System Restore Alternatives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry R Harrison Jr
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L

Larry R Harrison Jr

I have Windows 2000 installed on a 433MHz machine (yes, it's ancient). Due
to its being only a 433MHz I installed 2000 instead of XP Professional
because I figured 2000 was a better match to the machine's age, wouldn't
"overwhelm" it as much as XP Pro would, especially by the time you do SP2 or
whatever the latest service packs & updates are & everything.

Anyhow, I do realize that 2000 does not have "System Restore" which is one
XP Pro feature I love--if I install something new and then find it it's
spyware city, I can easily get rid of all remnants of it using System
Restore. (My wife loves to download games & install them, and often-times we
find out it has spyware & other junk on it, and at that time I'm quite
hard-up about getting totally rid of all remnants of it--I go through
considerable pains to get my computers as "clean" as possible so that their
performance isn't compromised.)

Since Windows 2000 doesn't have this, what are other options? I do hear of
people saying to backup the registry, but I get confused about how to do
it--some settings in doing this results in a file that's many megabytes in
size (like 30-70 megabytes or something)--isn't that awfully big for a
registry file? Also, wouldn't that still leave "remnants" of an undesired
program behind?

I did find this KB240363 article about it, is this what I am supposed to do?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=240363

(I also found this at Google where 3rd party programs are mentioned:
http://tinyurl.com/rxq8s)

Tips?

LRH
 
I've used Erunt, and it worked when I needed it.
I presume you have a malaware/spyware scanners, eg Defender, SpyBot, Adaware
all free, as well as anti virus.
 
Correct, there is no system restore in Windows 2000. You can run
Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Backup, then choose ERD, then if you check
the box for "Also backup....", then the reg will also be backed up to
%systemroot%\repair\RegBack
leaving the
%systemroot%\repair\
directory files intact as original installation.

Then archive the files in
%systemroot%\repair\RegBack
These would, in effect, be registry restore points.

You can replace registry hives from within the recovery console by copying
the files from your archive to;
%systemroot%\system32\config

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks. At
the "Welcome to Setup" screen. Press F10 or R to repair a Windows 2000
installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The Recovery
Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do not have
the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer: drive
root, %systemroot% or %windir%


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I have Windows 2000 installed on a 433MHz machine (yes, it's ancient). Due
| to its being only a 433MHz I installed 2000 instead of XP Professional
| because I figured 2000 was a better match to the machine's age, wouldn't
| "overwhelm" it as much as XP Pro would, especially by the time you do SP2
or
| whatever the latest service packs & updates are & everything.
|
| Anyhow, I do realize that 2000 does not have "System Restore" which is one
| XP Pro feature I love--if I install something new and then find it it's
| spyware city, I can easily get rid of all remnants of it using System
| Restore. (My wife loves to download games & install them, and often-times
we
| find out it has spyware & other junk on it, and at that time I'm quite
| hard-up about getting totally rid of all remnants of it--I go through
| considerable pains to get my computers as "clean" as possible so that
their
| performance isn't compromised.)
|
| Since Windows 2000 doesn't have this, what are other options? I do hear of
| people saying to backup the registry, but I get confused about how to do
| it--some settings in doing this results in a file that's many megabytes in
| size (like 30-70 megabytes or something)--isn't that awfully big for a
| registry file? Also, wouldn't that still leave "remnants" of an undesired
| program behind?
|
| I did find this KB240363 article about it, is this what I am supposed to
do?
|
| http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=240363
|
| (I also found this at Google where 3rd party programs are mentioned:
| http://tinyurl.com/rxq8s)
|
| Tips?
|
| LRH
|
|
 
Thanks for the tips. By the way, I have installed Erunt but I don't see
where it gives the option of doing a "system restore" of sorts. Where is
that? (So far, all it has done is create a folder in Windows where it keeps
a backup of the registry.)

LRH
 
Oh, I see now. Within each folder, (there are date-stamped folders for each
restore point under the path "C: WinNt \ ERDNT") there is a ERDNT.EXE file
you double-click, and that is how you "restore." Got it.

LRH
 
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