Ongoing used of Windows Repair

[Moondoggy]

OK, I downloaded Windows Repair and it found and fixed things but it's still installed on my PC and runs at startup.  My question is why?  Granted I could have new corruptions that sneak in over time but what good does it do to have yet application running at startup?  If there's a benefit I would like to know what it is so I can evaluate whether or not I want to have it run at startup.

I guess another question I have is whether people run this program periodically to insure their PC's health or do you only run it when you sense there's a problem?

Don't get me wrong this program saved my bacon when I couldn't upgrade to Windows 10 but now that I appear to have a good working install of Windows 10 I'm wondering what the ongoing value is of having it installed.

[Willy2]

- Windows Repair (WR) doesn't keep running. It's a (small) program that controls the system tray icon and that can start WR. If you don't like it then remove the program ("WR_Tray_Icon.exe") from Task Scheduler(with e.g. Piriform's Ccleaner). Or change the settings in WR's settings menu.

[Moondoggy]

OK, thanks for the info.  Do you have any feedback on when and how often WR should be run and for what reason?

[Boggin]

Given that Shane is always looking for ways to improve WR and producing newer versions as and when, I think it's best to uninstall it after use and then come back here and download afresh as it could be a newer version.

As for when to use it - I would suggest when you are having problems and/or a sfc /scannow reports that it is unable to repair some files - but isn't Win 10 supposed to be able to sense when something is amiss and repair itself - or at least try to ?

[Willy2]

- The name itself already gives a clue. Windows REPAIR !!!
- If you suspect something is wrong then run run it. Or if you have removed malware. Malware tends to change (A LOT OF) things. No need to run it more often.
- I also would recommend installing Tweaking's Registry Backup. It makes a copy of the registry upon start up. Can save A LOT OF hassle !!!

[Julian]

I use it because in pro benefits you have easy access to stuff.

[Moondoggy]

- The name itself already gives a clue. Windows REPAIR !!!
- If you suspect something is wrong then run run it. Or if you have removed malware. Malware tends to change (A LOT OF) things. No need to run it more often.
- I also would recommend installing Tweaking's Registry Backup. It makes a copy of the registry upon start up. Can save A LOT OF hassle !!!

Here's where I'm coming from.....

From the time I built my PC with Windows 7 Pro I never had a virus, never had any malware, I use a top tier AV product and I ran CCleaner frequently to get rid of my junk files.  The only thing I can say is that I have tried out numerous programs on my PC which required me to install and then remove the apps.  From my standpoint, my PC was a model of what most people should be doing to keep their PC's running at peak efficiency.  That being said, when I went to upgrade to Windows 10 I could not because of some corruption in the configuration settings of my PC and Windows Repair fixed whatever problems existed that allowed me to upgrade.  After I upgraded my PC to Windows 10 one would have assumed that since I had already run Windows Repair before the upgrade that my PC would have been really problem free.  However, after having a problem that required me to do a full hard drive restore of Windows 10 I ran Windows Repair again and again it found a ton of problems.  Since the Acronis backup image I created was made 1 day after my upgrade I was astounded over the amount of problems my PC had.  Was this a case of the older version of Windows Repair not catching it all since it was only run once instead of twice and was run in regular mode vs safe mode or was this a newer version of Windows Repair that fixed things better than the old version?  I don't know.  My concern is that if I had corruptions that were captured in a day old Acronis backup image is Windows Repair something that people run on a regular basis to keep their PC's running at optimum levels?  As like I stated earlier, I assumed that my Windows 7 OS at the time of upgrading to Windows 10 was completely error free and found out differently and would like to keep my Windows 10 OS as clean as possible.

[Julian]

Uh what version of Windows repair did you use???

[Moondoggy]

Uh what version of Windows repair did you use???

The Microsoft tier 2 technician that first used Windows Repair, while my PC was still Windows 7 Pro, used version 3.3.0.1 that he downloaded on 8/6/2015.  It was 3.3.0.1 that fixed a 8007005 Windows Update error that wouldn't allow me to download Windows 10 or even use a Windows 10 Pro install DVD to upgrade my PC.  I'm not sure what it fixed, but after running Windows Repair I was able to upgrade my PC to Windows 10 Pro.

The version that I used on Windows 10 Pro, after I restored my HD from the backup taken on 8/7/2015, was version 3.4.0.3.  The reason I ran Windows Repair again was that Windows 10, after the restore, was reporting an 0x8024402f error while trying to manually invoke Windows Update.  Windows Repair did not fix this problem but after days of trying various fixes and running various scans, Windows update simply started working on it's own.  There's been speculation that Microsoft simply put something in place that blocked all updates to Windows 10 users until they could complete there most recent cumulative update that was made available on the 28th.  One side benefit of running Windows Repair again on the 8/26 was that it did fix another problem.

After I upgraded to Windows 10, each time I would perform a cold boot, the screen would display the Windows 10 splash screen and then the screen would go completely black for 16 second or more before it would display the Login screen.  I thought it was a bad video driver as my graphics card is 6 years old and AMD has not produced a driver update for it in 3 years.  I was about to go out and spend $200 on a new card but after running Windows Repair 3.4.0.3 the black screen only shows up for 1 second or less.  Again, I'm not sure what Windows Repair fixed but I'm very happy with the results. 

My primary concern now is keeping my system health and what I was wondering was whether forum members frequently run Windows Repair just to verify that no problems have crept into their systems or whether they only run it if they know that there's a problem.  If they do run Windows Repair frequently, how frequently is it used?

[Willy2]

- Do you mean v3.43 ?
- I only run it when I think I have problems on my Win 7 system.
- Win 8 & Win 10 seem to be very sensitive to inproper states of permissions and that is also fixed by WR. I would assume that that could be the reason of a malfunctioning Windows.

[Moondoggy]

- Do you mean v3.43 ?

I got the version numbers by looking at the properties of the download files and the details pages shows 3.4.0.3.  Perhaps the author shortens up the version number by dropping the third digit.

Thanks for the info on when you use WR.  I'll keep that in mind.

[Willy2]

- I look at what the header of the GUI tells me. And there it says "v3.4.3".

[Shane]

I updated WR to v3.5.0 which if you read the change log you will see is a big improvement and works better with Windows 10 and in fact all the Windows versions

You can keep the program installed and use it when you need it, if you keep the default setting of it checking for any updates when you open it, it will let you know if there is a new version, and if you have the program it will even auto update, if you tell it to.

The program doesnt check for updates in the background, only when you open it, and even then it is a simple 5 byte file to grab the current version number.

Shane