misinformation. Just shows you shouldn't make ludicrous assumptions. So, - next time you're out on a walk and see a particularly fine example of a large horses ass, Think of, Your friend, Buzzzzzby!

To add my two ha'pence worth - This has been a problem for a long time both on my XP Toshiba and my Vista Acer machines, and yes, I do use the secure delete method. To get round it I just untick the 'Empty Recycle Bin', the 'Window Size/Location Cache' and the 'Wipe Free Space' options under 'Windows'. Under 'Applications' I have all the boxes checked. I currently have about 10 days of Restore Points available. Works for me anyway! p.s. To securely empty my Recycle Bin (or any other item I want to securely delete) I use the very good (and free) Eraser Regards,

As an update - I just tried the slim version download from the CCleaner (builds) page again, but was still unable to complete the download - However, the download from the MajorGeeks site as per Jamin4u's post was a successful trouble-free download. Thanks Jamin!

On dialup?

Well, I've tried it on Firefox, Opera and finally IE7 and none of them worked I'm afraid. I also tried the Zip portable version and got as far as 86% completed before the server was disconnected again. Tried it on my IDM download manager but then found that it (the website) had no 'Resume' facility for interrupted downloads, so that was a no-go as well! I'm in the UK by the way.

I'm having the same problem exactly (on 2 different computers but same dialup connection) which would indicate it's a problem with the website I reckon!

You mean the first CMDmnt? I'm also keen on the pocket money / beer connection (of course) but I don't mind loosening my grip on the brass now and then for a decent bit of (useful) kit. And of course the dollar's at such a favourable exchange rate at the moment!

You can still get the good old free JV16 PowerTools reg & file cleaner at OldVersion.com if anyone's interested. I favour the 1.3 version myself. (At least it used to be free. I'm not going to download it again just to check.)

Well YOU, obviously, are a far superior being who knows about these things and will one day sit at the right hand of the geek God. I was thinking more of those ordinary mortal types who may not even be sure what CMD means. Perhaps something to do with the ten CMDmnts? God only knows... - and you too of course.

Not particularly about securing programs from malware, but for securing a Laptop's info in case of theft or even a desktop's in case of burglary:- TrueCrypt I keep my personal or sensitive material in TrueCrypt encrypted folders or partitions which are open when I am using them but revert to encrypted when I want, or when I switch off. If I lose my computer I may have lost the hardware and maybe the files and work since my last backup, but that's all. No identity theft or loss of sensitive information. It's there alright, but they CAN'T read it.

I use IE7, Firefox and Opera at various times and always found it a nuisance trying to keep them synchronized, even with the various add-ons available. Thanks to reading help forums like this one I've now bought, and use daily, a great little Bookmark/Favorites manager called LinkStash It works with Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla (Firefox), NetCaptor and Opera, but it's SEPARATE from them so you don't have to worry about synchronizing all the time. To open a bookmark you can either leave it to open with whatever default browser you had set it to, or right click the bookmark to open it with a browser of your choice. Its layout is very similar to Windows Explorer with drag 'n drop, copying, sorting, highlighting etc. It's searchable too! You can download a free 30 day (full version) trial to see if you like it. Bet you WILL though! Works in all Windows except '95. To buy (after the 30 days) it does cost US$19.95 but hey, that's only about 10 quid (UK) at current exchange rates. (About 4 pints of bitter - If you don't live in London!) One of the best ten quids worths I've ever spent anyway! I was so SICK of wondering where that half remembered bookmark had gone - maybe I'd saved it in IE7, - or was it Opera? - now where the hell was it! - I DID save it didn't I? All that's finished now. - I KNOW where it is! p.s. I honestly have no connection at all to the program makers or vendors. I just love the program and think it should be better known! Please pass it on if you like it. p.p.s. I prepared this post in a note using my favourite free 'stick-it' note program "stickies"

I also used to use the WW free space washer but gave up on it when it started taking 1 second to wipe a drive and then saying it had wiped all the free space on a 5GB partition (any partition/drive). That was some time ago though. Did your WW have that fault Nick?

Did chkdsk indicate what the problem was fireryone, or did it just do an autofix?

Trouble is though that it rather defeats the object of using Recuva to 'recuva' the deleted files on drive C: I suppose! Might be a pointer to what causes the problem though? Ah well, - back to that anti-gravity machine I was working on before then! The perpetual motion machine's almost ready for market as well. If I can just work out how to STOP it ......

I've just posted this in the Bug Reporting section. Might not work for you, but then again ......

I found that a Recuva scan of my drive C: was hanging at 89% and Recuva was using all of my CPU - so I had to shut it down with Task Manager. I had reported on this months ago and others had the same problem at the time, but I saw there was an update recently so tried it again. This time however it occured to me to wipe the free space on the drive using Eraser (or SDelete) and found that it fixed the problem completely. (So far anyway.) Thought I'd post it here in case it's of any use to others. Don't know WHY it fixed it though, - or WHAT it fixed!

Thanks for that Anthony. A useful site, especially (but not only) if you're a gamer I imagine. I also liked the ten tips on Web Hosting - in case I ever do it.

That was the only error log in the Recuva folder Ron, though I was using the 048 version to scan. I've shifted the old logs out of the folder and run Recuva again a few times but it always hangs when trying to scan Drive C, though not always at the same point. It only seems to produce just the one (first) error log and no more. Anyway here it is attached. Error_Log_30_3_2007.txt Error_Log_30_3_2007.txt

I think I read somewhere that the difference between the standard WGA and the WGA Notification tool is that the latter scans your PC and sends the computer unique identifier serial number back to Microsoft so that anywhere you go your machine (and thus you) can be specifically identified no matter what ISP etc you may change to. If this is true it must be very comforting if you're a Chinese dissident or something! That's why I don't install the thing.