empty folder

[Doc]

Thanks, that will be handy. Since you use it, how do you keep track of
them like Karen mentioned?

Mike Sa

Look here .... http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/regback1.html

Copy and paste of the procedure follows. This works very well for me,
first on Win98FE, now on WinME.

<quote>
Making Additional Backup Copies Of Your Registry

The mechanism that Windows uses to control Scanreg is amazingly simple.
It's just a plain text file called SCANREG.INI which you can easily edit
with Notepad. When you run Scanreg, it first checks in this file to see
if
you've customized any of the available parameters such as the maximum
number of backup copies, or where the copies are stored. To view and edit
SCANREG.INI, simply click once on a blank spot on the Desktop Taskbar and
press F3. Type SCANREG.INI in the Named: box, and type C:\WINDOWS in the
Look in: box. Click Find Now and in a moment, when you see the file in
the
window simply double click it to launch it in Notepad. The standard
version
of SCANREG.INI should read something like this:

;
; Scanreg.ini for making system backups.
;

;Registry backup is skipped altogether if this is set to 0
Backup=1

;Registry automatic optimization is skipped if this is set to 0
Optimize=1

ScanregVersion=0.0001
MaxBackupCopies=5 [We recommend changing this number to 14]

;Backup directory where the cabs are stored is
; <windir>\sysbckup by default. Value below overrides it.
; It must be a full path. ex. c:\tmp\backup
;
BackupDirectory=

; Additional system files to backup into cab as follows:
; Filenames are separated by ','
; dir code can be:
; 10 : windir (ex. c:\windows)
; 11 : system dir (ex. c:\windows\system)
; 30 : boot dir (ex. c:\)
; 31 : boot host dir (ex. c:\)
;
;Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3
;Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3

Prudent computing dictates that a back up copy of SCANREG.INI should be
saved in C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP before you begin your editing session. Once
this is done, change the value for MaxBackupCopies= from 5 to 14. Save
and
close SCANREG.INI. Now you're ready for the next step.

When you practiced restoring your Registry in DOS as described above, you
probably noticed that only four copies of the Registry are available to
SCANREG. Even if you create more backup copies of your Registry as
suggested above, you will only be able to access four of those copies.
What's more, SCANREG will seemingly randomly choose any four copies. The
obvious drawback is that you don't have access to all your carefully
stored
copies. What if you need one of the copies that SCANREG has not made
available to you for restoration? Not to worry, we have a solution.

Bobstur's Batch File

A very knowledgeable friend and all around swell guy, Bob Sturtevant,
created a very crafty batch file which gives you more control over
restoring the Registry. This batch file overcomes the serious limitations
of SCANREG by making many more backup copies of the Registry easily and
readily available. To look at it here you might think it is complicated,
but in fact it's designed to be remarkably simple to use. We've made it
available to you here in two formats: As text you can copy and paste into
a plain
text (Notepad) file and then save with the name CABREST.BAT in your root
directory.

Or you can download a zipped copy of the batch file. Save it in a folder
on your
hard drive. After the download is finished, unzip it to your root
directory.

Either way, once it's in the root directory just leave it there and
forget about
it until you need it.


A few preliminary notes:

You will see a table which will allow you to select which CAB file to
restore from. So, for example, to restore from rb009.cab, you look at the
table and see 09 corresponds to the letter J. You type the J and NOT the
number.
This batch file assumes that your CAB files are stored in the default
location, C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP and that your Windows directory is C:
\WINDOWS. If you have your Windows installation on another partition or
located in some other directory then please edit the batch file
accordingly.
Take a quick look in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP directory and make sure
that
you currently only have CAB files in the range rb000.cab to rb014.cab.
(Note: rb means Registry Backup.) If there are any other additional rb-
CABs
move them somewhere else.
The program must be run from real mode DOS (Command Prompt Only) and will
intentionally abort if Windows is running.
Note in that CTRL-C will stop the program at any point, and you'll also
be
asked one last time if you want to restore the files.
About the only thing you could do wrong would be to restore an older
backup
when you didn't want to, but then you could just run the program again
and
restore the correct one, so don't worry if you're unsure which CAB to
restore.
Having made those points clear, it's time to take a look at Cabrest.bat:

cls
@echo ***Registry Restore by RLS***
@echo Revised 7/19/01a
@echo.
@echo This program will restore system.dat, user.dat, win.ini and
@echo system.ini files from the backup CAB file you select.
@echo It will create a C:\Windows\Temp3 directory and put the
@echo extracted files there. If this directory already exists,
@echo it will delete all files in it first.
@echo.
@echo ***Ctrl-C will stop the program at any time***
@echo.
@echo DO NOT RUN THIS WITH WINDOWS OPEN!
@echo.
@echo off
if not "%windir%"=="" goto WINDIR
choice /c:YQ Continue (Y) or quit (Q) ?...
if errorlevel 2 goto quit
smartdrv 8192 8192
cls
@echo Here are the files to choose from starting with most recent:
@echo off
DIR C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\*.cab /O:-D
@echo For the "XY" in RB0XY.cab, find the matching letter. (Ctrl-C to
quit)
@echo 00 A 05 F 10 K
@echo 01 B 06 G 11 L
@echo 02 C 07 H 12 M
@echo 03 D 08 I 13 N
@echo 04 E 09 J 14 O
choice /c:ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO Enter the letter for the "XY" you want.

if errorlevel 1 set num=00
if errorlevel 2 set num=01
if errorlevel 3 set num=02
if errorlevel 4 set num=03
if errorlevel 5 set num=04
if errorlevel 6 set num=05
if errorlevel 7 set num=06
if errorlevel 8 set num=07
if errorlevel 9 set num=08
if errorlevel 10 set num=09
if errorlevel 11 set num=10
if errorlevel 12 set num=11
if errorlevel 13 set num=12
if errorlevel 14 set num=13
if errorlevel 15 set num=14

@echo off
if not exist c:\windows\temp3 mkdir c:\windows\temp3
deltree /y c:\windows\temp3\*.*
extract /L c:\windows\temp3\ C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\rb0%num%.cab user.dat
extract /L c:\windows\temp3\ C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\rb0%num%.cab system.dat
extract /L c:\windows\temp3\ C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\rb0%num%.cab win.ini
extract /L c:\windows\temp3\ C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\rb0%num%.cab system.ini
@echo.
choice /c:YQ Last chance - restore the extracted files (Y) or quit
(Q)?...
if errorlevel 2 goto quit
cls
@echo off
attrib c:\windows\temp3\user.dat -r -s -h
attrib c:\windows\temp3\system.dat -r -s -h
attrib c:\windows\user.dat -r -s -h
attrib c:\windows\system.dat -r -s -h
copy c:\windows\temp3\user.dat c:\windows
copy c:\windows\temp3\system.dat c:\windows
attrib c:\windows\user.dat +r +s +h
attrib c:\windows\system.dat +r +s +h
copy c:\windows\temp3\system.ini c:\windows
copy c:\windows\temp3\win.ini c:\windows

@echo.
@echo Files were successfully restored from RB0%num%.cab
@echo Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete to reboot.
@echo.
goto end
:WINDIR
@echo Oops! YOU have Windows open.
@echo.
@echo Files were not restored.
@echo.
goto end
:quit
@echo Files were not restored. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete to reboot or
@echo enter 'cabrest' again to start over.
@echo.
:end


That's it. Simple, no? Once in your root directory just boot into pure
DOS
and simply type CABREST and hit ENTER. The rest is cake.

And For You Die-Hard Windows 95 Users

Unfortunately none of this will work in Windows 95, unless you use our
Special PC911 Registry Backup & Restore Upgrade Tool Kit for Windows 95.
We've assembled all the files needed to enable you to use Windows 98
tools
for backup and restoration of your Windows 95 Registry. Actually it's
very
simple, just a matter of copying some files and then running one REG
file,
so there's no reason not to do it. There are just six easy steps:

Download the Special PC911 Registry Backup & Restore Upgrade Tool Kit for
Windows 95 to an empty temporary directory.
Unzip the contents of the archive into the same temporary directory.
Copy SCANREG.INI and SCANREGW.EXE to your Windows directory (usually C:
\WINDOWS).
Copy SCANREG.EXE to your C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND directory.
Copy CABREST.BAT to your root directory.
Double click SCANREGW.REG to merge the required information into your
Registry. You may now delete the temporary directory along with all the
files contained within.
The next time you reboot, SCANREGW will run invisibly in the background
when your desktop appears; it will backup your Registry and then
disappear.
It will continue to do this, invisibly, once each calendar day. Of
course,
you will be able to backup and restore your Windows 95 Registry files
exactly as described in the article above for Windows 98.

<end-quote>

 

[omega]

To be safe, maybe users of old versions of Windows should stick to old
utilities and avoid anything with "XP" in the name.

http://www.theorica.net/faq.htm

General
|
| Did Theorica Software test all of Windows versions?
|
| No, Many of Theorica Software's applications are native 32 bit.
| and developed under Windows 98 and XP. These are tested with all
| versions of Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP.
|
| What does "XP" means in SafeXP, GameXP etc.?
|
| XP is abbreviation of "Extreme Programming" that is a discipline
| of software development based on values of simplicity, communication,
| feedback, and courage.

 

[omega]

I'm sure it's getting harder and harder for Freeware authors to compromise
and maintain compatibility between current and legacy versions of Windows.

We all know of your fixation on your little XP chants, Bob, but you are
ranting on in entirely the wrong context, thoroughly blind, avoiding the
issues.

[1]

Upon mere launch, no action at all taken, the program wrote all over
the registry. Keys for software and services not existing on the system.

It is totally irrelevant at that point whether an affected system did
or did not in fact have MS Office and Messenger, or any other of those
programs involved which you seem to imagine to be part of XP.

There is not excuse whatsoever here. It is sloppy programming, and it
is not excusable.

[2]

Upon what should have been only a safe action, without consequence,
of "save my system settings" followed by "restore my system settings,"
the program committed a horrific mess in changes.

Created a flurry of keys, and now values too, for software not even on the
system. Just because you, Bob, might have keys for MS Outlook version 8, 9,
10, for which it created keys, that does not mean that you are right to
imagine that those are XP-not-98 keys. That is not OS related.

It created a bunch of subkeys and values under the \Services\ key.
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\] In your earlier post, Bob,
you make the severely wrong statement that 98 systems do not have this
key. We do have it, and it is a very crucial key, and it's one not to
let get screwed with by sloppy programmers, not if we want to be able
to boot without problems. The mess it created here was awful.

It made a great deal of changes under the policies key in explorer
(affects startmenu items, and other things). Changes it made here
affect both 98 and XP.

It wiped out my local .HTA keys. I run local HTA files, and do not
appreciate that simply launching this bad software made it think it had
rights to remove my abilities to launch my files. Once again, Bob. The
filetype, CLSID, etc, keys for HTA, they are not OS specific.

SafeXP wrote a great many things involving MS Media Player. I don't run
the thing, did not look at what all it was trying to do to me there, tho
did see it was trying to take away things like MRU. The version of Media
Player I have installed is 7.0, and I don't need to many changes to it,
even if I did run it.

However, if I wanted to change settings for Media Player, and if I wanted
to use a "tweaker" program to do so, then I would expect to be able to
read what changes, with a program that can recognize what Media Player
version is involved, and then choose that action with a positive command,
"Yes change these Media Player settings." This was totally not the case.
SafeXP merely went in and dumped a bunch of writes into Media Player keys,
as a side-effect of its total buginess, and not as a requested command

It made a great deal of changes to MSIE internet zones. Again, Bob, these
keys are on both 98 and XP. It did terrible things to my default internet
zone. Turning on active scripting, active-x control downloads, the whole
nasty business. It did these awful things, entirely unexpectedly, and
without a single note or log of its own.

I'm sure there are lots of compromises in a program to make it work
on both XP and 98 registries.

I log programs constantly, have for years. Fortunately most programmers
know the basics of writing to the registry, reading for which keys exist.
More importantly, not go in and make system-wide changes when not asked.

This safeXP thing acts as if it's basically a compiled set of registry keys,
which it just dumps out. Fully lacking any ability to read the registry
first, or to wait for user command on anything.

It is totally dim, to sit here and purport that the programming issues I've
described have a thing to do with 98 v XP.

 

[omega]

You speak as though the survival of mankind is at stake. You need to get a
life outside the binary world, Karen.

I speak as though acf is the place for users to provide their experience
and knowledge with software to each other. You jump in to attack me for
having shared the damage done by a bad program. Due to your inability to
deal with the facts of the matter, having never logged the program yourself,
you try to whip around with a "GET A LIFE" flame. For my having posted about
freeware in a freeware forum, and where you started arguing.

If it will make you feel better, I take full responsibility for my 7/10
rating. If anyone is killed or maimed by SafeXP, you can hold me personally
responsible.

I don't see how anyone can take recommendations from you seriously, if
it concerns system utilities.

Meanwhile, by registry is JUST FINE.

The only item within your knowledge is whether your computer fell down,
or not. You have no logs. No logs from what occurred before versus after
he first and subsequent times you used the program. And you have proved
here, you have no grasp at all of how programs are expected to interact
with the registry. Instead you substitute your old standby, your
one-track "modern OS" singsonging.

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=BBQ=AB?=]

It is sloppy programming

Thanks for posting all the details which make this such a clearly
correct conclusion.

 

[ms]

Look here .... http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/regback1.html

Copy and paste of the procedure follows. This works very well for me,
first on Win98FE, now on WinME.

<quote>
Making Additional Backup Copies Of Your Registry

snip
Many thanks, Doc. I saved it for future use, because today I downloaded the final
X-Setup, ran it through all the steps, and it has a setting for number of backups!
I set it to 7 to start, will find out in the next few days how it works. If
not, now I have your method. After all those steps, hitting Restart was
interesting on my old P166, but it seems to work fine.

That link you mentioned is good data.

Mike Sa

 

[omega]

X-Setup also adds registry entries.

X-Setup does not create empty keys upon launch. X-setup create and changes
values, within specific keys, upon request. You read about a particular
settings, say "Apply," then have it do a write. It supports full logging,
full undo, for each and every one of the registry changes which the user
has selectively chosen to apply.

How you can mix a program that operates as does X-Setup, with the buggy
disaster of that other thing, it demonstrates that this is outside your
range. Stick with editors, or graphics programs, or something else, Bob.
Or, go back to your endless arguments with Aaron, where you rail on about
what a safe browser you consider Internet Explorer to be.

 

[omega]

Thanks for posting all the details which make this such a clearly
correct conclusion.

Thanks to you, and to Bambam's note, at least I can feel that the time
and effort wasn't entirely for naught.

 

[omega]

I opened the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ key in RegEditPlus. The list
of folders in the left panel- I'm not familiar with them to say something has been
added. I planned to list the folders here for your comment, but how to do it?

You'd choose the export command, for a selected registry key. Then you could
review it independently in a text editor.

It's a good idea to change your default action on .reg files, to make them
automatically open in a chosen editor. For the action to merge them, leave
that only as a context command. (There are also a couple of standalone reg
file viewers, which give hierarchical display of exported .reg files. But
I don't think you really would have need for those at this time.)

As to going over that particular key, it wouldn't work out. It is machine-
specific in many parts. The low level drivers, services, hardware, a lot
of items that are tricky and technical, and which are interbound with some
special files on drive C. I would not be able to help you edit that key;
and especially, I urge you not to make any changes to it.

 

[omega]

[w98 reg backup]

But for your question, how to get more frequent backups. The "scanregw/
autorun" routine, its rules are to back up the registry once per day or
once per boot, whichever is longer. [...]
There's an array of available scheduler utilities... Do you already run any
schedulers? If so, then it'd be choosing a reg backup command that could
then be entered in with them.

I'll look into the above, I shut down each evening, cold boot each morning.

Then the scanregw /autorun in your startup should serve, for the daily
backup. As to the extravagant batch file Doc posted, for maintaining a
more extensive set of rb*.cab backups, I haven't tried it. My most common
approach to dealing with the rb*cab files, it's been to just casually
point-click over to them in explorer on occasion. Sort by date. Delete
a few (for instance when they're close together in time, and were done
when I knew there were no significant changes to my system). Also, to
archive a couple of them, on occasion.

 

[omega]

How do you choose which ones to store? IIRC, a reg cab even a week old can be
somewhat risky to run because things have changed.

It's far less risky than booting into a registry that had been trashed
during the previous week.

Another advantage to having a set of long-term backups, it's not for purpose
of loading them as active registry, but instead to be able to extract from
those saved files, certain regkeys which you have found to have got whacked
out.

There are a couple of freeware utilities by MiteC <http://www.mitec.cz/>
which can load static hive files (in w98, that's user.dat and system.dat,
which are the main contents of the rb*.cabs), and that can be used to
extract given keys as .reg files. To then import into active registry.

For instance, that time when I had the bad result with the component in
Optix having wiped out one or two things from my startmenu items, the way
I was able to get a fix was by retrieving the explorer policies key from
a backup. I did that by loading an old user.dat file up with a standalone
utility, and retrieving my earlier key, as it existed before Optix. I did
not want to revert my entire registry, only get back the one key.

Not that you want to do this kind of thing casually. You only want to
edit the sections of the registry that you are familiar with. As a rule
of thumb, you are generally okay messing with HKCU\. Especially those
regular software prefs keys that are not within the Microsoft branch.
And, corollary rule of thumb, serious caution on HKLM\.

 

[MLC]

_»Q«_, domenica 28/nov/2004:

Thanks for posting all the details which make this such a clearly
correct conclusion.

Thanks a lot from me too: reading your articles saved me from troubles many
times.

 

[omega]

Thanks a lot from me too: reading your articles saved me from troubles many
times.

Your note is very appreciated, Maria, thank you.

 

[ms]

It's far less risky than booting into a registry that had been trashed
during the previous week.

Another advantage to having a set of long-term backups, it's not for purpose
of loading them as active registry, but instead to be able to extract from
those saved files, certain regkeys which you have found to have got whacked
out.

There are a couple of freeware utilities by MiteC <http://www.mitec.cz/>
which can load static hive files (in w98, that's user.dat and system.dat,
which are the main contents of the rb*.cabs), and that can be used to
extract given keys as .reg files. To then import into active registry.

For instance, that time when I had the bad result with the component in
Optix having wiped out one or two things from my startmenu items, the way
I was able to get a fix was by retrieving the explorer policies key from
a backup. I did that by loading an old user.dat file up with a standalone
utility, and retrieving my earlier key, as it existed before Optix. I did
not want to revert my entire registry, only get back the one key.

Not that you want to do this kind of thing casually. You only want to
edit the sections of the registry that you are familiar with. As a rule
of thumb, you are generally okay messing with HKCU\. Especially those
regular software prefs keys that are not within the Microsoft branch.
And, corollary rule of thumb, serious caution on HKLM\.

Thanks for the 3 recent posts, it always takes me a little time to "digest" the
data due to bad sleep.

It's interesting that the answer on the MS windows newsgroup was exactly what you
said, and that from 2 knowledgeable people- Alan Edwards and PCR, maybe you are
familiar with them.

Many thanks for helping me out of the mess caused by SafeXP in W98, and you have
alerted many others about the hazards. I agree totally with your comment about
programs that have hidden serious programming problems.

And those links to MS scanreg articles were good. As always with the MS Knowledge
Base, it took a while, but I saved a lot of data to analyze.

I just yesterday ran a new install of the latest X-Setup 6.6, works fine, still ha
many useful settings for W98SE.

I will work on this starting processing delay issue and post back. I know we have
to end this thread soon, don't want to set a record!

Mike Sa

 

[ms]

As seen in other posts in the OT part of this thread, Karen has halped me out of a
real mess in W98 caused by using SafeXP that the author labeled as "safe" for 98.

Looks like her advice has helped others, too.

Thanks, Karen.

Mike Sa

 

[Bob Adkins]

| Did Theorica Software test all of Windows versions?
|
| No, Many of Theorica Software's applications are native 32 bit.
| and developed under Windows 98 and XP. These are tested with all
| versions of Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP.
|
| What does "XP" means in SafeXP, GameXP etc.?
|
| XP is abbreviation of "Extreme Programming" that is a discipline
| of software development based on values of simplicity, communication,
| feedback, and courage.

If you ask the author SPECIFIC questions, he will tell you there are
compromises. By this I mean there are XP registry entries that have no
function in Win9X.

-- Bob

 

[Bob Adkins]

I speak as though acf is the place for users to provide their experience
and knowledge with software to each other. You jump in to attack me for
having shared the damage done by a bad program. Due to your inability to
deal with the facts of the matter, having never logged the program yourself,
you try to whip around with a "GET A LIFE" flame. For my having posted about
freeware in a freeware forum, and where you started arguing.

It wasn't meant to be a flame. It was meant to remind you that Karen is not
the center of the software universe, nor am I. Look, Karen, I do appreciate
your opinion and your deep research. I read your report with interest and
learned from it.

All I'm saying is that SafeXP caused NO HARM to my registry. It caused GRAVE
AND IRREPAIRABLE HARM to your registry. The facts are probably somewhere in
between, but I'll not be spending hours digging into my registry just to
prove someone wrong.

I would guess there are 1000's of satisfied SafeXP users, and a few dozen
that are suspicious of it. That should tell you something.

I don't see how anyone can take recommendations from you seriously, if
it concerns system utilities.

I don't expect them to. I think the people here are smart enough to know
that all information given here is PERSONAL OPINION, and should be weighed
and filtered with their own knowledge. You need to give others a little
credit for being able to think Karen. Karen and Bob can't do it for them.

I don't think your hair-on-fire scare tactics are a good alternative to my
admittedly more casual approach. That's just my stupid, worthless personal
opinion.

The only item within your knowledge is whether your computer fell down,
or not. You have no logs. No logs from what occurred before versus after
he first and subsequent times you used the program. And you have proved
here, you have no grasp at all of how programs are expected to interact
with the registry. Instead you substitute your old standby, your
one-track "modern OS" singsonging.

Yea, because I use no logs, I don't know beans, do I? That's right Karen, go
into full condescension mode and say that anyone who disagrees with Karen is
an idiot. Doesn't bother me! It disappoints me a bit that someone I admire
goes totally ballistic on me. But, on the bright side, maybe you'll be OK in
a day or 2.

-- Bob

 

[Bob Adkins]

We all know of your fixation on your little XP chants, Bob, but you are
ranting on in entirely the wrong context, thoroughly blind, avoiding the
issues.

What's this???

Wow...

-- Bob

 

[Bob Adkins]

X-Setup does not create empty keys upon launch. X-setup create and changes
values, within specific keys, upon request. You read about a particular
settings, say "Apply," then have it do a write. It supports full logging,
full undo, for each and every one of the registry changes which the user
has selectively chosen to apply.

How you can mix a program that operates as does X-Setup, with the buggy
disaster of that other thing, it demonstrates that this is outside your
range. Stick with editors, or graphics programs, or something else, Bob.
Or, go back to your endless arguments with Aaron, where you rail on about
what a safe browser you consider Internet Explorer to be.

Wow...

It's like standing back and watching a full volcanic eruption. Truly
awesome! I'm speechless! The power of nature is too great for my feeble
words to describe.

I'll just stand back and watch in awe, because nothing can be done.
Volcanoes have to run their natural course.

-- Bob

 

[jo]

I would guess there are 1000's of satisfied SafeXP users, and a few dozen
that are suspicious of it. That should tell you something.

This is what is known as 'spurious reasoning'.
It is on a par with: eat shit; 100 million flies can't be wrong