Win Explorer crashing, System Restore, Ken Blake - ??

[Colliope .com]

In Group: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
On: Sat, Feb 3, 2007, 2:46pm

...If you try to use System Restore to go
back several weeks or months ago, you
will almost certainly create all kind of
out-of-synch conditions, and make the
situation *worse*, not better. That's not
System Restore's purpose and you should
not think of it in those terms. A week or
two is about the longest time you can
effectively go back.

I used System Restore today to go back 3 weeks (tomorrow would be 3
weeks exactly).

Windows Explorer had recently started crashing & restarting on me.

Screenshot of error and text from event viewer info:
http://colliope.com/holdingbin/Events.html

I Googled the problem and it looks like it's not an uncommon one.
However, there never seems to be a definite cause given, and the
suggestions on how to try to resolve the problem are many.

I thought my problem might be caused by scumware, which it turned out I
did have and was able to get rid of. (At least I got rid of everything
the various scanners I used found.) But Win Ex was still crashing after
that. So I did a System Restore back to Jan 15, knowing that was far
enough back to pre-date the crashing problem. This is only the second
time I've ever used System Restore, and it seems to have done away with
Windows Explorer crashing, I thought I could sleep peacefully tonight.

Now reading Ken's words, I am concerned about having restored back three
weeks. I hate the idea of un-doing the restore and spending countless
hours trying to solve the crashing problem, but at the same time, I am
now uneasy about perhaps having set myself up for future problems by
going back 3 weeks.

Thoughts?

Thankyou,

C
Win XP Home, SP1
Dell Dimension 8250

(I know, I know... Once I am satisfied this particular problem is
resolved, I will do the update to SP2.)

 

[Sharon F]

In Group: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
On: Sat, Feb 3, 2007, 2:46pm

[9 quoted lines suppressed]

I used System Restore today to go back 3 weeks (tomorrow would be 3
weeks exactly).

Windows Explorer had recently started crashing & restarting on me.

Screenshot of error and text from event viewer info:
http://colliope.com/holdingbin/Events.html

I Googled the problem and it looks like it's not an uncommon one.
However, there never seems to be a definite cause given, and the
suggestions on how to try to resolve the problem are many.

I thought my problem might be caused by scumware, which it turned out I
did have and was able to get rid of. (At least I got rid of everything
the various scanners I used found.) But Win Ex was still crashing after
that. So I did a System Restore back to Jan 15, knowing that was far
enough back to pre-date the crashing problem. This is only the second
time I've ever used System Restore, and it seems to have done away with
Windows Explorer crashing, I thought I could sleep peacefully tonight.

Now reading Ken's words, I am concerned about having restored back three
weeks. I hate the idea of un-doing the restore and spending countless
hours trying to solve the crashing problem, but at the same time, I am
now uneasy about perhaps having set myself up for future problems by
going back 3 weeks.

Thoughts?

Thankyou,

C
Win XP Home, SP1
Dell Dimension 8250

(I know, I know... Once I am satisfied this particular problem is
resolved, I will do the update to SP2.)

While I also am not comfortable going back more than a week with System
Restore, I also firmly believe that if it's not broken, don't fix it.
Poking at this more and at this point, could cause more problems. My vote
goes to: leave it alone.

 

[Colliope .com]

Thankyou, Sharon.

C

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In Group: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
On: Sat, Feb 3, 2007, 2:46pm

[9 quoted lines suppressed]

I used System Restore today to go back 3 weeks (tomorrow would be 3
weeks exactly).

Windows Explorer had recently started crashing & restarting on me.

Screenshot of error and text from event viewer info:
http://colliope.com/holdingbin/Events.html

I Googled the problem and it looks like it's not an uncommon one.
However, there never seems to be a definite cause given, and the
suggestions on how to try to resolve the problem are many.

I thought my problem might be caused by scumware, which it turned
out I did have and was able to get rid of. (At least I got rid of
everything the various scanners I used found.) But Win Ex was still
crashing after that. So I did a System Restore back to Jan 15,
knowing that was far enough back to pre-date the crashing problem.
This is only the second time I've ever used System Restore, and it
seems to have done away with Windows Explorer crashing, I thought I
could sleep peacefully tonight.

Now reading Ken's words, I am concerned about having restored back
three weeks. I hate the idea of un-doing the restore and spending
countless hours trying to solve the crashing problem, but at the
same time, I am now uneasy about perhaps having set myself up for
future problems by going back 3 weeks.

While I also am not comfortable going back more than a week with
System Restore, I also firmly believe that if it's not broken, don't
fix it. Poking at this more and at this point, could cause more
problems. My vote goes to: leave it alone.

Colliope, my vote is with Sharon. I wouldn't have done it in the first
place, but if it's working OK now, leave it alone. My concern with using
System Restore to go back too far is one of the *likelihood* of its causing
problems, not certainty.

 

[Colliope .com]

Thankyou, Ken.

Could either of you explain in more detail then just "out of sync" why
you would normally recommend against restoring back more than 2 weeks or
so?

Thanks,

C

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

Restoring back more than a week or so can sometimes cause more problems than
it fixes. What will happen when a system is restored is all setting made
after the restore point being used will be gone, and any application
installed at that time will also be impacted. What happens is, System
Restore will remove the monitored files for the installed applications and
the remaining non monitored files are left behind. Any registry entries made
by the installation of the application will also be gone. This will cause
the application not to function. And in some cases, cause the uninstall and
reinstall process of the partially removed application to fail. This is why
it is recommended to uninstall any applications installed after the restore
point you will be restoring to. If the uninstall and reinstall fail, try to
undo the restore point, uninstall the application in question, then perform
the restore again. The only other option would be to manually remove (for
advanced users) leftover files, folders, shortcuts, and registry entries.

This is why it's best to use System Restore as soon as a problem is recognized.

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[Colliope .com]

Just what I wanted to know, in language I could understand. Thankyou,
Bert.

C

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thankyou, Ken.

Could either of you explain in more detail then just "out of sync" why
you would normally recommend against restoring back more than 2 weeks
or so?

You're welcome. I was about to, but I see that Bert already did, and I
really don't have anything to add.

 

[Bert Kinney]

You're very welcome.

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org