Fried My Registry

[Michael E. Zehr]

This program fried my registry and cost me $110 in
computer repairs. When I ran the program the next thing
I know I lose my IP address, my Norton AntiVirus shuts
down, my MS Calendar no longer works and my system ran
fine until I downloaded and ran this beta program. I
highly recommend that if you are a novice, avoid this
program because you will end up spending money to get
your machine fixed because it removed vital registry
information for me and like I said, I had to take it to a
repair shop to get it fixed, two hours labor. I should
get my computer back on Thursday, Jan 13, in the meantime
I am stuck using my son's computer. Has anyone else
experienced these problems? I wish I could contact MS
with a bug report and a bill but I am sure that when I
installed it there was a disclaimer saying MS was not
responsible if the program fries your registry.

 

[Steve Walker - NG]

This program fried my registry and cost me $110 in
computer repairs. When I ran the program the next thing
I know I lose my IP address, my Norton AntiVirus shuts
down, my MS Calendar no longer works and my system ran
fine until I downloaded and ran this beta program. I
highly recommend that if you are a novice, avoid this
program because you will end up spending money to get
your machine fixed because it removed vital registry
information for me and like I said, I had to take it to a
repair shop to get it fixed, two hours labor. I should
get my computer back on Thursday, Jan 13, in the meantime
I am stuck using my son's computer. Has anyone else
experienced these problems? I wish I could contact MS
with a bug report and a bill but I am sure that when I
installed it there was a disclaimer saying MS was not
responsible if the program fries your registry.

Hmmm,

If you read the EULA and disclaimer you will notice that Microsoft recomends
that you DO NOT install software onto a primary machine and that it should
only be used for testing. Data loss and the inability to boot are primary
reasons that you should not install anything that is not considered release
quality onto a machine you either need or rely on.

Most beta testers (with clues) install on clean hardware / software after
taking a machine image with ghost or whatever and then use that to restore
from should things get messed up. Or the other way that is getting to be
quiet handy is using a VM (VPC) and installing under that. Allows the
software to be tested and rolled back with just a few keypresses.

This NG has been full of reports about people who have hosed thier installed
Windows. It should have been consulted before installing. Thus saving time
and money later on.

Something about being forewarned ....

Regards,

Steve

 

[Estrela]

-----Original Message-----
This program fried my registry and cost me $110 in
computer repairs. When I ran the program the next thing
I know I lose my IP address, my Norton AntiVirus shuts
down, my MS Calendar no longer works and my system ran
fine until I downloaded and ran this beta program. I
highly recommend that if you are a novice, avoid this
program because you will end up spending money to get
your machine fixed because it removed vital registry
information for me and like I said, I had to take it to a
repair shop to get it fixed, two hours labor. I should
get my computer back on Thursday, Jan 13, in the meantime
I am stuck using my son's computer. Has anyone else
experienced these problems? I wish I could contact MS
with a bug report and a bill but I am sure that when I
installed it there was a disclaimer saying MS was not
responsible if the program fries your registry.
.
Sir,

What OS are you running on your system?
Estrela

 

[Brad]

-----Original Message-----



Hmmm,

If you read the EULA and disclaimer you will notice that Microsoft recomends
that you DO NOT install software onto a primary machine and that it should
only be used for testing. Data loss and the inability to boot are primary
reasons that you should not install anything that is not considered release
quality onto a machine you either need or rely on.

Most beta testers (with clues) install on clean hardware / software after
taking a machine image with ghost or whatever and then use that to restore
from should things get messed up. Or the other way that is getting to be
quiet handy is using a VM (VPC) and installing under that. Allows the
software to be tested and rolled back with just a few keypresses.

This NG has been full of reports about people who have hosed thier installed
Windows. It should have been consulted before installing. Thus saving time
and money later on.

Something about being forewarned ....

Regards,

Steve


.

I am in the process of reading this newsgroup, as Steve
suggests, BEFORE installing the beta version. This is
the best advice so far. Although I have heard very good
things about this software, there seem to be enough
problems with it to deter me from trying it at this
time. I will wait for a final release. It is not
something I cannot live without!

Cheers,
Brad

 

[John]

Michael,

Yes there was a disclaimer. Also, in the IT world, the word BETA is very
important to note. That usually signals that some people are going to
experience mental anguish because the program is still in a development
stage that can cause problems.

HOWEVER:

A good backup is always advised because your hard disk can die or your power
can glitch or a component on your motherboard can blow and you will still
have the same results.

I ALWAYS recommend for every home computer user I help:

1. Make sure you have a backup and that you know that backup will work.
There are several easy backup mechanisms available today to help you save
yourself from unnecessary loss.

2. Use an uninterruptible power supply, NOT JUST A SURGE PROTECTOR. A UPS
can be purchased at any store that sells PCs for about $50 to $100 for an
adequate model. This will protect your PC from the bad power most residents
sufffer with. It is not uncommon to see home voltage in the US fluctuate
between 95 and 125 volts. Appliances might not complain but PCs will not
like that for very long before you have a problem.

This beta incident should serve as a wake up call that you are not ready to
suffer a real catastrophe.


John

 

[Guest]

Sounds fishy, either you had something already wrong with
your machine or this is a bogus post. Beta versions of
software can cause problems but yours just doesn't fit the
bill even if it was defective. I downloaded it and it
works fine, in addition it made a back up of you registry
when you installed it so how can it have caused any
damage. Again, the symptoms don't fit the bill of what
even a bad spyware program can do and we would have seen
more widespread posts.

 

[skip y]

Michael,

If you have to pay someone to restore your operating
system and software - you shouldn't be running Beta
software - the whole idea of Beta testing is to find the
bugs, so far I've had no problems on my end.

IMHO

 

[Jim Nugent]

I wish I could contact MS
with a bug report and a bill but I am sure that when I
installed it there was a disclaimer saying MS was not
responsible if the program fries your registry.

That would probably be correct since it is a beta version. The beta testers
are expected to shake out the last few bugs. When you install the beta
version of a product, you are expected to understand that it may have
problems and be prepared to deal with them. I suppose it could be argued
that novices should not be beta testers.

I've installed it on 4 machines with no such problems.