[Diane P.]

I installed a piece of software, didn't like the way it behaved and did a system restore to earlier in the day. Windows (64-bit HPrem) hung on boot to a black screen. I re-booted into Safe Mode and I immediately got a message that said my system was successfully restored. I rebooted the PC and everything was fine, except that all my security software was disabled. I just don't know why the message of successful restoration didn't pop-up in Normal Mode.

Before I did the system restore, should I have disabled Anti-Malware Bytes, SAntiSpyware, Avast and my firewall? I have a feeling that the security software, some of which scans on startup may have caused an issue, but I'm not certain. I did have the PC offline when I did the system restore so that there was no possibility of infection.

I restarted all the security software and all was fine and the restore has caused no problems. Is this unusual behavior for Win7?

Diane

[Byron Tarbox]

Normally the system restore may fail if there is antivirus running, but, I'm thinking, since its a 64-bit system, antivirus programs are not allowed to sink any hooks into the kernel of the OS, which means that the system can successfully disable antivirus programs or anything else that may interfere otherwise, and go ahead with the SR. The subsequent blank screen on boot seems related but also self-recovered which is pretty common since Windows can restart any program or driver that was problematic or accomplish the same thing by rebooting.

[Clint Rossmere]

Try uninstalling the offending software prior to doing a "system restore", and check for any remnants of it after a successful restore.
System restore has limited capabilities and is only meant to get things working again. It does not clean up after a software install has gone South.

This post has been edited by Clint Rossmere: 2010-06-22 04:47

[Ted Myers]

Diane P., on 2010-06-21 22:14, said:

I installed a piece of software, didn't like the way it behaved and did a system restore to earlier in the day. Windows (64-bit HPrem) hung on boot to a black screen. I re-booted into Safe Mode and I immediately got a message that said my system was successfully restored. I rebooted the PC and everything was fine, except that all my security software was disabled. I just don't know why the message of successful restoration didn't pop-up in Normal Mode.

Before I did the system restore, should I have disabled Anti-Malware Bytes, SAntiSpyware, Avast and my firewall? I have a feeling that the security software, some of which scans on startup may have caused an issue, but I'm not certain. I did have the PC offline when I did the system restore so that there was no possibility of infection.

I restarted all the security software and all was fine and the restore has caused no problems. Is this unusual behavior for Win7?

Diane

System restore is NOT designed to uninstall software, in fact it does not uninstall software. Use a good uninstaller such as Revo Uninstaller for that task. System restore basically restores system files to an earlier state. I would also use CCleaner to clean up leftover junk.

You must uninstall software using the proper method. You also appear to have several security apps running at the same time. This can cause problems as well. Choose one each AV and AntiMalware app to run in real time. Also with Windows 7, the Windows firewall is much better than in previous versions, so a 3rd party firewall is not necessarily neededd. Reserve all other AM apps to periodic scans, but do not let them run in the background.

Once you get everything back to where it was, use an imaging app to image your OS partition so that if things get hosed again, a simple restore using the image is much quicker.

[Byron Tarbox]

Technically true but effectively it does uninstall since all hooks lead to/from the registry are gone once an earlier copy replaces the current and that is what is important when it comes to the Windows OS. It is not neat and tidy though of course to rely on SR as the sole method of program removal, but in conjunction with a normal uninstall, provided the system remains viable for such activity, it's fine.

[Ted Myers]

Byron Tarbox, on 2010-06-22 12:45, said:

Technically true but effectively it does uninstall since all hooks lead to/from the registry are gone once an earlier copy replaces the current and that is what is important when it comes to the Windows OS.

Perhaps all hooks to the OS would be removed, but since SR does not remove all traces of an app, there will be leftovers which as we all know are not something we want left in our systems.

Byron Tarbox, on 2010-06-22 12:45, said:

It is not neat and tidy though of course to rely on SR as the sole method of program removal,

Yes SR in conjuction with a normal uninstall would work, but only if the normal uninstall was performed before the SR. That's the real reason that a complete uninstall of an app should be done.

Byron Tarbox, on 2010-06-22 12:45, said:

but in conjunction with a normal uninstall, provided the system remains viable for such activity, it's fine.

SR is a poor alternative to a system image. It may solve a problem, or may not solve a problem. It may help a system to be more stable but I have read just as frequently that SR has not helped. That's the biggest argument for a good image on a regular basis.

Sorry to have gotten slightly off topic. In the original question, an uninstall, followed by disabling security S/W, followed by a system restore may have helped in this situation, but several different security S/W apps all running can cause more problems than they solve.

[Jean Parrot]

I find it strange that nobody mentioned the " Programmes & Features " in the Control Panel. That is the way to remove an unwanted programme.

[Clint Rossmere]

The use of "Programs & Features" in the control panel is one of the first methods to use when uninstalling a program.
If this doesn't work, then the use of the programs own uninstaller should be tried. After these attempts have failed,
a third party app like Revo can be tried. Finally, it can also be done manually by removing registry entries and deleting
the physical-location folders and items.

See Fred Langa's latest article on "Use Windows System Restore with caution ".

[Ted Myers]

Jean Parrot, on 2010-06-22 20:13, said:

I find it strange that nobody mentioned the " Programmes & Features " in the Control Panel. That is the way to remove an unwanted programme.

When I say an app should be uninstalled appropriately, I use Revo Uninstaller. It uses the normal Windows Uninstaller for the initial uninstall (or the apps uninstaller if there is one) then further hunts for leftovers to uninstall them. I guess I wrongly assumed that my readers would understand that the normal Windows Uninstaller was found in Programs and Features. Sorry for the oversight on my part, and yes you are correct, the normal Windows uninstaller is located in the Control Panel, Programs and Features. Thanks for reminding me to be a little more complete in my answers. Not everyone knows where to look for these features.

[Byron Tarbox]

Quote

SR is a poor alternative to a system image. It may solve a problem, or may not solve a problem. It may help a system to be more stable but I have read just as frequently that SR has not helped. That's the biggest argument for a good image on a regular basis.

Its not an alternative. SR is like carrying the six shooter around to shoot varmits, snakes and the occasional stagecoach robber. System image is like the shotgun, for when things get serious. Any attempts to equate the two are misguided at best but also any attempts to disjoin the strengths of each in conjunction is equally misguided.

Quote

would understand that the normal Windows Uninstaller was found in Programs and Features. Sorry for the oversight on my part

Mea culpa as well.

[Diane P.]

I think I wasn't clear in my original post. I didn't use system restore to remove the offending software....I did uninstall properly from within Windows and used CCleaner after to remove any droppings. I then did a restore to earlier in the day

I wasn't prepared for the black screen at bootup after doing the system restore. I got the "system was restored successfully" as soon as I booted into Safe Mode. All was well and system operated normally except all my security software was disabled which was no big deal, but I never had that happen before. I did take myself offline when I do this stuff so there was no issue with security. But for future reference, is it a good idea to to temporarily halt things like AVAST, SAS, firewalls when you so a system restore. All these programs do scan on startup and perhaps all of them running at once on reboot caused this behavior.

Thanks.

[Clint Rossmere]

Diane P., on 2010-06-23 01:51, said:

I think I wasn't clear in my original post. I didn't use system restore to remove the offending software....I did uninstall properly from within Windows and used CCleaner after to remove any droppings. I then did a restore to earlier in the day

I wasn't prepared for the black screen at bootup after doing the system restore. I got the "system was restored successfully" as soon as I booted into Safe Mode. All was well and system operated normally except all my security software was disabled which was no big deal, but I never had that happen before. I did take myself offline when I do this stuff so there was no issue with security. But for future reference, is it a good idea to to temporarily halt things like AVAST, SAS, firewalls when you so a system restore. All these programs do scan on startup and perhaps all of them running at once on reboot caused this behavior.

Thanks.

My Apologies.

Quote

All these programs do scan on startup and perhaps all of them running at once on reboot caused this behavior.

Perhaps the combinations in the above programs did cause the crash.
Taking yourself offline during all this was a good precaution and it can't hurt to disable some of your more intrusive
startup applications prior to a system restore in the future.

[Ted Myers]

My apologies as well. I also thought from your original post that an uninstall was not done. I also suspect the security software, which under normal conditions are vital, caused an unexpected problem. Glad it's all back to normal.

[Jean Parrot]

Ted, good morning to you.

" When I say an app should be uninstalled appropriately, I use Revo Uninstaller. It uses the normal Windows Uninstaller for the initial uninstall ".

From W 3.1, I always assumed that the machine knows better than I so I always followed the proper procedure as explained in Help. ( ??? ) It definitely said that Add/Remove is the way to go. Now, thanks, I have learned that the Revo uses the Uninstaller, a nicer way to go.

I always went to Regedit after the Add/Remove and found slews of leftovers. This gave me the false impression that I was really the Master of the machine. Ha ! JP.

[James McLeod]

This is my procedure to uninstall software:
1) Revo Uninstaller;
2) CCleaner

~and~ if the software could have really sunk its hooks in everything
3) After a reboot, System Restore.

I have not had to resort to #3 yet, but you n-e-v-e-r k-n-o-w...

Take care!

[Ted Myers]

Jean Parrot, on 2010-06-24 07:55, said:

Ted, good morning to you.

" When I say an app should be uninstalled appropriately, I use Revo Uninstaller. It uses the normal Windows Uninstaller for the initial uninstall ".

From W 3.1, I always assumed that the machine knows better than I so I always followed the proper procedure as explained in Help. ( ??? ) It definitely said that Add/Remove is the way to go. Now, thanks, I have learned that the Revo uses the Uninstaller, a nicer way to go.

I always went to Regedit after the Add/Remove and found slews of leftovers. This gave me the false impression that I was really the Master of the machine. Ha ! JP.

Yes, the normal uninstaller does leave a lot of stuff behind in many cases. That's where Revo comes in. It searches for this left over stuff and allows it to be deleted. This along with CCleaner will clean up much of this leftover stuff. There may still be traces that a good manual cleaning would find, but this is very timeconsuming and I just don't do it any more since Revo and CCleaner do such a nice job.

[Bruce Jones]

I see that most of the responders use Revo for uninstalling and CCleaner for cleanup.

CCleaner has an integrated uninstall tool, which I have been using successfully for a couple of years. What are the advantages, if any, of using Revo, rather than CCleaner, for uninstalling?

Thanks!

[Ted Myers]

Bruce Jones, on 2010-06-24 15:22, said:

I see that most of the responders use Revo for uninstalling and CCleaner for cleanup.

CCleaner has an integrated uninstall tool, which I have been using successfully for a couple of years. What are the advantages, if any, of using Revo, rather than CCleaner, for uninstalling?

Thanks!

I am not sure i CCleaner does or does not do as good a job at Uninstalling as Revo does. I guess I just like Revo for the uninstall and CCleaner for the cleanup. Perhaps it's what we are accustomed to.

[Greg Hughes]

The best uninstaller made is Total Uninstall Professional available at www.martau.com. This app monitors every change made to your machine during the install of a program (or anything else) and keeps a record so that it can be uninstalled totally. That said, this app is probably not for beginners and it costs money, but nothing else comes close. It will also uninstall apps that were not monitored during installation. It first uses the apps own uninstaller, then cleans up the files left behind. Try it if you want the best uninstaller made. I am not in any way affiliated with the author of Total Uninstaller Pro, just a VERY satisfied user, and I figured I'd recommend it after reading this posting.

[Ted Myers]

Two things, 1- not free, 2- Has to run in the background to monitor the installs. I just do not like any extra apps running in the background, so I will stick with Revo. Thanks for the recommendation though.

This post has been edited by Ted Myers: 2010-06-24 19:29