Non-working restore points

[JimL]

None of my restore points work, so why don't they just delete themselves?

 

[Jose]

None of my restore points work, so why don't they just delete themselves?

They don't know there is anything wrong with them.

They are only self deleting according to the rules you establish in
the Restore Point settings, and there is no something wrong with me
option (maybe there should be though).

Why do you think you need to do a System Restore?

What does "None of my restore points work" mean?

 

[JimL]

They don't know there is anything wrong with them.

Whatever keeps telling me there is should tell them!! (Actually that isn't
a joke. Coding such a thing would be trivial.)

Why do you think you need to do a System Restore?

I suddenly started getting dial-up connect failures and could find no reason
why.

What does "None of my restore points work" mean?

Exactly that, but since you doubt it:

I started a restore. It appeared to be working. It said it was restoring.
But upon restart it reported that no changes had been made. The displayed
current point did not change.

Over the next few hours I went through each and every one of them and got
the same report. No changes made.

I read somewhere that if one fails they will all fail. I have no idea if
that is true.

And I have no idea what to do next. This post was a tongue in cheek way of
asking how to clean them all out and start over, but that was on the
assumption it was the thing to do.

 

[Jose]

Whatever keeps telling me there is should tell them!!  (Actually that isn't
a joke.  Coding such a thing would be trivial.)


I suddenly started getting dial-up connect failures and could find no reason
why.


Exactly that, but since you doubt it:

I started a restore.  It appeared to be working.  It said it was restoring.
But upon restart it reported that no changes had been made.  The displayed
current point did not change.

Over the next few hours I went through each and every one of them and got
the same report.  No changes made.

I read somewhere that if one fails they will all fail.  I have no idea if
that is true.

And I have no idea what to do next.  This post was a tongue in cheek way of
asking how to clean them all out and start over, but that was on the
assumption it was the thing to do.

I don't doubt it - I just wanted to know why you think they fail.
"None of my restore points work" is not a very good clue.

What is the message you get that leads you to believe that, etc. "It
failed" is not enough to go on, unless you want replies that are
equally vague.

You have supplied additional information now, but not enough details,
so there are more questions.

When you rebooted did you see a message that says "Unable to restore -
no changes made" or did it say "Restoration Incomplete. Your computer
cannot be restored" or did it just say no changes were made like you
said? You need to give the complete message(s) if you can.

The more information you supply the better answers you will get -
keeps me from having to ask additional questions or guess.

It could be that none of your restore points are good, were not
created properly or the restore attempt was done incorrectly (if you
get the message it failed). It doesn't necessarily mean the restore
points are bad, but if they all fail, maybe they were created
incorrectly to begin with.

What is a "displayed current point" that did not change?

Do you have any Norton anti virus products or Norton software
installed? That can cause a restore attempt to fail for any restore
point you choose. There are other reasons, but the failure message is
the critical piece of information.

I invite you to read this article about how to use and troubleshoot
System Restore to see if your restore problem is here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx

Is is easy to clear all your old restore points, but you need to know
how to use the tools available. Here are some examples that cover
that subject and other good things to know:

http://www.winxptutor.com/srclear.htm

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial56.html

System Restore is not a time machine.

If you choose to clear all your restore points, be sure to create a
new one when you think things are stable. You might try to restore to
the new point after creating it to see what happens.

If you have dial up or other problems, it is sometimes best to
troubleshoot the problem before just resorting to a System Restore.

You still have your original "dial up connect failures for no reason"
problem? Could that be changed to "dial up connect failures for some
reason that I cannot figure out"?

Do you see a "dial up failed for no reason" message, or do you see
something else?

Let's figure out the unknown reason.

 

[JimL]

Do you see a "dial up failed for no reason" message, or do you see
something else?

Let's figure out the unknown reason.

Thanks for the huge reply. Let me start here with the easy part.

Please note that I said there was no reason _I could find_. I did try.

The only report I got said "connection failed." By turning on the terminal
screen I saw that I got gibberish back from both my auto-login and manual
logins.

The upshot was that my ISP (isp.com) had turned off my account after sending
notice to a non-existent email address at _some other_ ISP (Earthlink). The
whole thing involved a company's computer getting hacked and my bank issuing
new credit card numbers.

Perhaps you can see why I could find no reason for the failures.

JimL

 

[JimL]

(e-mail address removed)...

When you rebooted did you see a message that says "Unable to restore -
no changes made" or did it say "Restoration Incomplete. Your computer
cannot be restored" or did it just say no changes were made like you
said? You need to give the complete message(s) if you can.

OK, after starting a restore:

1. Partial shutdown
2. System Restore popup saying Preparing to restore.
3. Changes to Restoring Files
4. Action graphic ribbon runs full length
5. Shutdown continues
6. Auto-restart appears to be normal
7. Long delay at desktop background - no icons
8. System Restore dialog appears bearing report:
No changes were made to your computer.

It could be that none of your restore points are good, were not
created properly or the restore attempt was done incorrectly (if you
get the message it failed). It doesn't necessarily mean the restore
points are bad, but if they all fail, maybe they were created
incorrectly to begin with.

All my restore points have been created by utilities, primarily by Registry
Mechanic.

What is a "displayed current point" that did not change?

When the System Restore dialog opens a restore point is highlighted on a
calendar. It may have been a coincidence if the calendar is MERELY a
calendar.

Do you have any Norton anti virus products

No. I run A-Squared at the suggestion of folks at MajorGeeks. It has more
features than I can keep in mind and gives some false positives after some
updates, but I've detected no actual system interferences other than
application checks when programmers get tricky.

I invite you to read this article about how to use and troubleshoot
System Restore to see if your restore problem is here:

On my way.

Thanks

JimL

 

[JimL]

Is is easy to clear all your old restore points, but you need to know
how to use the tools available. Here are some examples that cover
that subject and other good things to know:

None of the 4 points in the "trouble shooting" section were applicable.
Capacities were all adequate and I had already done the "Try another one"
routine.

I followed the prodecure through Disk Cleanup -> More Options to clear all
but the most recent restore point. It wiped out all of them. Precious
little loss, given that I tried them all and got the same "No change"
report.

JimL

 

[Jose]

OK, after starting a restore:

1. Partial shutdown
2. System Restore popup saying Preparing to restore.
3. Changes to Restoring Files
4. Action graphic ribbon runs full length
5. Shutdown continues
6. Auto-restart appears to be normal
7. Long delay at desktop background - no icons
8. System Restore dialog appears bearing report:
     No changes were made to your computer.


All my restore points have been created by utilities, primarily by Registry
Mechanic.


When the System Restore dialog opens a restore point is highlighted on a
calendar.  It may have been a coincidence if the calendar is MERELY a
calendar.


No.  I run A-Squared at the suggestion of folks at MajorGeeks.  It has more
features than I can keep in mind and gives some false positives after some
updates, but I've detected no actual system interferences other than
application checks when programmers get tricky.


On my way.

Thanks

JimL

JimL, JimL, JimL...

More new information you have provided me.

Is there some reason you are using Registry Mechanic to create your
restore points instead of letting XP do it for you? There is a
reliable and thoroughly tested mechanism built in that if configured
properly does a most responsible job.

Registry Mechanic has a shady reputation just for the registry
mechanic part, but some peope swear by it. I just noticed a few days
ago it has been download 8.5 million times.

However, the number of problems I have seen that start with "I
downloaded Registry Mechanic and now..." are many, therefore I would
never use it in a million years. To most people that have to clean up
the mess made by third party registry, more bad things happen than
good things.

I was unaware it could create restore points - and somehow it would
not surprise me if a RP created with RM could be used by XP (like all
those initials?). Is there also a mechanism in RM to restore to a
restore point?

How about creating a RP manually with XP, name is something you can't
possibly get mixed up with something else, and then try to restore to
that point using only the built in XP utilities? The link I sent you
before tells you how to create and use the built in RP features.
Hopefully, RM has not done anything silly to the built in mechanism.

I am not familiar with A-Squared (or even heard of it) and it it not
on my top 3 AV tools recommendations this week. System Restore is a
popular target for malicious software - so that once it gets on your
system, it is hard to find/remove it.

For a good while now, I have been set on three free ones. There are
some options missing in the free versions (like real time protection,
scheduling, etc.), but they have good credibility, so I hope you would
try them. You can uninstall them later if you don't like them and
they only consume CPU cycles when you actually run them, otherwise
they do nothing.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these three free
malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/
AVG (AVG): http://free.avg.com/

I practically invented dial up connectivity (well, I feel like it) so
I suspect the gibberish you see in your terminal program is a mismatch
with baud rate, stop/start bits mismatch or something along those
lines which may require some trial and error. What terminal program
are you using?

I am sorry about your RP issue, but it may start making sense now the
Registry Mechanic has come into view, so that is why I would like to
try only XP tools for creating and using a restore point.

You'll be busy for a while, do I'll check back later.

 

[JimL]

JimL, JimL, JimL...

More new information you have provided me.

Is there some reason you are using Registry Mechanic to create your
restore points instead of letting XP do it for you?

I have, of course, been assured many, many times that using ANY registry
cleaner is the most horrendous thing I could possibly do to my computer.

I should say that I _have_ had occasion to do a Restore before, and just as
in this case I checked alternatives out thoroughly before doing so.

I also should note that I have used Registry Mechanic (highly recommended by
some) for a number of years and this is the first time I have ever had a
Restore problem.

I _do not_ "use Registry Mechanic to create restore points." Any time it
does a registry change it first does a restore point so you'll have recourse
if there is a problem. At least one other registry cleaner, Registry
Booster, does the same.

Yes, it _does_ have a facility to do restore.

When I posted the fact that I use RM I thought there was a good chance that
you might jump on that as the culprit, but you sounded pretty intelligent
and I thought there was also a chance you wouldn't jump to such an
apparently easy out.

I've used darn near every anti-virus out there, free and otherwise. The
A-Squared Anti-Malware multi-service version is the best I've used. It is a
equal to a complete suite of anti-virus, anti-adware, anti-spyware,
anti-dangerous website, etc., etc. It will alert on _some_ sites and tell
you it _might_ be a problem web site - so you decide. You can watch or
block, permanently or temporarily. It also includes alphabetized process,
auto-start, port, service and add-on management under the odd name of the
HiJack Free option. It has a huge list of dangerous web sites from which it
denies access as well as a list of sites you can build yourself (just click
it) - and a feature (with a fancy name I can't remember but have seen in
others) that looks for new, unlisted viruses. It checks running programs
for hack-like functions and alerts on them for your examination. This
includes _any_ program, utility or application that has not run before, so
you can build a list of approved applications and it checks any new or old
execution against this list as a possible malware. I HAVE had it find one
virus when it (the virus) tried to execute. Such items can be deleted,
quarantined, white listed, reported to the home site with one click and
other things. It checks a large list of hard drive (folder/path) locations
frequently used by malware, just to see if there is something there. There
are several levels of logs, reports, etc., which you configure as you like.
Of course daily updates. And it does all this stuff faster than any other
malware program I've used.

BTW, I now have reason to believe that my ISP sends gibberish instead of
asterisks when echoing a password. I get the same kind of thing whether the
connection makes or fails.

Just an added note. I _did_ have a restore failure maybe 3 years ago,
before I ever got Registry Mechanic. Jumping on RM is far too easy. I'll
check to see if the next restore point it sets up is useable.

 

[JimL]

" I'll check to see if the next restore point it sets up is useable.

It was.

 

[Jose]

It was.

Good!

I was just going by what you said:

"All my restore points have been created by utilities, primarily by
Registry Mechanic."

I interpreted that as RM was somehow bypassing the XP method, but with
your new information is is more clear.

If you would have said something like "RM creates a restore point
automatically prior to making any changes to my system"

Anywho, you still have your keyboard to fix.

 

[Jose]

It was.

Oops! I meant editor.

I was thinking about KBs at the moment...