Backing Out and Backing Up

[zapatero]

I have not used CCleaner for a very long time, and I want to be super cautious. I have read (I think) all of the CC documentation and cannot find specifically a way to back out of cleanings that CC makes -- in case something is removed that I hadn't anticipated or understood the consequences of.

 

I am familiar with setting System Restore points. To what degree, (if at all), would this precaution permit me to back out of cleanings? (I am not yet talking about registry cleaning -- I realize that this is a more serious feature of CC, and will attend to that later.)

 

Thank you very much.

[Andavari]

System Restore Points would mostly just undo any registry changes that the Cleaner and Registry buttons make. As for reversing physical file changes it would be very limited.

 

Also do not rely soley upon System Restore to save you from something as it can often fail which is why we often recommend the freeware tool ERUNT to backup the registry.

[zapatero]

Thank you for your reply, Andavari.

 

Could you please check your ERUNT link for me? I have tried it many times and only receive error messages.

[nodles]

Could you please check your ERUNT link for me? I have tried it many times and only receive error messages.

Works fine with Firefox 13.0.1 / Win7 64bit. No error messages.

[Guest Keatah]

The first time I used CCleaner and made all kinds of additions to winapp2.ini and my own custom directories I wiped out more than half of my disk's contents!!

 

Prior to beginning my experiments I had completely imaged the disk. So making everything right was little trouble. It was quite funny if you can find that sort of thing humorous.

[Nergal]

ERUNT site opens fine for me. are you running any ad-blocking or site blocking software? are you in a country or on a Network that controls it's access?

[Andavari]

Could you please check your ERUNT link for me? I have tried it many times and only receive error messages.

 

Mirror Download Sites:

* http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Registry-Tweak/Erunt-g.shtml

* http://www.snapfiles.com/get/erunt.html

* http://erunt.en.softonic.com/

* http://majorgeeks.com/Erunt_d1267.html

[zapatero]

Thank you for all of your replies folks!

 

Andavari: strangely, I was able to access all four of your mirror sites, but I still cannot access the original!

I did, though, find the reviews of ERUNT at those sites to be very positive and informative. There was a lot of agreement with you that Windows System Restore is not its equal.

 

Mirror Download Sites:

* http://www.softpedia...k/Erunt-g.shtml

* http://www.snapfiles.../get/erunt.html

* http://erunt.en.softonic.com/

* http://majorgeeks.com/Erunt_d1267.html

 

Nergal: I am not aware of any ad-blocking or site blocking software, by name; but I am running McAfee and Windows Defender. Further, I am in Thailand, that I have heard controls some explicit access, but ERUNT appears pretty clean to me. Coincidentally, I am having the same problem now with another site that I had been using for years (for buying vitamins!, no less). Having never experienced this sort of thing before, who would you recommend that I talk to?

 

ERUNT site opens fine for me. are you running any ad-blocking or site blocking software? are you in a country or on a Network that controls it's access?

 

Keatah: That's a pretty strong endorsement for using ERINT,

How are you feeling about CCleaner now? Is CCleaner, with pre-ERUNT backup, a pretty safe bet?

 

The first time I used CCleaner and made all kinds of additions to winapp2.ini and my own custom directories I wiped out more than half of my disk's contents!!

Prior to beginning my experiments I had completely imaged the disk. So making everything right was little trouble. It was quite funny if you can find that sort of thing humorous.

[Guest Keatah]

Keatah: That's a pretty strong endorsement for using ERINT,

How are you feeling about CCleaner now? Is CCleaner, with pre-ERUNT backup, a pretty safe bet?

 

It is not an endorsement for ERUNT. It is an endorsement for complete system backups. O/S, applications, user data, all of it.

 

 

To answer your questions:

 

1- "How are you feeling about CCleaner now?"

 

I've been using CCleaner since the late Windows98 and early XP days. Today, I don't think a better and more versatile program exists. http://forum.pirifor...showtopic=36256

 

Cleaning programs of any kind can go through and blow up your system in an instant if you make mistakes. They can zero out a disk or delete every single file on the drive. The kind of mistake I made would not have been saved by ERUNT alone. Definitely not. There were files missing, and ERUNT only protects the registry. A tiny part of any system. The only genuine protection you can get against this kind of user error would be a full disk image or some sort of rollback system monitor that sits outside of windows and below it.

 

It's not a big deal since I was doing a lot of customization and simply hit the wrong directories. The typical user won't encounter this problem unless they're modding winapp2.ini or "INCLUDING" additional directories and files they clearly shouldn't.

 

The amount of (temporary) data my system generates can be several GB at the end of the week, scattered among 50+ directories. Some programs are just plain sloppy, especially niche non-commercial custom applications.

 

 

2- Is CCleaner, with pre-ERUNT backup, a pretty safe bet?

 

Against any inadvertent Registry changes, sure, why not? Against aggressive registry cleaners and optimizers. Yep.

Against any file deletions or other o/s damage? Hardly. Absolutely not. And not because of CCleaner or ERUNT's function(s) or any of that.

 

Understand that the system Registry is only part of your system. There are thousands of files of all types scattered all over on the drive. ERUNT only protects the Registry. What about the other data files and system files? What happens if you blow them up?

 

Again, the only true protection against data loss and system failure is full-disk image backup of your system. And perhaps using a file sync program to grab all your personal & user data. The whole point of backups is to have a 2nd copy of your information away from the computer. Available at the ready in case of disaster. Every computer should have some sort of backup of the important information it processes.

[Alan_B]

ERUNT will only backup your registry, so is of little use if you do not clean the registry.

 

ERUNT will really help if you clean the registry and recognise a disaster quick enough.

 

If you do NOT recognise a disaster for a month (until you use a crippled application) :-

Using Windows Restore Point may solve it, with possible side-effects ;

Using CCleaner registry backups may solve it ;

Using ERUNT WILL solve it, with possible side-effects.

SIDE-EFFECTS :-

Both ERUNT and System Restore will undo any registry changes that occurred between causing and recognizing the disaster,

and this may damage any Microsoft Updates and any Applications you installed or updated during this period of time.

 

The only sure way to recover from any disaster is to use a partition or disc image backup.

I use Macrium Reflect ;

Easeus ToDo is also good ;

Both are available free, and both have extra conveniences when purchased.

 

Personally I have NEVER used an image backup to recover from any use of CCleaner,

BUT every other month since moving from XP to Windows 7 I have had disasters that made my computer unusable until I restored a backup image.

Each time was due to a Microsoft Security update that I NEVER PERMITTED,

and they crashed through because I had not yet found how to control the updates - it was so much easier with XP.

I am happy to say that after the second disaster I got it nailed.

 

I fear Microsoft updates far more than I fear "third party" malware

[Andavari]

Coincidentally, I am having the same problem now with another site that I had been using for years...

 

Possibly your ISP or country is blocking access to those websites, or you could have malware on your computer.

* If it's your ISP calling their tech support could give you the answer if they're blocking certain websites and why.

* If it's your country some people use Proxy software to get around it, but it could be illegal to do that where you live so check local and country laws.

* If it's malware related view this topic.

[zapatero]

Thank you ALL, you have given me lots of very welcome insights -- which I am continuing to digest.

 

I have my Thai ISP pursuing those inaccessible websites. I will report back if there is anything of interest.

 

Thank you again!!!

[Guest Keatah]

Don't fret the whole thing. Make regular backups (everyone should) and just clean off the regular junk that accumulates over time. This means mostly temporary files. CCleaner has been around for years and does a fine job right out of the box.

[login123]

Andavari's link doesn't work for me either, even though it's the first one up on Google.

The four mirror sites do. Running win xp, ie8.

[Andavari]

That's because the site is now dead! So have to use the mirrors instead!

 

Edit: Now the ERUNT site works again. Gremlins?

Edited July 18, 2012 by Andavari

[zapatero]

Belatedly, I have a couple of thoughts and questions. (I'm the OP).

 

Based upon all of your endorsements, links and leads, I have installed CCleaner and Erunt.

 

First, in response to your endorsements for Erunt, I would like to note that I have just acquired first-hand experience that, as you have indicated, Windows System Restore is not reliable. Unfortunately, I did not yet have Erunt running, and out of necessity did a System Restore to correct a bad installation. It didn't. So then I did an Undo(?) of the Restore, hoping that the system would at least be returned to its former faulty state. Well, in that process it also lost several of my earlier programs! Fortunately, I did have a clone backup of my disk, so all was preserved; but I now have Erunt up and running. I do hope that if/when I ever need it, that I will be able to make it work satisfactorily. But confirming your experiences, I am now done with Windows System Restore!

 

Second, re CCleaner, I remember from long ago how well it worked. But I am amazed now just how much stuff it does clean out. I am really puzzled by something though. The main reason that I became re-interested in CCleaner was to get rid of cookies. I have an amazing count of some 500 cookies in there! After separating out the "cookies to keep", and running CC, I find that the next time I run my browser, practically all of them reappear. Does this seem credible? As a possible answer, I am running Opera, with 6 - 10 windows open that I always look at, so I just leave them open. Each window has half a dozen or more tabs active. So that amounts to 50 - 80 URLs that are accessed when I open Opera. But does it seem reasonable that I would get hit with 500 cookies from a single access of 80 URLs? What are your thoughts?

 

Thank you very much

[Andavari]

I am now done with Windows System Restore!

 

After separating out the "cookies to keep", and running CC, I find that the next time I run my browser, practically all of them reappear. Does this seem credible?

 

You misunderstood me, I was not making an endorsement to abandon System Restore and not use it, not at all. System Restore can really save you from a disaster in a short amount of time when it works correctly. ERUNT is just for backing up and restoring the registry with the ability to restore the registry outside of Windows either via the Recovery Console in WinXP systems, or via boot CDs like BartPE - however it can do absolutely nothing if you have some physical file problems on your system.

 

As for your cookies, you must need some ad blocking software and a HOSTS file to keep advertising sites, and tracking sites from putting their junk on your system.

 

A HOSTS files which will block most junk (ads, cookies, malware, etc):

* MVPS.org - http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

 

As for an ad blocker in Opera I don't know which would be good because I haven't used Opera very much in the past few years, someone who does use it can give a proper recommendation.

[zapatero]

Thank you, Andavari,

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding. My understanding, (please correct me if I am wrong), is that both System Restore and ERUNT perform nominally the same function; however ERUNT is (supposedly, from the reviews), more comprehensive. (Again, please correct me if wrong.) Thus, I am having trouble understanding why ERUNT should not be favored.

 

But further, from my perspective, your italics, ("when it works correctly") presents the real concern. I have just cited two cases where it didn't work correctly -- however, suppose that I had innocently presumed that it did work correctly, and then later suffered the consequences(?) From my perspective, I just don't have the expertise to make the a priori judgement whether it worked correctly. I guess, bottom line, my thought is that I cannot envision a case where I would prefer to use System Restore over ERUNT. But I will be happy to listen.

 

Secondly, wow! I've never heard of such a thing as the HOSTS file. But your link, and others drilled down, certainly appear to be what I need. The list of parasites included in the MVPS file is nothing less than shocking! I'm forced to ask myself, "just who's computer am I using, anyway?" Well, anyway, I fully intend to pursue this. Before I start modifying things though, I would appreciate any insights as to traps and pitfalls that I might expect to step into.

 

Thank you very much,

[Alan_B]

System Restore is intended to restore both the Registry keys and values that Windows Explorer cannot show you,

and also the "System Files" which Windows Explorer is able to show - assume that System and Hidden files are un-hidden.

System Restore should keep the files and the keys synchronized to whatever point you choose.

Unfortunately it cannot be depended upon to distinguish between which are "System Files" and which are "User Files",

and C:\Documents and Settings\ is an unholy mish-mash which Windows itself cannot understand - the Firefox cache always confused Windows.

 

Erunt is a quicker and more certain way of restoring registry keys and values, but does nothing for files.

 

If you install an application, or if you update any application, or if a Windows Update strikes,

Then using System Restore is intended to "put back the clock" and cancel out ALL the changes,

But an ERUNT backup will only cancel registry changes and will leave you in an even worse muddle.

[Andavari]

Before I start modifying things though, I would appreciate any insights as to traps and pitfalls that I might expect to step into.

 

The only problem a parasite blocking HOSTS file could ever cause you is blocking of a site that you may not deem a nuisance such as; one site in particular (not going to mention their name or URL) will feed videos and ads through the ad server/tracking company DoubleClick, but DoubleClick is a major parasite in my opinion, and any site such as a video site that insists upon you enabling the view of ads can be replaced with a good alternative site/service.

 

I found out in Opera you can use Fanboy's Adblock List for Opera, put that together with a HOSTS file and webpages will load faster, be cleaner looking, and won't be able to track you as easily.