Messages

1

Tweaking.com Support & Help / Re: problems with tweaks

« on: April 11, 2017, 07:13:55 am »

Pps 
I have rebooted and no longer get notepad opening on bootup, so I think that deleting the registry entry that windows repair created fixed the problem, and that the new manually created registry key does not cause notepad to open on bootup.  Curious - I have no idea why the tweaking created key should have had that effect, since it was the same as the one I created except in the respects that I mentioned above.

I would be interested in any light anyone can shine on this, and also how one can use windows repair to reverse a tweak that it has created.

2

Tweaking.com Support & Help / Re: problems with tweaks

« on: April 09, 2017, 01:31:04 pm »

Ps  I should have added that there are no startups shown in msconfig for notepad.  I can find no startups for notepad in startup organiser by MetaProducts.  There are no links in any startup folder - see uploaded everything search.  I do note that there is a copy of notepad.exe in both C:\windows and C:\windows\system32.  I do not know why that should be, but see no reason why it should cause the program to run on startup.  Any ideas why Notepad opens automatically when I reboot?

Is there any way to reverse any of the tweaks in Windows Repair? 

Incidentally, I do have the pro version.

3

Tweaking.com Support & Help / Re: problems with tweaks

« on: April 09, 2017, 12:57:21 pm »

Thanks Willy2.  It is an English version, I believe.

Thanks jpm.  Eventually I found the entry in the context menu inserted by windows repair - it was entitled "open", and I had not found it before because it was not present in the context menu of a .reg file, although I did find it in the context menu of a .rtf file.  I also created my another entry following the instructions you referred me to, and that did cause Open with Notepad, as I had named the key, to appear in the context menu.  The only difference between the key created by windows repair and the key I created manually so far as I could see was that I had named the subkey "Command", whereas that in the key created by windows repair was named "command".  I noticed that I was unable to change the name of either key only by changing the case from upper to lower, or vice versa, but on trying to do so got a message that the registry editor could not rename it  because a key of the name chosen already existed.  This suggested that the naming is not case sensitive, and so I can only wonder why the entry made by windows repair would not appear in the context menu of a .reg file.

I will send some images.

4

Tweaking.com Support & Help / problems with tweaks

« on: April 02, 2017, 10:02:06 am »

When I recently ran windows repair, I selected a tweak to add open with notepad to the file context menu of my XP machine.  Unfortunately, it has not achieved that aim, and also, each time when I reboot,  I get 3 instances of notepad open with no content, which are only a nuisance to have to close again, but it appears that something has gone wrong.  Can you please advise:
1.   How to achieve the intended result
2.   How to fix the opening of unwanted instances of notepad; and
3.   How to reverse a tweak if need be (simply run the tweak think again but with that particular tweak deselected?)

5

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 12, 2017, 11:53:38 am »

Thanks, Samson, for the reference to the adobe flash removal tool, which I was unaware of.  I'll use it if I find that the automatic updates are still not working for Adobe Flash.

I suppose I run the malicious software removal tool (which is what I referred to as the malware removal tool) in case it does some good that has not already been done by any of my other defences - blind flying, like so much of computing, but I see no reason to assume that my other defences are 100% effective.

6

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 12, 2017, 11:23:26 am »

Ps 

I have not of course established whether there was any connection with the services repair I carried out via the repair tool - it may have been a mere coincidence that the problem arose around when I first used the tool and Ihave no way of checking that out now - unless of course it returns if and when I have occasion to use the tool again. 

I notice that Boggin suggested that the windows update service might as well be disabled now, but would that not disable all MS updates, including to MS Office updates and the malware removal tool?  Was he referring to the service called "Automatic Updates"?

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions.

7

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 12, 2017, 11:13:29 am »

Updating adobe flash today did not fix anything.  But I now seem to have got rid of the myserious empty black box, by uninstalling adobe flash via add/remove programs, and then rebooting followed by reinstalling adobe flash.  It remains to be seen whether it will update automatically in future.  I did not also reinstall the active x version for internet explorer, which is now so out of date I thought it better not to install adobe flash for it - I only use it for the ms update function and for viewing old .mht files.

8

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 12, 2017, 10:14:29 am »

Annoying, and aberrant.  It is the adobe flash updater that is affected, and I have noticed that the flash updater does not appear to have been updating automatically recently, despite being set to do so.  I have updated adobe flash today to the most recent version, and yet it is still causing the empty black box to appear when I run the scheduled update task.
 

9

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 11, 2017, 06:33:32 am »

I think I have moved the matter forward now, albeit by a slightly different route.

I tried running the scheduled Adobe Flash Player update task a few times, and on each occasion, if I left at least a few seconds between runs, the mystery black box appeared.   The same did not happen when running other scheduled tasks.  So I think the link to Adobe is clearly established.  I note however that when running certain tasks a similar box opened to inform of progress, and I now upload a couple of screenprints showing that.  They relate to the Windows defrag utility, the UltraDefrag utility, and a script that I schedule to run periodically via TakeCommand to flush data from cache to drive (to reduce the potential data loss from a system hang or crash).  The odd thing about the Adobe box is that it opens but is empty.  I suppose I could try uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe flash player to see whether doing so removes this odd behaviour, but the fact that this behaviour only differs from other established behaviour in that the box is empty seems to suggest that it is probably not indicative of a substantive problem. 

10

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 10, 2017, 02:28:15 pm »

Thanks Boggin.  All of that gives me a number of ways of homing in on the source of this odd behaviour.  I will report back when I have followed those leads.

11

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 10, 2017, 10:07:05 am »

Yes - I'll do that - disable the adobe updater - and report back.

Presumably the black box is svchost.exe running and for some reason showing a console.

We have yet to establish a link to Adobe updater, but for what it is worth I can see no switches on the script in the scheduled task.

12

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 09, 2017, 02:39:12 pm »

Yes, Adobe flash is a scheduled task.  What is odd to my mind is not that svc.exe should be running, if that is what is happening, but that it opens the box or window.  I suspect a switch or something like that for opening the window instead of running silently, and may be that got corrupted when I ran the repair, but of course that is post hoc ergo propter hoc, and may not be the connection at all.

13

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 09, 2017, 01:16:43 pm »

It has now happened again, and from the event viewer it appears that it happened at about the same time as or only a few seconds after the adobe update service ran.  The entries listed by the svchost.exe lookup tool were the same before, during and after the box opened - and I did think to have it open and have refreshed it already and then to refresh the list while the box was open and then again afterwards.  There was no change in the total number of services and total number of instances of svc host running, and the entries showing in the lookup tool are copied below.  I also upload herewith a copy of the screenprint I took of the box that opens, and a copy of the log file that I saved from the svchost.exe lookup tool.  Any ideas?

--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Automatic Updates
Service: wuauserv
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Service: BITS
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: COM+ Event System
Service: EventSystem
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Computer Browser
Service: Browser
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Cryptographic Services
Service: CryptSvc
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: DCOM Server Process Launcher
Service: DcomLaunch
PID: 1300
PID Memory: 05.66 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost -k DcomLaunch
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: DHCP Client
Service: Dhcp
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: DNS Client
Service: Dnscache
PID: 1652
PID Memory: 04.44 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k NetworkService
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: ERSvc
Service: ERSvc
PID: 2224
PID Memory: 03.56 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Fast User Switching Compatibility
Service: FastUserSwitchingCompatibility
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Help and Support
Service: helpsvc
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Infrared Monitor
Service: Irmon
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Logical Disk Manager
Service: dmserver
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Network Connections
Service: Netman
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Service: Nla
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Remote Access Connection Manager
Service: RasMan
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Service: RpcSs
PID: 1436
PID Memory: 05.88 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost -k rpcss
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Remote Registry
Service: RemoteRegistry
PID: 1784
PID Memory: 03.18 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Secondary Logon
Service: seclogon
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Security Center
Service: wscsvc
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Server
Service: LanmanServer
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Shell Hardware Detection
Service: ShellHWDetection
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: System Event Notification
Service: SENS
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: System Restore Service
Service: srservice
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Task Scheduler
Service: Schedule
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Service: LmHosts
PID: 1784
PID Memory: 03.18 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Telephony
Service: TapiSrv
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Terminal Services
Service: TermService
PID: 1300
PID Memory: 05.66 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost -k DComLaunch
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Themes
Service: Themes
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: TrkWks
Service: TrkWks
PID: 3848
PID Memory: 03.21 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: WebClient
Service: WebClient
PID: 796
PID Memory: 03.90 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Windows Audio
Service: AudioSrv
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
Service: SharedAccess
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Service: stisvc
PID: 3364
PID Memory: 06.80 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k imgsvc
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Windows Management Instrumentation
Service: winmgmt
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Windows Time
Service: W32Time
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Wireless Zero Configuration
Service: WZCSVC
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Service Display Name: Workstation
Service: LanmanWorkstation
PID: 1532
PID Memory: 50.46 MB
Path: C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
--------------------------------------------------------------

14

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 09, 2017, 12:34:27 pm »

Thanks all.  I will try to get some more data when it next happens.

15

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 09, 2017, 03:51:03 am »

Thanks Boggin.  I will try to get a screenprint in due course, but I think it is blank apart from the heading.  The only problem with disabling services as you suggest is that it is very intermittent.  It may happen only once or twice a day, I think, so it would be difficult to draw any conclusion from whether it seems to be happening after disabling the services, at least until it happens, which may take ages.  And since there is no trace of its happening after the box has closed, so far as I am aware, I would have to sit in front of the computer all day, with most of the functionality turned off, to watch for it.

16

General Computer Support / Re: Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 09, 2017, 03:01:51 am »

Thanks for your reply. Samson.  Screenprints of the output attached.  Do they show anything that sheds light on my query?

17

General Computer Support / Effect of "Restore Important Windows Services"

« on: January 08, 2017, 01:27:36 pm »

XP SP3 & v3.9.21 of Windows Repair Pro.

Since fixing a problem with services crashing, I seem to have successfully fixed it by running Restore Important Windows Services.  And I also ran a repair of the WMI and some other Windows functions.  Since then, I have noticed that periodically a black window like a Windows Command Processor window opens, but with the title svchost.exe at the top.  It generally remains for about 20 seconds and then disappears.  This behaviour did not occur before running the repairs.  Can any one please shed light on what is happening, why, whether it indicates the need to do anything further, and if so what?  I will try to get a screenprint of it and upload it here when ithis behaviour next occurs.

18

Tweaking.com Support & Help / Getting stuck in safe mode

« on: November 08, 2016, 05:51:09 am »

A couple of times now I have used reboot to safe mode, got into safe mode ok, and then when I rebooted again I repeatedly got safe mode instead of a normal boot.  On each occasion, I fixed it by running the safe mode repair in Windows Repair.

I am using the current version of Windows Repair on XP Pro SP3, on the prior occasion when this occurred I was using v3.9.11 or 12.

I wonder what is going wrong here, or what I am doing wrong.  Also, I note that if I go to safe mode by hitting F8 during the bios splash screen, there is a substantial period during which masses of drivers etc are scrolling down the screen, but this seems to be bypassed when I use reboot to safe mode in Windows Repair, and wonder why there seems to be a different route to booting in safe mode when I use reboot to safe mode.