WinDriversBackup Personal Edition (Jermar Software Corp - freeware)
Download here:
http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=172
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Hope this helps,
Newt
| Your going to regret asking this:
| > A better idea is to post some detail on what is wrong, so we can try
| > to help you with that instead.
|
| ..but you asked for it. So here goes *ahem*:
|
| First, a little background: I've had my PC for a couple of years now and
| i've made several user accounts in that time. Everything has always worked
| (with the exception of my disc drives causing system freezes due to Nero
| software; but for some reason that problem went away of its own accord
| so..*shrug*). Those accounts created have always been fully functional
| whether they were limited or administrator accounts. However...
|
| The present day: Lately, I deleted those previous accounts except 1 and
| created a new limited user account (for my PC inept family). After logging
| in and importing the files from the deleted accounts I noticed that the
| picture files (.jpg, .gif etc) were now represented by that icon for file
| extensions that windows don't recognize (in windows explorer). I then tried
| to double click and open them; I received the file type association dialogue
| box asking me to associate a program for these fielt types (in this case;
| .jpg). So I selected the Windows picture and fax viewer and ticked the
| "always open with..." box and hit "OK". The files then opened up with the
| program - no problem. Here's where things get complicated:
|
| You would think that after going through this process that from then on all
| .jpg files would be represented by that picture icon in windows explorer and
| be refered to as a "JPEG image" and when opened; would automatically open
| with the Windows picture and fax viewer wouldn't you? No such luck. Instead,
| the files were still represented by the icon associated for files Windows
| didn't recognize. My initial reaction was puzzlement but I then thought I
| could remedie this simply by going to My Computer>Tools>Folder Options>File
| types and finding the .jpg extension and associating permenantly. Once again
| I was thwarted. There was no .jpg extension listed! So I created it and set
| it to open with the Windows Picture and Fax viewer. However I noticed 2
| things:
|
| 1. After creating the entry and the dektop refreshing - no changes were made
| and the file type still wasn't recognized
| 2. After I closed the file association window and re-opened it; it was as if
| I had never created the .jpg extension. Once again the .jpg extension was
| missing.
|
| I was confused. I then proceeded to re-create the .jpg extension and
| assoicated program to open with. Only this time; before closing the window I
| clicked the "Advanced button" of the file type window (the one that opens
| with a window for "Edit File type"). Nothing happened it was as if the
| button wasn't there. Clicking on it yielded no response. And of course,
| after closing the window and re-opening it resulted in no .jpg file type
| listed.
|
| Once again I was confused. I created a test file type called "AAA" and
| associated a program with it. This time, clicking the "Advanced" button
| resulted in the "Edit File Type" window comming up as normal. Also, after
| closing the file type window and re-opening it resulted in the "AAA" file
| type still being listed and associated with my chosen program. I.e.
| everything worked appropriately for the "AAA" file type I created. But no
| matter how many times I did it, I encountered the same cyclical problem
| described above for the .jpg/.gif etc file type.
|
| Therefore whenever I double-clicked a .jpg/.gif file I would recieve the
| window asking me to associate the file type with a program (the cycle
| continued).
|
| Despite all this; I was about to encounter something even stranger. In an
| effort to fix this I deleted the account and created a new administrator
| account and logged in. This time whenever I double clicked a .jpg/.gif etc
| file type; it would open with...you guessed it - the Windows picure and Fax
| viewer! I thought things were finally working. However I noticed several
| things:
|
| In windows explorer; the files were still relegated the unkown file type
| icon. Despite the fact that they would open with the appropriate program -
| Windows couldn't associate the .jpg/.gif etc as a "JPEG image/GIF image"
| etc.
|
| I then went to take a look at the My Computer>Tools>Folder Options>File
| types window and sure enough; the .jpg/.gif file types weren't there! And of
| course, I encountered the same cyclical problem as before.
|
| Possible causes:
| The only things I had done recently before creating these new accounts and
| encountering this exasperating problem were the uninstallation of Microsoft
| Office 2003, Counterspy (anti-spyware software that suspicioulsy enough
| looks to have the identical features of Windows defender (don't ask me which
| came first because I don't know)) and the testing of various registry
| 'cleaner' programs. One other event did occur however;
|
| Despite Noron Internet security 2005 catching the "reger.exe" virus and
| deleting; I was infested with mutliple pieces of incrediablly annoying
| spyware (alexa etc etc). This all happened at once. It was if I was hit by a
| spyware bomb. After evading spyware from the internet for years due to my
| ant-spyware apps and Norton; it was finally "my turn". At the time of
| infection I had un-installed counterpsy and had Lavasoft Ad-aware and Spybot
| 1.4 installed. I ran these and despite multiple detections and subsequent
| deletions of the invading files. The files were always returned and were
| re-detected seconds later. I.e. scan>detect>delete>scan again>detects same
| files>delete>cycle repeats.
|
| I was at a loss. Norton couldn't help either because as we know; spyware
| arn't seen as viruses (mostly) and thus wern't picked up by the norton
| anti-vrus scans. The only way I was able to remove the infections was
| through a combination of Counterspy (which I re-installed) and the multiple
| registry cleaning software I had downloaded (all registry cleaners on the
| market pickup different things so I thought I'd cover my bases using
| multiple apps - in the end I came to only user RegSeeker 1.45). My only
| guess from this is that my registry was critically destabalised by these
| events.
|
| One more thing- I noticed a bug in Counterpsy that occurs for limited user
| accounts. If you have Counteroy 1.5 installed and attempt to login into a
| limited user account - the startup processes fail to load and you recieve an
| error message (some generic thing i forget exactly the text). Shortly after
| the user account crashes to login screen. However, this error is avoided if
| you logon as an administrator. My guess is that the developers of Counterspy
| rushed the production of the 1.5 version in an attempt to beat Windows
| defender to the market. Just my 2 cents.
|
| I'ts unlikely that these events are the source of my file association
| problem but I thought i'd mention it.
|
| Additional remedie steps taken:
| 1. sfc /scannow off the xp disc
| 2. The attempted application of downloadable stable registry entries as
| suggested by this newsgroup. However I now encountered a new type of error
| when attempting to merge these stable reg entries into my registry. I would
| receive a "Cannot import "file": Error accessing the registry". However - as
| a test - I was able to merge these reg keys into my last remaining old user
| account "Registry entries merged successfully". This led me to believe that
| the error may be due to a corrupted ntuser.dat file and thus a corrupted
| Default user profile that all new user accounts copy off from. One thing
| didn't make sense however;
|
| The hkey_classes_root reg hive had different registry entries for the .jpg
| file type between the new user accounts and the old working account. I've
| since learned that the hkey_classes_root reg hive is actually assembled as
| thus:
| /quote
| > The HKCR hive itself does not really exist, it's a combination of
| > HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes (default settings) and HKCU\Software\Classes
| > (user settings) while HKCU\Software\Classes is dominant if the values
| > of identical settings differ. Therefore, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is both
| > system *and* user related.
| /quote
|
| This made things much more complicated for me as I now nolonger could
| simpley merge good registry entries from the old working account to the
| hkey_classes_root reg hive in the new account and hope to remedie the
| problem. Not that I could anyway seeing as I still would receive the "Cannot
| import "file": Error accessing the registry" error.
|
| The only other things I have noticed is that this problem also effects the
| default administrator only accessable through safe mode.
|
| So there you have it; the scanario in full. Hopefully you have better luck
| in ascertaining the source of the problem then I did. My suspicion is that
| i'll have to do a full reformat and re-install of the OS *sigh*. Does anyone
| know a good driver backup program? >.<
|
|
Could be a bad exit when a registry cleaner