[PL] 2004 VOTE DISCUSSION: SYSTEM UTILITIES

[Susan Bugher]

[PL] 2004 VOTE DISCUSSION: SYSTEM UTILITIES

http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/PL2004SYSTEMUTILITIES.htm

Please review the capabilities of all the programs on this list before
posting an objection to the exclusion of a program. The list is
separated into subcategories to make it easier to read. Many
subcategories overlap to a greater or lesser degree.

Many of you have greater knowledge of the programs on this page than I
do. Comments are welcome.

Susan

----------

Rain (Cpu Cooler) 9 (won)

Memtest86 (Memory Tester) 8 (won)

MotherBoard Monitor (MBM) (Motherboard Monitor) 14 (won)

Process Explorer (Process Monitor) 16 (won)
Filemon (Process Monitor) 15 (won)
Another Task Manager (ATM) (Process Monitor) 10 (won)
PRCView (Process Monitor) 8 (out)

MemLoad (Process Monitor: Memory) 8 (won)
RAMpage (Process Monitor: Memory) 7 (out)

RegMon (Process Monitor: Registry) 13 (won)

Quick Resource (Process Monitor: Resources) 8 (won)

Start-Up Monitor (Process Monitor: Start-Up) 14 (won)
WinPatrol (Process Monitor: Start-Up) 10 (won)

IEradicator (Cleaner-Remove IE) 14 (won)

DLL Archive (Cleaner: Backup And Remove DLLs) 16 (won)

Spider (Cleaner: Files) 15 (won)
Empty Temp Folders (Cleaner: Files) 14 (won)

RegCleaner (Cleaner: Files and Registry) 30 (won)

OleClean (Cleaner: Registry) 6 (out)

jv16 Powertools (Registry and File Tools) 33 (won)
EasyCleaner (Registry and File Tools) 32 (won)
RegSeeker (Registry and File Tools) 28 (won)

Registrar Lite (Registry Editor) 11 (won)
RegEditX (Registry Editor) 6 (out)
RegMagik (Registry Editor) 5 (out)

Total Uninstall (Install-Uninstall Tool) 30 (won)
Add/Remove Pro (Install-Uninstall Tool) 15 (won)
RegShot (Install-Uninstall Tool) 5 (out)

Cacheman (Memory Tweaker) 14 (won)

Startup Control Panel (Start-Up Tweaker) 22 (won)

WinDriversBackup Personal Edition (Backup Drivers) 13 (won)

XXCopy (Backup Files) 24 (won)
Karen's Replicator (Backup Files) 12 (won)
PolderBackup (Backup Files) 11 (out)
My Own Backup (MOB) (Backup Files) 10 (out)
Cobian Backup (Backup Files) 7 (out)
BASK (Backup Files) 5 (out)

Emergency Recovery Utility NT (ERUNT) (Backup: Registry) 13 (won)

XOSL (Boot Manager) 9 (won)

Ranish Partition Manager (Boot Manager; Partitioner) 16 (won)

DAEMON Tools (CD Tool) 17 (won)
Burnatonce (CD Tool) 11 (won)
Burn to the Brim (CD Tool) 9 (out)

SuperFormat (Format Diskettes) 8 (won)

Savepart (Partition Tool) 10 (won)

Debian (Operating System) 8 (won)
FreeBSD (Operating System) 7 (out)

Cygwin (Os: Unix For Windows) 11 (won)

-----------

 

[Duddits]

IEradicator (Cleaner-Remove IE) 14 (won)

IMO Pricelessware shouldn't encourage one to break their system. IIRC, no
IE, no Windows Update. If you don't like IE, don't use it.

..03

Dud
--

What did the fish say when he hit a concrete wall?


Dam!

 

[DC]

IMO Pricelessware shouldn't encourage one to break their system. IIRC, no
IE, no Windows Update. If you don't like IE, don't use it.

You make it sound like the browser is, like, part of the OS or
something....

 

[Duddits]

You make it sound like the browser is, like, part of the OS or
something....

It is a necessary evil if you want to keep the ability to update Windows.

regards

Dud
--

What did the fish say when he hit a concrete wall?


Dam!

 

[omega]

Total Uninstall (Install-Uninstall Tool) 30 (won)
RegShot (Install-Uninstall Tool) 5 (out)

That's too bad. Nothing made it to PL for the function of giving a good
before-after report about a program's move into your system.

Tools I use. One of them is Installwatch, which has never been that
popular in ACF (not even when it was current, in 2000). Another of those
I use, a great one, is Inctrl, which has been very popular. But is no
longer to be considered freeware. The substitute, although inferior in
some ways to Inctrl, mainly due to its absence of ignore filters, that's
Regshot. It also has some uninstall functionality, when used in conjunction
with UndoReg.

Maybe it's because so many of us already have Inctrl, that we were not
moved to vote for Regshot.

At a mere 5 votes, I cannot justify appealing for it to be included. What
I note is that there is a hole here. Ghost-filled by the non-freeware,
Inctrl. And, that I do imagine one road to solution, for future...

Involves those TUN logs, the text exports, which give you a headache at
even a glance. Either Martau focuses on making them better. Or a more
interesting route. It would take nothing more than a well-considered
series of search-replace-text operations to rewrite those logs into an
acceptable form. So it seems quite doable for someone to code such a
series of operations, into a TUN enhancement utility... Mabye we'll have
the luck to see such an outcome by next year, to fill this current void
in the PL.

 

[Mel]

That's too bad. Nothing made it to PL for the function of giving a good
before-after report about a program's move into your system.

Tools I use. One of them is Installwatch, which has never been that
popular in ACF (not even when it was current, in 2000). Another of those
I use, a great one, is Inctrl, which has been very popular. But is no
longer to be considered freeware. The substitute, although inferior in
some ways to Inctrl, mainly due to its absence of ignore filters, that's
Regshot. It also has some uninstall functionality, when used in conjunction
with UndoReg.

Maybe it's because so many of us already have Inctrl, that we were not
moved to vote for Regshot.

At a mere 5 votes, I cannot justify appealing for it to be included. What
I note is that there is a hole here. Ghost-filled by the non-freeware,
Inctrl. And, that I do imagine one road to solution, for future...

Involves those TUN logs, the text exports, which give you a headache at
even a glance. Either Martau focuses on making them better. Or a more
interesting route. It would take nothing more than a well-considered
series of search-replace-text operations to rewrite those logs into an
acceptable form. So it seems quite doable for someone to code such a
series of operations, into a TUN enhancement utility... Mabye we'll have
the luck to see such an outcome by next year, to fill this current void
in the PL.

Perhaps Install monitors like Total Uninstall and replacements for
Microsofts Add remove programs control panel applet should
be in different cateegories anyway?

What sort of format would you prefer?
I have a working but unfinished VBScript for reading Total uninstall's
raw TUN format files. At the moment it only outputs the changes in
registry merge file format, also a rather messy text format or as a
spreadsheet file Lotus 123 or excel. I've been meaning to adapt it to
produce HTML in Internet Explorer.

 

[omega]

"Mel" <[email protected]>:

[...]

What sort of format would you prefer?

For the text report, the layout, I'd have to think it over... I'm a very
slow thinker, so I'll need to delay even the beginning of my answer. It'd
also be good to have time to get input from others...

One thing: A good feature would be meaningful summary lines. That which
would also be useful for reposting to ACF. For instance, total numbers
of regkeys added in each main registry branch. I don't know if incorporating
such a thing gets too complex. All I initially spoke of was a search-replace-
text series of operations (which, in itself, will still go a long way).

I have a working but unfinished VBScript for reading Total uninstall's
raw TUN format files. At the moment it only outputs the changes in
registry merge file format,

Cool!! I WANTS IT!!

also a rather messy text format or as a
spreadsheet file Lotus 123 or excel. I've been meaning to adapt it to
produce HTML in Internet Explorer.

I'd prefer CSV, over Excel. Or both? The HTML output, while it's normal to
offer it, do people use it?

 

[Spacey Spade]

It is a necessary evil if you want to keep the ability to update Windows.

No... you can download updates without windows update. They have the
downloadable updates section for system administrators. Anyway, hasn't
MS stopped supporting win98?

Spacey

 

[Spacey Spade]

Total Uninstall (Install-Uninstall Tool) 30 (won)
RegShot (Install-Uninstall Tool) 5 (out)

[snip]

Involves those TUN logs, the text exports, which give you a headache at
even a glance. Either Martau focuses on making them better. Or a more
interesting route. It would take nothing more than a well-considered
series of search-replace-text operations to rewrite those logs into an
acceptable form. So it seems quite doable for someone to code such a
series of operations, into a TUN enhancement utility... Mabye we'll have
the luck to see such an outcome by next year, to fill this current void
in the PL.

Here is an email from Martau:

Hi,

There is no support for this. The feature is planned for the next major
release.
I don't know if somebody tried this without knowing the .tun file format.

Regards,
Gavrila Martau.

----- Original Message ----- [snip]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 11:28 AM
Subject: Total Uninstall

Do you know of a program to create *.reg merge files from *.tun
files? Either for deleting or adding registry entries.

Thanks much for Total Uninstall. I use it for all my program
installations. In the past I used Cleansweep and Inctrl-4.

Regards,

Marcos Reyes

 

[Spacey Spade]

[snip]

Involves those TUN logs, the text exports, which give you a headache at
even a glance. Either Martau focuses on making them better. Or a more
interesting route. It would take nothing more than a well-considered
series of search-replace-text operations to rewrite those logs into an
acceptable form. So it seems quite doable for someone to code such a
series of operations, into a TUN enhancement utility... Mabye we'll have
the luck to see such an outcome by next year, to fill this current void
in the PL.

Perhaps Install monitors like Total Uninstall and replacements for
Microsofts Add remove programs control panel applet should
be in different cateegories anyway?

What sort of format would you prefer?
I have a working but unfinished VBScript for reading Total uninstall's
raw TUN format files. At the moment it only outputs the changes in
registry merge file format, also a rather messy text format or as a
spreadsheet file Lotus 123 or excel. I've been meaning to adapt it to
produce HTML in Internet Explorer.

Hey, cooool! Get in contact with Martau! Read his email below:

Hi,

There is no support for this. The feature is planned for the next major
release.
I don't know if somebody tried this without knowing the .tun file format.

Regards,
Gavrila Martau.

----- Original Message ----- [snip]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 11:28 AM
Subject: Total Uninstall

Do you know of a program to create *.reg merge files from *.tun
files? Either for deleting or adding registry entries.

Thanks much for Total Uninstall. I use it for all my program
installations. In the past I used Cleansweep and Inctrl-4.

Regards,

Marcos Reyes

 

[jason]

What sort of format would you prefer?

Something closer to what InCtrl gives. They're a lot easier to read than
the TUN files.

 

[DC]

You make it sound like the browser is, like, part of the OS or
something....

[/QUOTE]

It is a necessary evil if you want to keep the ability to update Windows.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

AH HA!!! You said it, not me. }:OP

<ducking -- quack!quack!>

 

[Mel]

"Mel" <[email protected]>:

[...]

What sort of format would you prefer?

I have a working but unfinished VBScript for reading Total uninstall's
raw TUN format files. At the moment it only outputs the changes in
registry merge file format,

Cool!! I WANTS IT!!

I've stufffed my current script here -

http://snipurl.com/Tuvbs

Currently it has no front end just a file requester and a message box that
pops up to say when it's finished.
(main reason I want to change it to use IE - an HTA perhaps)

I've only tested it in Windows 98SE.

Run changes.wsf creates a registry merge file (saved with .txt extension
for safety) and an undoreg.txt - saved in a folder with the .tun file name.

The other text output is currently tab separated but could be changed to
CSV.
(as I said it's rather ugly at the moment)

The tun search script (Find) has an IE front end and takes a regular
expression.

Be VERY careful if you merge the registry files with the registry - I don't
recommend doing so.

If you have WMI installed it also can also compare the current registry
with the total uninstall .tun file - I sometime use this to search for
changes that **MIGHT** have been left by a normal uninstall.

The zip.wsf option is of limited use and needs filezip - it's path would
also need editing.

Hope it is useful (I'm afraid the code is a bit ugly too

 

[omega]

I've stufffed my current script here -

http://snipurl.com/Tuvbs

Currently it has no front end just a file requester and a message box that
pops up to say when it's finished.

I've only tested it in Windows 98SE.

Run changes.wsf creates a registry merge file (saved with .txt extension
for safety) and an undoreg.txt - saved in a folder with the .tun file name.

Mel, thank you! I've downloaded, and am much looking forward in examining
this...

What might be delayed for a bit is for me to follow up, with any comments,
since I'll want time to run it a good number of times, and for a variety of
logging scenarios. I can say, that the first run will occur in very near
future, probably tonight. Thanks again. =)