Used reg backup, tried to restore, pc all messed up

[CindyM]

Hello. I used CC to check my registry for errors yesterday. I clicked fix all the errors it found. I did the back up, saved in my documents. I had major problems after cleaning the registry, couldn't even boot up, Norton Internet Security became invalid, unable to use system restore, many other problems. I tried to restore the back up, got the file from your site to allow extension to be recognized in XP, and when I went to import the saved reg. file to the registry, here is what I got:

 

C:\\ all the stuff for file placement\CC_Registry_backup\cc_20090512_081006.reg:Not all data was successfully written to the registry-some keys are open by the system or other processes. I desperately need help, my computer is now having one error after another, still cannot get NIS to open when I restart my computer, last known configuration doesn't work, was able to do system restore, but it took about 30 tries and a lot of time, and going through safe mode to do so, and I lost a lot of stuff from my computer that shouldn't have changed by doing a restore. I don't know what to do, will someone please help me? Thank you for your time.

 

Cindy

[unclebic]

Hello. I used CC to check my registry for errors yesterday. I clicked fix all the errors it found. I did the back up, saved in my documents. I had major problems after cleaning the registry, couldn't even boot up, Norton Internet Security became invalid, unable to use system restore, many other problems. I tried to restore the back up, got the file from your site to allow extension to be recognized in XP, and when I went to import the saved reg. file to the registry, here is what I got:

 

C:\\ all the stuff for file placement\CC_Registry_backup\cc_20090512_081006.reg:Not all data was successfully written to the registry-some keys are open by the system or other processes. I desperately need help, my computer is now having one error after another, still cannot get NIS to open when I restart my computer, last known configuration doesn't work, was able to do system restore, but it took about 30 tries and a lot of time, and going through safe mode to do so, and I lost a lot of stuff from my computer that shouldn't have changed by doing a restore. I don't know what to do, will someone please help me? Thank you for your time.

 

Cindy

 

My first suggestion would be to remove the Norton, I am biased against Norton as I used to work for a shop that sold it and it was a piece of junk with many complaints. That being said, even if I thought it was a good product, I would still say the same thing. If you are able to use the Windows or CCleaner utility to start the Norton uninstaller then try using that and reboot then use the Norton removal tool - Norton Removal Tool (SymNRT) 2009.0.5.26 which you can find the latest version at MajorGeeks.com http://majorgeeks.com/Norton_Removal_Tool_SymNRT_d4749.html to clean up most of the rest of the stuff left behind that the uninstaller leaves behind. That should leave you with your system clean enough to install another antivirus like AVG Free or AVAST if you want a good FREE antivirus, or get NOD32 from ESET if you want the best AV.

 

I am not one of the folks who write code for CCleaner, and I do love this utility, but the latest version has had some issues(my money is still on Norton screwing something up). If your system is still having problems after you have removed the Norton, then unfortunately, I would suggest that you back up your data and reload from scratch so you have a clean system, this is not a bad idea every so often anyway. Then when you reload CCleaner go back to version 2.17, skip the 2.19 version, and wait until a version 2.20 comes out.

 

As for the NIS (Norton Internet Security), good surfing habits and a router, are much better protection than NIS. Once you have taken some action, would you please let us know the outcome? This is a very good forum and even if I can not find your solution there is a good chance someone else can.

[CindyM]

My first suggestion would be to remove the Norton, I am biased against Norton as I used to work for a shop that sold it and it was a piece of junk with many complaints. That being said, even if I thought it was a good product, I would still say the same thing. If you are able to use the Windows or CCleaner utility to start the Norton uninstaller then try using that and reboot then use the Norton removal tool - Norton Removal Tool (SymNRT) 2009.0.5.26 which you can find the latest version at MajorGeeks.com http://majorgeeks.com/Norton_Removal_Tool_SymNRT_d4749.html to clean up most of the rest of the stuff left behind that the uninstaller leaves behind. That should leave you with your system clean enough to install another antivirus like AVG Free or AVAST if you want a good FREE antivirus, or get NOD32 from ESET if you want the best AV.

 

I am not one of the folks who write code for CCleaner, and I do love this utility, but the latest version has had some issues(my money is still on Norton screwing something up). If your system is still having problems after you have removed the Norton, then unfortunately, I would suggest that you back up your data and reload from scratch so you have a clean system, this is not a bad idea every so often anyway. Then when you reload CCleaner go back to version 2.17, skip the 2.19 version, and wait until a version 2.20 comes out.

 

As for the NIS (Norton Internet Security), good surfing habits and a router, are much better protection than NIS. Once you have taken some action, would you please let us know the outcome? This is a very good forum and even if I can not find your solution there is a good chance someone else can.

 

 

Hi Vic,

 

Thank you so much for writing back. I got home from work late and had to walk our 3 dogs, and I have no great love for Norton, so it can go. It's funny that you said something about the latest version of CCleaner, I had just done the update before I ran the registry checker. Norton is no longer having a problem, but my computer just isn't running right. I will do a back up and clean install, but I have a question. A year or so ago I had some malware and when I finally got rid of it, it took with it some of the components to different things on the pc that I would like back, such as the fax monitor on my windows fax, and my networking sector is missing some stuff, to name a couple. The last time I did a back up I used Nero and sent everything to an external hard drive. When I installed everything back, I installed the messed up items along with what I wanted. Maybe I don't really understand how to back up just the programs that I want. I also lost all my email from Outlook 2007, I don't want that to happen again because I store important veterinary correspondence there. I know you all are busy solving problems, but could you recommend a good informative site to tell me how to back up, so that I don't create a nightmare for myself? There must be a file somewhere with all the EULA agreements in it because I lost a lot of software that I had to dig out and redo, but the worst part of that was losing what I had stored in particular programs, for instance, all my recent papers done for my second trip back through college. Thank you again for your time and help.

 

Cindy

[unclebic]

Hi Vic,

 

Thank you so much for writing back. I got home from work late and had to walk our 3 dogs, and I have no great love for Norton, so it can go. It's funny that you said something about the latest version of CCleaner, I had just done the update before I ran the registry checker. Norton is no longer having a problem, but my computer just isn't running right. I will do a back up and clean install, but I have a question. A year or so ago I had some malware and when I finally got rid of it, it took with it some of the components to different things on the pc that I would like back, such as the fax monitor on my windows fax, and my networking sector is missing some stuff, to name a couple. The last time I did a back up I used Nero and sent everything to an external hard drive. When I installed everything back, I installed the messed up items along with what I wanted. Maybe I don't really understand how to back up just the programs that I want. I also lost all my email from Outlook 2007, I don't want that to happen again because I store important veterinary correspondence there. I know you all are busy solving problems, but could you recommend a good informative site to tell me how to back up, so that I don't create a nightmare for myself? There must be a file somewhere with all the EULA agreements in it because I lost a lot of software that I had to dig out and redo, but the worst part of that was losing what I had stored in particular programs, for instance, all my recent papers done for my second trip back through college. Thank you again for your time and help.

 

Cindy

 

I don't mind helping when I can, and I also do this as a job so I have set up a ton of links on my site just for this stuff, like direct links for the service packs to knock out the updates faster. I will probably create a new page with the info below and possibly more detail later, but for now if you have any more questions, post back here. And if you really get in trouble, my phone and email are listed on my site. The links from my site mostly point to MajorGeeks.com and CNet / Download.com, with a few others, and some of the files I host myself.

 

For the backups I LOVE a little program called Cobian Backup. This is an excellent full featured backup program and it is FREE.

 

By default Cobian Backup is set to NOT compress anything. Meaning that you can simply browse through the files you backed up (but you can use compression if you have to). There are a few settings I change in the Options in Cobian Backup - Under "Visuals" check the boxes for "Show percent in the progress bars" and probably the "Show grid" and Un-check the "Show welcome screen". Under "Functionality" Un-check" the "Confirm running tasks manually". Under "Engine" you may want the "Use several methods for copy" - I would NOT use the "Copy NTFS permissions" to avoid any password or permission problems when you go to copy your data back. For the initial "Full" backup when you are creating a new task, Un-check the "Create separated backups using timestamps", but once you are back up with your clean install you may well want to use this and have multiple full copies of your data.

 

Now on to the backup(s). I am going to base this as if you have plenty of space and that you do not have any malware on your system now. I will try to give the same info for both XP or Vista. Very few programs can just simply be transferred so those will have to be reinstalled separately, and you will want to make note of any serial numbers you need and settings you have changed, for example your email.

 

1. Backup the entire Documents and Settings for XP and Users for Vista - I always get this and not just the current user files just in case. This will get all of your documents, downloads, music etc.. Also your Outlook .pst file(s), Firefox profiles, and many other settings.

2. You may have some programs that have saved data in their own program folders instead of a folder or file in the "My Documents" or "Users" folders. You will have to determine where the data lives. Just to be on the safe side I would backup the program folders of anything to do with money such as TaxCut, Turbo Tax, Money, or Quicken, and any of the family tree type of programs. All of these programs, if they are current versions, save their data the "right" way but if you are using an old enough version or have upgraded for years, Quicken is one that may have saved the data in the program folder. If you have the space you can simply back it all up, and sort it out later.

3. Any folders or files you may have saved in "C:" or whatever root directory Windows is installed on.

4. Use a free program called Double Driver to backup the drivers you are using now. This is not a fool-proof way to get your hardware working again after the clean install, but it will probably get most of what you want.

5. Use Belarc Advisor to get a lot of the info about your system and print it out. This will get you a lot of your serial numbers and info about your hardware.

 

When backing up using Cobian Backup, you will see the log file having some errors about not being able to backup some files. There are going to be some that are "in use" and not able to backup, but I have not seen any that were needed later. Usually they are files like NTUser.dat and other NT files. These are reinstalled by default by Windows. You will want to scan the logs to double check to see if there is anything that would not copy and that you really do want. If there are some, make sure you do not have them open, in fact make sure you have as few items open as possible.

 

After the backup -

If you get the option, I usually recommend creating multiple partitions or using multiple hard drives. This way you can install Windows on the first partition and then put your data on the second. Once you get Windows installed you can right click on "My Computer" choose properties and then "move" your "My Documents" to the other location. I do NOT recommend moving the location to an external hard drive, because if that drive loses power Windows will freak out (I know that's kinda technical...). The reason for installing this way, is that if Windows gets messed up, you can reinstall without having to do anything with your data since it is not in the same partition.

 

Links -

Backup utilities -

https://www.viclovan.com/downloads2new.htm#Backup

After the Windows reinstall -

https://www.viclovan.com/how_to.htm

[CindyM]

Wow, you are terrific! I'm sorry I should have said that I have XP Media Edition, which is pro as you know. It's an HP Pavilion a1430n, dual AMD CPU, 3800 + 1.80 GHz, pretty fast, 250 GB hard drive came installed, capacity 4 GB ram, I have 3 installed, 2 identical 1 GB, and the 1 GB that came with in 2- 512 KBs. I bought it in 2006, so it's old news by today's standards, but it works for me.

 

I really appreciate all your help, you are very kind to have taken the time to send me all the instructions I could possibly need! I will do this after work over the weekend, and let you know how it worked out, which I'm sure will be fine, because you even gave me the free software to help. The hard drive still has 232 GB available, and I am looking forward to having this thing running well again. Thank you so much, I can't wait to get started.

 

Cindy

[Alan_B]

A simple solution to the original problem of not booting should be SYSTEM RESTORE.

 

In principle if you revert the system state to a date preceding disaster, Windows SHOULD be mended.

 

N.B. Windows may make a mistake and fail to recognise as CRITICAL something it will need for booting up,

and it may ignore any modifications to non-M.S. applications.

 

I use and recommend ERUNT.

For my system it spends about 6 seconds during boot-up make a complete image of the registry.

I think it uses less than 20% CPU during this time, i.e. if it does delay the start-up it is too small an increase for me to notice.

It gives me peace of mind - I know that no matter how severely trashed the registry may be, I only need to launch the ERUNT recovery operation and wait for the computer to reboot with this morning's working registry.

 

You need to install and setup ERUNT before any future disaster.

It cannot correct any pre-existing problem.

 

Regards

Alan

[Andavari]

To learn about backing stuff up etc., read this thread written by Rorschach112 for advice and software links:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=20214