GO Back causes blue screen of death

[Guest]

I had Go back 2007 installed in a Windows XP Pro system. It started to
malfunction and technical support advised me to uninstall it using add/remove
and Norton Clean UP tool. This resulted in a blue screen system crash that
had corrupted Windows XP Pro. Symantec Technical Support said I had to
contact Microsoft Technical Support - $80 up-front-fee if I had proceeded
with them. The system would not boot from the XP disk. nor the Symantec
Recovery disk. When reinstalling XP on Drive :C out of necessity, Windows
corrupted the partitioning on a separate hard drive. I had to spend $500 to
recover data from the second hard drive. The problem started by GO Back not
working and corrupting files. Go back in 2007 bundle is a problem and there
appears to be no satisfactory warning that it will corrupt Windows XP Pro
when uninstalled. Hard to recommend Symantec products under these conditions.
I was also very disappointed to find in SystemWorks 2007 that Ghost had been
removed and a much inferiour Save and Restore Program included. Yes, bundles
make it cheaper but I feel ripped off compared to SystemWorks 2006. Overall,
SystemWorks 2007 slowed my system to unbeleievable levels and then ultimately
led to a full system crash with corruption of XP, loss of partitioning and
loss of data. Beware.

 

[Malke]

I had Go back 2007 installed in a Windows XP Pro system. It started to
malfunction and technical support advised me to uninstall it using add/remove
and Norton Clean UP tool. This resulted in a blue screen system crash that
had corrupted Windows XP Pro. Symantec Technical Support said I had to
contact Microsoft Technical Support - $80 up-front-fee if I had proceeded
with them. The system would not boot from the XP disk. nor the Symantec
Recovery disk. When reinstalling XP on Drive :C out of necessity, Windows
corrupted the partitioning on a separate hard drive. I had to spend $500 to
recover data from the second hard drive. The problem started by GO Back not
working and corrupting files. Go back in 2007 bundle is a problem and there
appears to be no satisfactory warning that it will corrupt Windows XP Pro
when uninstalled. Hard to recommend Symantec products under these conditions.
I was also very disappointed to find in SystemWorks 2007 that Ghost had been
removed and a much inferiour Save and Restore Program included. Yes, bundles
make it cheaper but I feel ripped off compared to SystemWorks 2006. Overall,
SystemWorks 2007 slowed my system to unbeleievable levels and then ultimately
led to a full system crash with corruption of XP, loss of partitioning and
loss of data. Beware.

Is there a question in all that dense text or is it just a rant? If the
former, I don't see it. If the latter, we all know how terrible Symantec
products are and no knowledgeable tech would recommend any of them.

In your case, I would retrieve your data with either Knoppix (a Linux
distro that runs from CD) or a Bart's PE and then do a clean install of
Windows. Don't install anything from Symantec again. For imaging, there
is Acronis True Image. For antivirus programs NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast
(free) are recommended. A "System Works" type of suite is not needed on XP.

http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ - Bart's PE Builder

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand



Malke

 

[William B. Lurie]

Is there a question in all that dense text or is it just a rant? If the
former, I don't see it. If the latter, we all know how terrible Symantec
products are and no knowledgeable tech would recommend any of them.

In your case, I would retrieve your data with either Knoppix (a Linux
distro that runs from CD) or a Bart's PE and then do a clean install of
Windows. Don't install anything from Symantec again. For imaging, there
is Acronis True Image. For antivirus programs NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast
(free) are recommended. A "System Works" type of suite is not needed on XP.

http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ - Bart's PE Builder

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand



Malke

I read all of the above and saw myself in that seat for a
while years ago. I solved the rebuilding problem by
*always* having a recent clone available on a separate
hard drive. But, frankly, except that NSW 2006 causes
ridiculously slow boot-up, I found it to be an excellent
product, and Symantec tech support has grown steadily
better in recent years. As pointed out, it incorporates
GHOST 10 which is a take-over of Drive Image 7 and works quite
well. I'm too old and too heavily involved to regroup away
from Symantec, but thanks for the warning about NSW 2007.
I never see NSW 2007 on the shelves, and maybe, miraculously,
reports of its undesirability leaked out and nobody stocks it!

 

[Guest]

1. A question is followed by a question mark.
2. Forums also allow for warnings and comment.
3. Obviously, NOT everyone knows about Symantec, he world's a big place and
obviously you are the expert for everyone....my heartly congratulations.
4. As noted, I have already recovered the data but thank you for the advice
to my "ranting"
5. I will try harder to know everything next time.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Malke.
Pleased that you received value from my posting a comment and experience
rather than a question. I, too, had excellent experience with SystemWorks
2006. There does appear to be something shakey in 2007, perhaps due to the
compatability necessary for Vista. I'm just being selective about what I
install this time around - Ghost 12 is fantastic, Internet Security group
works well but I'm concentrating on using inbuilt utilities of Windows XP for
defragmentation, disk clean up, etc.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Thanks for the heads up. Why people continue to bother with a POS like
SystemWorks is beyond me. I stopped using all Norton products years ago. At
least when I'm troubleshooting a problem, on one of my systems, I don't have
to factor Symantec into the equation any longer.



Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

 

[William B. Lurie]

Thanks for the heads up. Why people continue to bother with a POS like
SystemWorks is beyond me. I stopped using all Norton products years ago. At
least when I'm troubleshooting a problem, on one of my systems, I don't have
to factor Symantec into the equation any longer.



Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

Harry, I've been with Symantec for years, lived through a lot of
hard times with them, but, honestly, in the last year or two I've
seen them earnestly try to be helpful and to solve problems.
The NSW does a lot of things, including GHOST which I depend on.
And they keep me safe. This is the 'devil I know'; for me to
change horses would invite new unknown devils.

I will not, however, 'upgrade' to a newer model; you saw the
comments about NSW 2007. I know what I have, and how to make it
work. I'll just keep paying a minimal amount for the AV
subscription service.

 

[Poprivet]

Daisybookworm wrote:
.... The system would not boot

from the XP disk. nor the Symantec Recovery disk.

I don't understand; that makes it a hardware problem, not a software
problem, if it can't boot from a bootable CD, which the XP CD is. Are you
sure your CD drive is set to be bootable?

When reinstalling

XP on Drive :C out of necessity, Windows corrupted the partitioning
on a separate hard drive.

That had to be something you did wrong. It sounds like you chose the wrong
drive (not C when you deleted and recreated your partition/s.

I had to spend $500 to recover data from

the second hard drive.

That's totally unnecessary. Incorporate a proper backup scenario so that
can never happen again.

The problem started by GO Back not working

and corrupting files. Go back in 2007 bundle is a problem and there
appears to be no satisfactory warning that it will corrupt Windows XP
Pro when uninstalled.

That's because it doesn't corrupt Windows. Something else went wrong and
you apparently missed it.

Hard to recommend Symantec products under these

conditions. I was also very disappointed to find in SystemWorks 2007
that Ghost had been removed and a much inferiour Save and Restore
Program included. Yes, bundles make it cheaper but I feel ripped off
compared to SystemWorks 2006. Overall, SystemWorks 2007 slowed my
system to unbeleievable levels and then ultimately led to a full
system crash with corruption of XP, loss of partitioning and loss of
data. Beware.

Well, there doesn't seem to be a question here, so I'll assume you're just
venting. However, from some of your description, you have much to learn and
should invest some time in learning to backup your system and manage the
operating system overall. Everything you mentioned sounds like errors you
made, so the problem isn't the OS or a program, it's improper understanding
of your system, IMO.

Good luck,

Pop`

 

[Poprivet]

Thanks for the heads up. Why people continue to bother with a POS like
SystemWorks is beyond me. I stopped using all Norton products years
ago. At least when I'm troubleshooting a problem, on one of my
systems, I don't have to factor Symantec into the equation any longer.



Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

I had Go back 2007 installed in a Windows XP Pro system. It started
to malfunction and technical support advised me to uninstall it using
add/remove
and Norton Clean UP tool. This resulted in a blue screen system
crash that had corrupted Windows XP Pro. Symantec Technical Support
said I had to contact Microsoft Technical Support - $80 up-front-fee
if I had proceeded with them. The system would not boot from the XP
disk. nor the Symantec Recovery disk. When reinstalling XP on Drive
:C out of necessity, Windows corrupted the partitioning on a
separate hard drive. I had to spend $500 to
recover data from the second hard drive. The problem started by GO
Back not
working and corrupting files. Go back in 2007 bundle is a problem and
there
appears to be no satisfactory warning that it will corrupt Windows
XP Pro when uninstalled. Hard to recommend Symantec products under
these conditions.
I was also very disappointed to find in SystemWorks 2007 that Ghost
had been
removed and a much inferiour Save and Restore Program included. Yes,
bundles
make it cheaper but I feel ripped off compared to SystemWorks 2006.
Overall,
SystemWorks 2007 slowed my system to unbeleievable levels and then
ultimately
led to a full system crash with corruption of XP, loss of
partitioning and loss of data. Beware.

SystemWorks is an excellent application and contains a wealth of assistive
technologies. If SystemWorks slowed your system that much, you either have
a slow processor or have other problems on the machine. I notice no
difference with or without it on my system but I bothered to learn how to
use it and tweaked it to be valuable, not just a piece of add-on for the
sake of add-on, as many try to do.
RTFM is definitely recommended for things like SystemWorks.

Pop`

 

[Poprivet]

I read all of the above and saw myself in that seat for a
while years ago. I solved the rebuilding problem by
*always* having a recent clone available on a separate
hard drive. But, frankly, except that NSW 2006 causes
ridiculously slow boot-up, I found it to be an excellent
product, and Symantec tech support has grown steadily
better in recent years. As pointed out, it incorporates
GHOST 10 which is a take-over of Drive Image 7 and works quite
well. I'm too old and too heavily involved to regroup away
from Symantec, but thanks for the warning about NSW 2007.
I never see NSW 2007 on the shelves, and maybe, miraculously,
reports of its undesirability leaked out and nobody stocks it!

Usually a slowed boot time is the result of using both GoBack and Ghost at
the same time. Given proper management and setup for Ghost, GoBack is no
longer needed and the issues of Restore Point problems will go away, too.
Remove GoBack since you run Ghost, and I'll bet you see a big improvement.
It's a javaw.exe issue mostly.

Pop`

 

[William B. Lurie]

Usually a slowed boot time is the result of using both GoBack and Ghost at
the same time. Given proper management and setup for Ghost, GoBack is no
longer needed and the issues of Restore Point problems will go away, too.
Remove GoBack since you run Ghost, and I'll bet you see a big improvement.
It's a javaw.exe issue mostly.

Pop`

Pop, I don't believe that I have any 'Restore Points'. I mean,
not as such. All of my backups are full system GHOST backup
drive images, located always on a different hard drive,
accessible and catalogued by GHOST. They are, of course,
all listed as Restore Points in GHOST.

To my knowledge, I have no "GoBack" and did not load it when
installing NSW2006 Premier back in late 2005. I can't even turn
off GHOST while running normal because NSW's AV activities are
(unfortunately) intertwined with it. I cannot selectively boot
with only portions of NSW loading (or if you can tell me how,
please do!).
Bill L.

 

[WaIIy]

SystemWorks is an excellent application and contains a wealth of assistive
technologies.

Norton started going down the tubes the day Peter Norton sold it.

You might as well suggest he uses Norton, Oulook Express and AOL.

 

[William B. Lurie]

Norton started going down the tubes the day Peter Norton sold it.

That's quite true, PopPop, but I've noticed their crawling
back up in the past year. They absorbed the Drive Image
capability and Ghost and made that usable. And their Customer
Service is now practical. What's fair is fair.

You might as well suggest he use Norton, Outlook Express and AOL.

No, I'd never suggest going from Mozilla to Outlook Distress.

 

[Poprivet]

Pop, I don't believe that I have any 'Restore Points'. I mean,
not as such. All of my backups are full system GHOST backup
drive images, located always on a different hard drive,
accessible and catalogued by GHOST. They are, of course,
all listed as Restore Points in GHOST.

To my knowledge, I have no "GoBack" and did not load it when
installing NSW2006 Premier back in late 2005. I can't even turn
off GHOST while running normal because NSW's AV activities are
(unfortunately) intertwined with it. I cannot selectively boot
with only portions of NSW loading (or if you can tell me how,
please do!).
Bill L.

Hi Bill,

First let me correct an error of omission on my part. When I said "restore
points", I meant "System Restore Points". The ones available under Start,
Programs, Accessories, System Tools. As the name implies, that's for
rolling back System Files. GoBack has some issues with those and describes
when/how it happens in Help. It can wipe out the System Restore points, but
that's moot since you're not running it.
If you're not concerned with using the System Restore Points, and
personally I'd keep them if I wasn't using GoBack, you should/could go into
your system and turn them OFF. By default, the System Restore Points are
occupying something like 10% of the space on each hard drive letter you
have. Turning off those restore points saves some disk space.
But, keep in mind, that they ARE handy at times. Should something go
awry with the registry (bad install, etc), you cna easily recover from it by
going back to the last restore point created before you did the install,
where Ghost will do the same and lots more, but the image is most likely
going to be yesterday or whevever the last time you had it run was.
Personally, I turned off System REstore Points on ALL drives except my
boot drive (silly to have it on the other drives anyway), set it to only use
5% of the disk space, and then set Ghost to, on top of scheduled backups, do
a backup whenever it sees something being installed. That way I've backed
up the same thing a Restore Point would plus all the other data I've
created. System Restore ONLY restores System files, basically the Registry,
simply put. But this way Ghost does everything that the System Restore
Points plus GoBack would, or almost close enough to be more than reasonable
at least.

Actually, you can boot with only portions of NSW working. The first place
to stop is the control panel's Options button. Not everything is
controllable there, but most is.

You may not be aware, and should be careful if this is brand new to you,
that all the various things available from the NSW control panel are in
reality all different installations, each with their own
installation/removal programs. The control panel does nothing but provide
shortcuts to start the various other programs it shows. You can run those
same apps without using the control panel.
So, the AV and Ghost and Speed disk, System Doctor, Disk Doctor, etc etc,
are all actually separate, free standing programs is what I'm trying to say.

For Ghost, you can go in and easily turn it off. Go into the Protection
area and turn off protection on all your drives; Ghost won't run if there is
nothing for it to do. Of course it will still load, but it won't run. But,
I would NOT recommend doing that; Ghost is too valuable a program to mess
with, IMO.

Pehaps if you stated a question more specifically it could be answered more
completely. I've pretty much guessed at a lot of things here, including
your computer expertise.

AFAIK GoBack IS part of NSW, by the way. At least it's part of mine (2006
version), but I know there are several variations of what you can buy. If
you have it installed, it's wasting a lot of disk space, 10% again I think,
so you should make certain you don't have it installed. If you do,
uninstall it; Ghost will take care of things fine for you.

HTH

Pop`

 

[William B. Lurie]

Hi Bill,

First let me correct an error of omission on my part. When I said "restore
points", I meant "System Restore Points". The ones available under Start,
Programs, Accessories, System Tools.

I recehecked, Pop. That's been permanently disabled since I got this
PC and set it up. And in installing NSW 2006 Premier, I intentionally
did not install GoBack.
As the name implies, that's for

rolling back System Files. GoBack has some issues with those and describes
when/how it happens in Help. It can wipe out the System Restore points, but
that's moot since you're not running it.
If you're not concerned with using the System Restore Points, and
personally I'd keep them if I wasn't using GoBack, you should/could go into
your system and turn them OFF. By default, the System Restore Points are
occupying something like 10% of the space on each hard drive letter you
have. Turning off those restore points saves some disk space. Right. No prob, they're off.
But, keep in mind, that they ARE handy at times. Should something go
awry with the registry (bad install, etc), you cna easily recover from it by
going back to the last restore point created before you did the install,
where Ghost will do the same and lots more, but the image is most likely
going to be yesterday or whevever the last time you had it run was.

Yes, but I always have a recent enough GHOST/Clone to fall back on.

Personally, I turned off System REstore Points on ALL drives except my
boot drive (silly to have it on the other drives anyway), set it to only use
5% of the disk space, and then set Ghost to, on top of scheduled backups, do
a backup whenever it sees something being installed. That way I've backed
up the same thing a Restore Point would plus all the other data I've
created. System Restore ONLY restores System files, basically the Registry,
simply put. But this way Ghost does everything that the System Restore
Points plus GoBack would, or almost close enough to be more than reasonable
at least.

My full clone takes longer but it's always there on a separate drive.

Actually, you can boot with only portions of NSW working. The first place
to stop is the control panel's Options button. Not everything is
controllable there, but most is.

You may not be aware, and should be careful if this is brand new to you,
that all the various things available from the NSW control panel are in
reality all different installations, each with their own
installation/removal programs. The control panel does nothing but provide
shortcuts to start the various other programs it shows. You can run those
same apps without using the control panel.
So, the AV and Ghost and Speed disk, System Doctor, Disk Doctor, etc etc,
are all actually separate, free standing programs is what I'm trying to say.

For Ghost, you can go in and easily turn it off. Go into the Protection
area and turn off protection on all your drives; Ghost won't run if there is
nothing for it to do. Of course it will still load, but it won't run. But,
I would NOT recommend doing that; Ghost is too valuable a program to mess
with, IMO.

Pehaps if you stated a question more specifically it could be answered more
completely. I've pretty much guessed at a lot of things here, including
your computer expertise.

AFAIK GoBack IS part of NSW, by the way. At least it's part of mine (2006
version), but I know there are several variations of what you can buy. If
you have it installed, it's wasting a lot of disk space, 10% again I think,
so you should make certain you don't have it installed. If you do,
uninstall it; Ghost will take care of things fine for you.

HTH

Yes, and thanks. We're surely on the same channel.
WBL