New Version 2.85

[silhouett]

I have windows 8.1 64 bit, I had run windows repair tweak 2.84 with no issues except I had noticed in the event log a warning Interactive service not running error. I had started it but it was in manual so I think it should have started on it's own, I then ran 2.84 with no issues.   Now I am running 2.85 and it is still on step 1  registery permissions toggling between process count 139, 140 doing drive writes but it has literally been 51 minutes and nothing seems to have changed ?  Version 2.4 was far past this stage and done by now.


 

[Shane]

140 processes is a LOT to have running in the back ground while the repairs are running. On my system I never have more than 60 to 65 processes running at any one time.

You should really see what you have running in the back ground and why so many.

Also when the repair is running, if you check the task manager you should see cmd.exe running and SetACL_64.exe running. The SetACL_64.exe is what is setting the permissions so you should see it running and using CPU.

But it is very possible one of those programs you have running is getting in the way of the repair. Also, on the next version of WR 2.8.6, which I am releasing monday, I have changed the way the program waits for a repair to finish. I had fund that on slower machines that the repair cmd.exe wouldn't open fast enough and so the program would think the repair was done and start the next repair. I now have working better and keeping that from happening.

Shane

[silhouett]

Thanks for the quick replay, Yes I am a process-holic

Attached is what is running

[Shane]

You have 4 or 5 different backup programs all running, you have multiple antivirus programs running (Which is a bad idea, they can conflict with each other) and a bunch of other things, that there is a good chance you dont need to have running in the background

I am going to be changing the interface in WR soon to ask the user to please start the system in clean boot mode and then run the repairs. Cleanboot mode is where none of the 3rd party programs are started. I have found more than a few times, where people ran the repairs on a system with nearly 3 times the amount of normal processes running would get random and odd problems with the repairs. Some of the repairs didnt run right because multiple programs where scanning it and keeping it from working or messing with what it was trying to do. Other times the system was simply out of resources because of the number of things open and so the repairs didnt work correctly.

Not to mention that it slows the repairs down by a large amount.

Shane

[silhouett]

Well they are backups for diffrent things, Google, Samsung Pictures I take with Camera, Arconis for drive image etc.. 

SO how do I exit your software ? LOL  it says Stopping, Waiting for current repair to finish...

[Shane]

Did you check to see if the two of these programs are running?

Also when the repair is running, if you check the task manager you should see cmd.exe running and SetACL_64.exe running. The SetACL_64.exe is what is setting the permissions so you should see it running and using CPU.

Shane

[silhouett]

Ok It stopped... I then rebooted, shut down a bunch of processes and ran it again,  It went through complete this time no hanging.
Yeah I think the reboot and run option would be a good thing to add as I did try your software in safe mode but it says somethings wont work right.

I think this is one of the best fix programs I have ever seen for windows.   I am a tinkerer and I have written programs in c++ and Visual Basic myself but
am always interested in software that helps with system bugs.   


Thanks for the help and the program.

[Shane]

Good to hear you got it working. I think i might try to add that message to the program for mondays release, I am just having trouble deciding where to put it. Program is pretty packed already and i want it in a way that the user will see for sure.

Perhaps another window that opens with the program that says that it is highly recommended to run the repairs after a clean boot, and then give instructions on how to do it.

What do you think?

Shane

[silhouett]

Yes that would be good, however some people are not computer swavy and just want a fix.  Could you make an option popup that says reboot and run with limited resources, then do like some programs do for example Acronis True Image will reboot and before anything starts it runs a scan or check disk etc... 

[Shane]

I checked and the only way I found to do a clean boot (At least the easiest way and pretty much the only way) was to use msconfig. I checked and msconfig has no command line options, so I cant have the program do it for them.

If I could find a way to have windows boot into a clean boot from the command line then I could do it for the user. But I wasnt able to find any commands for it. So instead I need to give them a example of how to do it.

Shane

[silhouett]

I believe what some anti Virus and what Acronis does is use some feature of windows that stops startup loading etc while and they are loaded first. I have seen it also used in spybot search and destroy where it can reboot and spybot starts and until it is done other stuff wont load.    Maybe there is a load area reserved in the windows registry for Anti Virus type software etc that allows them to load and until they exit nothing continues ? 

I have seen this command "sc create newservice binpath= <pat_to_the_executable>"  for a service which would load before a user logs in ?

I know you can use the file the  WIN.INI [Load] or [Run] sections found in the Windows directory but not sure if it runs first

We know of these keys below the line but I think maybe this key maybe something to look at

Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit


Shell Value - This value contains a list of comma separated values that Userinit.exe will launch. The default shell for Windows is explorer.exe, though there are legitimate replacements that have been made. When userinit.exe starts the shell, it will first launch the Shell value found in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. If this value is not present, it will then launch the value found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\\Shell
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\\Shell


The rest of the Autostart locations will now be processed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RunOnce Local Machine Key - These keys are designed to be used primarily by Setup programs. Entries in these keys are started once and then are deleted from the key. If there is an- exclamation point preceding the value of the key, the entry will not be deleted until after the program completes, otherwise it will be deleted before the program runs. This is important, because if the exclamation point is not used, and the program referenced in this key fails to complete, it will not run again as it will have already been deleted. All entries in this key are started synchronously in an undefined order. Due to this, all programs in this key must be finished before any entries in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\...\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\RunOnce, and Startup Folders can be loaded. The RunOnce keys are ignored under Windows 2000 and Windows XP in Safe Mode. The RunOnce keys are not supported by Windows NT 3.51.

Registry Keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
 

Run - These are the most common startup locations for programs to install auto start from. By default these keys are not executed in Safe mode. If you prefix the value of these keys with an asterisk, *, it will run in Safe Mode.

Registry Keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
 

All Users Startup Folder - For Windows XP, 2000, and NT, this folder is used for programs that should be auto started for all users who will login to this computer. It is generally found at:

Windows XP   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Windows NT   C:\wont\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Windows 2000   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
 

User Profile Startup Folder - This folder will be executed for the particular user who logs in. This folder is usually found in:

Win 9X, ME   c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup
Windows XP   C:\Documents and Settings\LoginName\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
 

RunOnce Current User Key - These keys are designed to be used primarily by Setup programs. Entries in these keys are started once and then are deleted from the key. If there is an exclamation point preceding the value of the key, the entry will not be deleted until after the program completes, otherwise it will be deleted before the program runs. This is important, because if the exclamation point is not used, and the program referenced in this key fails to complete, it will not run again as it will have already been deleted. The RunOnce keys are ignored under Windows 2000 and Windows XP in Safe Mode. The RunOnce keys are not supported by Windows NT 3.51.

Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
 

Explorer Run - These keys are generally used to load programs as part of a policy set in place on the computer or user.

Registry Keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
 

Load Key - This key is not commonly used anymore, but can be used to auto start programs.

Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\load
 

AppInit_DLLs - This value corresponds to files being loaded through the AppInit_DLLs Registry value. The AppInit_DLLs registry value contains a list of dlls that will be loaded when user32.dll is loaded. As most Windows executables use the user32.dll, that means that any DLL that is listed in the AppInit_DLLs registry key will be loaded also. This makes it very difficult to remove the DLL as it will be loaded within multiple processes, some of which can not be stopped without causing system instability. The user32.dll file is also used by processes that are automatically started by the system when you log on. This means that the files loaded in the AppInit_DLLs value will be loaded very early in the Windows startup routine allowing the DLL to hide itself or protect itself before we have access to the system.

Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
 

ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad - This Registry value contains values in a similar way as the Run key does. The difference is that instead of pointing to the file itself, it points to the CLSID's InProcServer, which contains the information about the particular DLL file that is being used.

The files under this key are loaded automatically by Explorer.exe when your computer starts. Because Explorer.exe is the shell for your computer, it will always start, thus always loading the files under this key. These files are therefore loaded early in the startup process before any human intervention occurs.

Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad
 

SharedTaskScheduler - This section corresponds to files being loaded through the SharedTaskScheduler registry value for XP, NT, 2000 machines. The entries in this registry value run automatically when you start windows.

Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SharedTaskScheduler
 

The following are files that programs can autostart from on bootup:

1. c:\autoexec.bat
2. c:\config.sys
3 . windir\wininit.ini - Usually used by setup programs to have a file run once and then get deleted.
4. windir\winstart.bat
5. windir\win.ini - [windows] "load"
6. windir\win.ini - [windows] "run"
7. windir\system.ini - [boot] "shell"
8 . windir\system.ini - [boot] "scrnsave.exe"
9. windir\dosstart.bat - Used in Win95 or 98 when you select the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" in the shutdown menu.
10. windir\system\autoexec.nt
11. windir\system\config.nt

[Shane]

You know how cool it would be if I could get my WR to run before anything else, including explorer?

I really need to look into how to pull that off in each version of Windows

Shane

[Shane]

You are right, looks like this one registry location might do the trick

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc939862.aspx

Of course background services would still be running from 3rd party programs. But this is worth looking into.

Shane

[silhouett]

Well also look at the Shell Value as that runs explorer, perhaps you could run your program instead ?  then reboot when done.

[silhouett]

I have added you to My Blog http://sitehighway.com menu under assistance.   Not a great honor but I want to make sure people who have some issues try you cool software.

Thanks 

[Shane]

I have added you to My Blog http://sitehighway.com menu under assistance.   Not a great honor but I want to make sure people who have some issues try you cool software.

Thanks 

Thanks 

I tested and played with the userinit and found that it would still need to be done with a clean boot. because even thought the startup times dont get loaded at that point, all the services do. Tested with clean boot option only and it worked best. But has to be done correctly.

So  having a person do a clean boot seems to be the best option. I am working on the new version now to include that. Just have to figure out exactly how I want it and how to word it in a way that any user could follow. Even the ones who barley know how to turn on the system

Shane

[Shane]

OK so I made the page telling people how to do a proper clean boot. I was shocked at how many guides I looked at totally ignore the task scheduler and the items that it starts up.

In the program I will have a message asking people to do a clean boot and then a link to this page on how to do it
http://www.tweaking.com/articles/pages/performing_a_proper_windows_clean_boot_on_xpvista78,1.html

How does that guide look to you, is it easy to follow?

Shane

[Shane]

Ok here is how it looks in the program. Will put it out tomorrow morning.

How does it look to you?

Shane

[silhouett]

Looks good, I understand it.  Find it odd there is no way to say read the current programs starting in msconfig and disable them temp ?  But maybe Microsoft over looked that.

Yeah only time will tell with folls and if they get how to do it.  some will for sure find it easy but a few I am sure will not recheck something etc...

[Shane]

That is also why I put it on the site instead of having the guide in the program, if I need to make changes to it I can do it right on the site

Ok, getting ready to put out the new version. Thanks for working with me

Shane

[Tomas_Sweden]

Shane I think you should write how to start it all again later or just write that they should enable 3rd party programs, services and programs in the  task scheduler that they disabled, unless it is written, some will probably not understand that they have to enable the program again.
I tried a clean boot and then I turned it on again my touchpad software didn't start. Something went wrong so I had to reinstall it.
Tried it once more and with the same result with synaptics touchpad.
What I want to say is that there is a risk that some will have problem when they enable program again after they have done a clean boot.

Sorry for being a killjoy 

Tomas

[Shane]

Odd, I never seen any problems with any programs after re-enabling them after a clean boot. All the msconfig does is disable the services and move the registry startup items to a different folder. When you re-enable things back it simply pouts them back again. It doesn't mess with any of their files or anything.

Sounds like your touch pad software simply wasnt starting back up at startup, if you ever do it again let me know and I would be happy to take a look and see if I can find what is going on.

But you are right on one thing, while most normal users will know to simply go back and re-enable things the same way they went to disable them, there will be some users who simply wont think that lol

So there should be a guide on how to re-enable them back. Or just say on the guide, to re-enable everything simply follow the guide again but choose "Enable" instead of "Disable", because that pretty much is the same process.

Shane

[Tomas_Sweden]

Sounds like your touch pad software simply wasnt starting back up at startup, if you ever do it again let me know and I would be happy to take a look and see if I can find what is going on.

I noticed a thing now, If I disable "Synaptics TouchPad Enhancements" in autoruns and log out, log in again and enable it again log out and log in again it works but if I do the same with msconfig then I have to reinstall the driver again.
You are free to have a look if you want!

Tomas

[Shane]

Yeah shot me an email and we can find a time we are both on and I can teamviewer in and take a look

Shane

[Tomas_Sweden]

So Shane had a look at my computer and the driver was the cause of my problem.
Touchpad was using the varible for program files instead of the actual
path in the registry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run).

Shane, I reinstalled touchpad again and the driver change the path to %ProgramFiles% instead of C:\Program Files\.

Thanks for this Shane! 

Tomas