Advice re: Cleaners and Reg tools

[Longboard]

Hello. First post. I hope I'm doing this right. "You've got to know your limitations"
I am a pretty basic user just trying to stay afloat. I had a recent bout with a browser hijacker and have had a very steep learning curve over the last few months!
I (now) run XPSP2 with NAV/NIS, AVG free,SS&D 1.31, AdAwareSE 1.05, Spywareguard, Spywareblaster and Spysweeper call me paranoid if you wish! I pay attention to the various advices for IE6 settings.
I am well and truly out of my depth following some of the threads here (ie Reg Monitors) The last "programme" I wrote was in Fortran. That ages me I guess! I can follow instructions with the best of them when required.
As part of my work (Doctor) I often have very sensitive personal information on my system.

I started using EE (despite the absurd and noxious advertising)to keep things clean but after doing a full reformat for SP2 install I found info about what it leaves behind and what it does to the registry. I have not reinstalled. (Still waiting for refund)

I am hoping someone might advise me about a good internet/disc cleaner and delete utility.
I am also looking for advice about a good Registry cleaner/defragger.

I have been trolling the net for these over the last few days and realise there are many on offer. Although I appreciate rules based software can be a bit tricky I am not confident of my ability to operate in my registry on my own.

I know you guys support CryptoSuite which seems good. I have checked out a few others like Evidence Washer, WindowsWasher, Tracks Eraser etc.

I know you also support MRU blaster and have a great deal of appreciation for Lavasoft!

SS&D has some regclean functions as I understand.

Eraser I doubt if I could configure.

RegRun V CCleaner V Ace Utilities? (Sys Internals ?too complex)

I am intriuged by the Radsoft suite XPT & EEE but doubt if I could or would use half of it and have failed to get a reply to an e-mail. Does any body know about these tools and their claims?

I don't mind paying for good tools and am more than happy donating where requested.

Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry about the length if you made it this far! Thanks.

[bch]

TuneUpUtlities 2004 might fit the bill. I have used it for six months without any problems on XP and now with SP2 installed. Good registry cleaner which backs up any changes, (I've never once had to restore a back up), registry defragmenter, temp file cleaner, and file shredder for secure deletion. There is a Start Up Manager and a whole host of additional functions. Also a "one click" maintenance option which is extremely useful.

I also use RegSupremePro registry cleaner in conjunction with the above. Again I have never had to restore any back ups. Includes a normal scan and a deep scan. The deep scan will find myriads of errors but, in my experience, is very safe to use.

http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/details/ for TuneUpUtilities 2004 and http://www.jv16.org/ for RegSupremePro.

There is also a good Temp File Cleaner from G-Lock which is free http://www.glocksoft.com/temp_cleaner/index.htm

[nod32_9]

Crap Cleaner would be my first choice...excellent disc AND registry cleaner. The default configuration works well for most people. I also use the free version of JV16, RegScrubXP, and RegClean when tweaking the registry.

Keep the number of installed programs as low as possible to avoid conflicts. I have 16 applications. 7 out of 16 applications run in zipped format (no need to install in windows).

I always create an image file of my system prior to installing ANY new application. Use the PC for a week and check for problem. If there is a conflict with the newly added application, then you can use the image file to remove the application. This also applies to ANY windows update. It's that easy to COMPLETELY remove ANY bad application.

[Tassie_Devils]

-{ Quote: "Crap Cleaner would be my first choice...excellent disc AND registry cleaner. " }-

Agree with this also. :)

Cheers TAS

[luv2bsecure]

Crap Cleaner is good, but it has a serious flaw (imo) in that it does not erase (securely delete) the contents of the cache, etc. It merely removes them. If you want a cleaner to use for security purposes - try something other than Crap Cleaner. Personally, I use Tracks Eraser Pro, though there are many good programs to securely delete files. By the way, as you found out, Evidence Eliminator is junk - good for you seeking a refund.

[Devinco]

Hi luv2bsecure,

Do you have the link for the Tracks Eraser Pro website?

Thanks in advance.

[Infinity]

there was a good one named heidi eraser, still is btw

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS. It works with any drive including IDE, SCSI and RAID. Also CD-RW's.
Uses the Guttmann (Default), Pseudorandom Data and US DoD 5220-22.M methods.
Erases Files and Folders.
Erases Files/Folders that were only previously 'deleted'.
Erases all hard drives using 'Darik's Boot and Nuke' method.
Erases Index.dat on Reboot
Erases Encrypted Files and Drives.
Erases FreeSpace on 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS.
Erases contents of the Recycle Bin.
Erases Compressed Files and Drives.
Erases Network Files, Floppy Disks, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW.
Erases Windows Temporary Files.
Erases Internet Cookies.
Erases Paging (swap) file.
Erases Internet Cache.
Appears as an 'Erase' option on the Context Menu of Windows Explorer and Recycle Bin.
Comes with an Eraser Scheduler that allows you to create user-defined tasks.
Defeats File Recovery software applications Hardware tools.
Supports FAT32 and NTFS Files Systems.
Eraser is easy to use and comes with a dedicated support network.

[snowbound]

-{ Quote: "

Do you have the link for the Tracks Eraser Pro website?

Thanks in advance." }-

This would be it , i assume,

http://www.acesoft.net/download.htm



snowbound

[Devinco]

Thanks Snowbound! :)

[bch]

Don't want to cause any contention here. I use CCleaner and think it is a very good app. In my experience, however, it doesn't come close to RegSupremePro in terms of cleaning the registry.

CCleaner is free, of course, but you get a free trial of RegSupremePro so there is nothing to stop you downloading both and checking them out.

There is also a free trial of TuneUpUtilities 2004.

[Meltdown]

If you need secure file deletion, Spybot has a built-in shredder, accessible in the advanced mode, under tools.

[iceni60]

eraser is very good for deleting/over-writting unused disk space, which would include anything deleted from the recycle bin. but if you are unsure that you could set it up correctly, you should still install it just so you can use the file deletion process.

to delete a file with eraser all you have to do is right-click the file you want to delete and pick erase.

i think the default amount of times it over-writes the file is 35 times, which is very secure. you can even change the settings so it over-writes the file as many times as you want.

see the screenshot to see how easy it is to erase the folder called *old files* :)

[iceni60]

if you are using Internet Explorer you could take a look at IE Privacy Keeper 2.3. i dont use it, but it has good ratings from places like snapfiles. it does secure deletion (but doesnt say how many times it over-writes) and you can choose to clean custom folder locations as well as registry keys and even use secure deltion method to permanently wipe from your disk.
http://www.unhsolutions.net/IEPK/index.shtml
EDIT you can use the above program for every day use, then when you feel more confident with eraser, which is easy to use and worth using, you can use eraser to delete unused disk space, over-night, as it takes awhile to do, once or twice a week

[luv2bsecure]

Devinco - I am guessing you found the info page for TEP. It is very good and has a "plug-in maker" that makes adding your own deletions very easy.

Infinity mentioned ERASER. Great program! It was originally written by Sami Tolvanen and is a very good app for wiping free space. It's the best for free-space cleaning as far as I am concerned. As for wiping all the nooks and crannies of Windows, it must be configured. Sami T. signed it all over to Garrett Trant to update a couple of years back and he's done a good job with ERASER.

As for Crap Cleaner, I have never used the registry cleaner. I use RegSupreme Pro for that along with an excellent registry cleaner found in (already mentioned by someone) Tune-Up Utilities. As mentioned before, I don't like how CCleaner doesn't securely delete the files.

For secure cleaning of Windows - ERASER and Tracks Eraser Pro make a great combination. BTW, someone mentioned Spybot having a shredder and that is true - but it doesn't clean out near the number of "tracks" as TEP.

Something I wish someone would write is a complete "auditing" program for Windows. It could be run on and actually show you - not the file - but the CONTENTS of each and every file. Kind of like an Index.dat viewer for ALL of Windows "hidden files". It would be an eye-opener and make believers out of people who don't quite understand how much of everyday computing is left behind.

[Devinco]

Thanks luv2bsecure.

[iceni60]

if you use CCleaner, make sure you take the option, which it asks you if you want to or not, to make backups; so if things go wrong you can merge the .reg backups back into the registry.
you can make a folder called something like ccleaner bak, and always store the backups there.

-{ Quote: "I am also looking for advice about a good Registry cleaner/defragger." }- if i understood this quote correctly, the following will be helpful, regarding the defragging

when you have used a reg cleaner a good program to use afterwards is NTREGOPT. you can read about it here (http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ntregopt.txt) and download it from here (http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/)

another good program to use is PageDefrag, you can read and download from here (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/pagedefrag.shtml)

another thing when defragmenting is, its best to turn off your screensaver and AV and exit/quit as many programs as possible so they will be defragmented (thanks for letting me know Tassie).
i defragment in safe mode because of this
i read in wilders once that someone used a second defragmentor to defragment the first defragmenter. im not an expert but that seems alittle over the top :o

[TheSnowGuy]

Would agree that ERASER is about as good as it gets.....use whatever you like to "clean" but afters use ERASER to fully wipe......have used it for years...........really nothing difficult about it......
Also using regcleaner.....MRUBLASTER...IESWEEPER...an a couple of others.........

NOTE: If you are keeping patient info....you may consider using a secure program for that particular purpose only.......one that has secure encryption.......password lock.......others can suggest such a program perhaps......wont advise strongly to heed the advice of Lov2B

[THESNOWGUY]

TYPO::::::::


should read:

WOULD advise strongly to heed the advice of Lov2B

[Longboard]

Wow. Thankyou all for the response and advice

Sorry typo in first Post "...And I have a great deal of respect for Lavasoft."

I also use IE-Spyad as well as the other anti malwaretools.

I will follow up on the links and references.

??No mention of CryptoSuite for deleting.

This may be flogging a dead horse but;

I think I remember finding previous threads from Luv2Bsecure about internet cleaners: a series of posts between him and Straight Shooter where he mentioned The Radsoft EEE and XPT: http://www.radsoft.net/products/ The product sounds good.The web site is quite aggressive and makes very dramatic/melodramatic claims, and the cost!. For that it better do the dishes as well. Are they still a going concern and do they have support from any of you. There is very little I can find on the web or the usual download sites. Some mentions of them on other forums are from 2001.

I have looked at Eraser and find it not as threatening as I may have thought
and really easy for us naifs to configure.

Thankyou again.

[Longboard]

Hello again. Thanks for all the good suggestions after my last post. I appreciate your time. :)

I am just prodding a bit to see if I can get some feedback on the Radsoft tools and cleaners utility. I see that Radsoft has been mentioned before and after searching the archives I see FanJ and Love2Bsecure have swapped some info previously. Also some what disturbingly I saw that there was some sort of row Between SS&D, Lavasoft and Radsoft some years ago. ???

Do they meet their promises? Is there support, updates?

$99!

It was very illuminating and uplifting to see the level of community apparent in the posts i was searching. Nice to think of the wider world sometimes.

[optigrab]

Just perusing the Radsoft site. I am not well-aquainted with their products, but it seems that they are "jacks-of-all-trades" products. Do you need every capability included? As a consumer, I would be leary of the supposition that one product could so many things very well, or at least, as well as other single-use products. And many single-use products will likely perform as well or better, but at a lower cost.

[Bubba]

Hey Longboard,

I have merged your other thread concerning Radsoft XPT & EEE into this thread. Please continue the discussion of Radsoft in this thread.

Thanks

[Longboard]

Bubba, Thanks. Sorry about being a bit pushy.

It is a remarkably good feeling to be aware of your interest.

Optigrab, thanks also. I appreciate your observation that one suit might not fit all.

I would have thought that if they were keen to enter this market there might have been a trial period, or some sort of refund offer. The site and the suite have obviously been around for a while. Yet there is little advertising or recent google findings for reviews or comments. It would seem Radsoft don't really care if we do or dont.

You are correct in supposing I would not have a use for or the ability to use most of the tools. Some of the XPT suite seem like toys anyway. Fun rather than useful utilities. WHy three text editors? THe games? etc.

I really like the look of the EEE tools: cleaner, IE protection etc, from the description anyway. It even looks as though EEE may have been written as a direct challenge to EE some time ago ( cf " the EEE documents), just to show they could rather than a genuine attempt to sell software. I see the latest edition of the XPT and EEE seems to have a 2004 date stamp. AS I noted before I had e-mailed the address supplied but no response for 3 weeks. Not exactly confidence building. The tone of the web page and the links seems pitched at a level well above my experience.

I was hoping to find if the claims for the tools are well founded, that is why I am interested in seeking advice from the Forum.

Equally if there is some risk of screwing my system with these tools or some sort of horrendous lock up/conflict with the more well known effective and supported utilities, that would be good to know!

Put it this way; my request for interested parties has hardly generated the heat of the Giant anti-spyware tools!

:-\ Cant figure if I'm talking myself into taking a (very expensive) plunge or talking myself out of it?

Thanks for your patience.

[AJohn]

I very rarely purchase software. Radsoft XPT is one of the few I have purchased along with L'N'S, HTML Guardian and PGP. XPT is a very usefull set of programs that I find very usefull, but you should consider what you need before paying 99$. They have very good support and have updates when needed (usually minor updates like compatability issues and security flaws). XPT is everything it claims to be, but you might not need everything that comes with it. I suggest browsing through Radsoft and looking at everything it comes with and comparing it to what you need and a few other programs that are availiable. GL finding what u need.

Edit: BTW XPT comes with a program that removes everything Evidence Eliminator has left on your computer. As far as I could tell it works as it says.

[manOFpeace]

I like RegSeeker for when I uninstall a program, it picks up on every word.
For general reg. cleaning I use free jv16PowerTools, so far nothing to restore.
I also have RegistrarLite, I like it also. :)

[Rita]

-{ Quote: "I like RegSeeker for when I uninstall a program, it picks up on every word.


i also use regseeker and another on thats good to completly destroy files

[John_McKenna]

RegSupreme (http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/) for me. If you don't have a static IP, you can download the free trials again and again and again. http://img67.exs.cx/img67/6112/wink5.gif

[luv2bsecure]

The RegSupreme line and JV16 are great tools. As for downloading it again and again with a dynamic IP - why not just pay the $12.95? The tools are clearly worth it and that's one Finnish family that has worked hard producing some of the best tools for computers available.
http://www.macecraft.com/

[John_McKenna]

-{ Quote: "The RegSupreme line and JV16 are great tools. As for downloading it again and again with a dynamic IP - why not just pay the $12.95? The tools are clearly worth it and that's one Finnish family that has worked hard producing some of the best tools for computers available.
http://www.macecraft.com/" }-
I'm from Liverpool ;)

[Nomad]

-{ Quote: "I'm from Liverpool ;)" }-

Says it all <vbg>

[manOFpeace]

I just run a trial of RegSupreme after reading all the positive reports on it.
I also deleted clean all 159 items.
On first sight I thought jv16 has a better description, also the "red warning" entries were missing in RegSupreme. The next few hours should let me see how reliable "it" can be. :o

[Longboard]

Very nice to have this continuing discussion and to be able to follow all the suggestions. :)

I have downloaded and am checking out the Radsoft XPT.
As per "AJ" there is a remarkable set of tools available and they really do seem to be as promised with a remarkably small footprint and only one registry entry. Uninstall is very easy. The support seems very good. There is a refund option.

Unfortunately the level of computer savvy required to fully utilise and manipulate the tools is mostly beyond me. Half the time the instructions for what the boys at Radsoft obviously regard as simple manouvers may as well be in Cryllic for me! :o

I will probably continue to try and learn to use the tools in the XPT.

Many of the utilities featured on and off in the pages here also get favourable mentions in their manuals and web pages.

there is a request to use InCtrl5 as a download manager to provide various pathways for XPT tools. Does anybody know this program?

[AJohn]

InCTRL5 is a program that monitors installations of software. It can run installations under its supervision and create a log file with everything that was changed/added on your computer. XPT comes with a program that can use these log files and reverse the installation proccess. It is very usefull. I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with a download manager. For some reason when I re-installed windows xp on my D harddrive instead of my C XTP quit working. Radsoft has been taking forever to respond to my problems (unusuall of them) I beleive the problem is because there installation includes your registration information and is made to only run on your computer, but it doesn't work right when you delete it and install it on another drive/new computer. Be warned.

[Longboard]

Thanks AJ. :)

Do you know where to get InCtrl/
Radsoft suggests it's available all over the net but I can only find it at PCMag.

[Longboard]

This might be abit cheeky, please dont be affronted.
If any of the mods happen to catch this thread again, I wonder if there is a way, and if enough bods were interested , to set up a forum for Radsoft?

This is of course quite unashamedly self interest! ::) and would obviously require co-operation and interest at a level way above me.

I know I use the other forums here and they are a constant source of interest to me.

I am extremely grateful for all the help I have been offered through the forum especially after literally stumbling and bumbling my way through my first encounter with mal-ware.

I have no doubt that any one who reads my posts will realise I have no commercial relationship with Radsoft!! I apologise if I keep inappropriately banging on about them.

[AJohn]

Try download.com for InCtrl5

I agree that it would be a nice thing to have Longboard, XPT seem like pretty good people. I bet if wilder emailed them with an offer they would accept it. But who knows.

[manOFpeace]

I just paid a visit to Macecraft.com site and the offer is to buy jv16PowerTools and get RegSupreme and RegSupremePro thrown in. $29.95 or just over £16 sterling.
I don't know if all that registry gear is neccessary or not but it could be an incentive to buy. ;)
Read it here; http://www.macecraft.com/brief_pt/

[frolo222]

InCtrl5 is ONLY available at PCMAG site and nothing else.
I searched another utility (FolderMon) for months and nothing elsewhere...
By the way, I have it on CD: dated 27-01-2002 (about 780 k)
Does it works with XP ? I have 98SE

[AJohn]

I just realized that PcMag is greedy and turned a freeware into something you have to pay like 6$ for.

Here is a link I found:
http://www.filelibrary.com:8080/cgi-bin/freedownload/Multi-Platform/n/105/inctrl5.zip

* Here is the page I found the link at:
http://www.terranuts.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1631.html

:D Now I can't get in trouble if PcMag owns its rights :P *

Here is a program for people without XTP:
Total Uninstall:
http://www.geocities.com/ggmartau/tu.html

[Longboard]

OOPS,

Sorry AJohn, thanks but just a couple of hours too late. Had already paid my tithe to PCMag. :'(

Still, good link for anyone else following this thread.
I'll add to favourites for later if I need it.

[AJohn]

I try not to pay for freeware unless I have to :P

I just got done re-installing a fresh copy of XP and used InCtrl to install everything on it. Feels good :)

Some advice to new users of InCtrl5:
Unless you have a very fast computer try not to run anything at all besides InCtrl5 and the installer you are monitoring. Scanning the entire registry can make it seem like it froze up, but if you wait it will finish.

[manOFpeace]

-{ Quote: "I just run a trial of RegSupreme after reading all the positive reports on it.
I also deleted clean all 159 items.
On first sight I thought jv16 has a better description, also the "red warning" entries were missing in RegSupreme. The next few hours should let me see how reliable "it" can be. :o" }-

Well deleting the backup immediately was a bad job, System Restore saved my skin, of course I knew the risks but I thought just this time. ::)

[bolleke3]

My favorite:RegRun Security Suite
http://www.greatis.com/security/detail.htm
And.....what a service!
Bolleke3

[manOFpeace]

-{ Quote: "My favorite:RegRun Security Suite
http://www.greatis.com/security/detail.htm
And.....what a service!
Bolleke3" }-

It's certainly a multi featured product. ;)

[WilliamP]

Does InCtrl5 work with XP? When I Googled it the old PC Mag article didn't say.

[Bubba]

-{ Quote: "Does InCtrl5 work with XP? When I Googled it the old PC Mag article didn't say." }-
Perhaps those with XP can offer comments....but according to the below PC Mag article....XP is not mentioned.

said by PC Mag
"It runs under Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000"

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,9882,00.asp

[Longboard]

Still fumbling along with Radsoft. Seem to be no problems with INCtrl5 and XP very interseting apps in the XPT to clean up after programmes close using the INCtrl trace.
Have had very understanding and patient e-mail contact with Radsoft developers for ongoing support. A couple of the tools seem to be really astonishing and so far no hangups. Some of them way beyond my ability at present.

From the Radsoft guys it appears that some tools in XPT may be disabled by XPSP2. In terms of watching what might be happening/GUI everything just takes off & is over in a flash. Probably not the best options for tyros like me.

Also have noted that Spy Checker have listed a free Cleaner which looks good but came up on one of my restricted sites: "bravenet". any body got comments?

Still beavering away with the reg tools and erasers :)

[Longboard]

Just out of interest;
For any one who made the same boo-boo as me and downloaded EE, I did get a refund. I suspect it was fortunate that i had already uninstalled the app and then requested refund. I had to run a small .exe to generate a "lock-out" code which when supplied to EE allowed the refund.

So far no evidence of any "bombs" left behind.

[scott lang]

what about registry mechanic 3.0 i have the trial but it wont do much till you buy it am using regseeker now, its free. but reg. mach. 3 seems to be a pretty fair prg. for what i can see that it does.

[AJohn]

I used to love XPT, but after formating my HD and installing a new copy of windows with a different license XPT no longer works. I cannot get Radsoft to reply to any of my emails and I made sure I did not send them HTML or Attachments. I am now 100 out and no clue what to do. I have been emailing them for a month. I am sorry that I recommended this product as at the time I did not know about there lack of support. I do not understand why they will not respond, and I think the reason XPT will no longer work is something to do with my windows serial because it will install but no apps will run.

I posted at http://www.fluxgfx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=109 also.

Any ideas?

[ronjor]

I use these programs. All freeware at this point.
As always, one should be careful and back up to avoid "accidents".

http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4396.html

[Longboard]

I will try to contact him and direct to your posts.

[richrf]

Hi ronjor,

Regwatcher looks like a very nice product. I ran it alongside Prevx for a while and now I am running it alone. Both look they are very good products. Do you have a preference?

Rich

[syd]

What address are you using to contact radsoft? I know they usually reply instantly.

[Jimbob1989]

However there is occassionaly a slight problem. And that is that this is a program, not a human being, and so it can make mistakes which we would be more likely to notice. For example removing files you actually want or need by accident.

[TopperID]

-{ Quote: "Regwatcher looks like a very nice product" }-
Yes, but I'm still not clear what you are actually going to do if RW pops up and tells you an unauthorised change has occured?

Does it allow you to reverse the change and then allow you to terminate those processes that caused the change? Does it allow you to delete those alien progs on reboot? If not what apps are you going to use to help you in the fight? (You can't rely on Task Manager or Process Explorer since they will not provide multiple kill facility - though Ewido will probably let you do this).

I'm still not convinced by a simple Reg monitor that does nothing else - it's like telling you you've been nailed and then sticking it's tongue out at you!

Hey - this is in the wrong thread, but so was the point I was aluding to!

[bellgamin]

-{ Quote: "Yes, but I'm still not clear what you are actually going to do if RW pops up and tells you an unauthorised change has occured?

Does it allow you to reverse the change and then allow you to terminate those processes that caused the change?" }-
Because of certain tricks that malware might possibly use, RegWatcher quickly REVERSES any & every change to one of the registry items that it is set to monitor.

AFTER RW reverses a change, it then will ask the user if he or she wants to allow the change. If the user says, "Yes" then RW re-instates the change. If the user says "No" then the change is gone -- Poof!

As to deciding what action should be taken when RW sounds an alert -- that is strictly up to the user.

[TopperID]

-{ Quote: "If the user says "No" then the change is gone -- Poof!" }-
Sounds good in theory, but if something unpleasant has got into your machine and started changing your Registry around it is not likely to let the matter drop politely - it's going to keep on trying at the first opportunity!

So you need to tackle the underlying processes before they get a vice like grip on you. The nastier bugs these days have a disturbing habit of working as part of a team so you can't squash them individually by using Task Manager. You need something more versatile - that is why I prefer WinPatrol. I do appreciate the need for monitoring as many keys as possible, but I suspect the next version of WinPatrol will be looking at more.

For me personally the ability to designate keys to look at is less important than being able to have a crack at the underlying problem if you do get hit

[bellgamin]

-{ Quote: "For me personally the ability to designate keys to look at is less important than being able to have a crack at the underlying problem if you do get hit" }-
I totally agree! Even so, it's nice to have RW or *something* sound the alarm so that you know a problem exists.

Of course, if it's a malware that's trying to mess with your computer, your other protection (antivirus, antitrojan, antispyware, et alia) SHOULD have taken action. If they didn't, RW can at least alert you that something brown is floating around in your computer's punchbowl. :o

[TopperID]

-{ Quote: "if it's a malware that's trying to mess with your computer, your other protection (antivirus, antitrojan, antispyware, et alia) SHOULD have taken action." }-
Oh yes, but if they were successful you wouldn't be suffering Registry changes in the first place!

I'm looking at a last ditch scenario after all else fails. If your AV permits something to get in and fiddle about with your system then it is not going to help you much from there on. I want an appliance that offers some hope in this situation, that is why I like WinPatrol.

But if even that fails then you are down to alternative scanners, either backup or online, though if these locate but cannot cure the problem you are either faced with a difficult manual cleaning task or reformatting. I understand (from The CWS Chronicles) that there are now variants of CWS that are impossible to remove manually (even if you have the knowledge to do it - which I don't!).

For this reason I believe in as many layers of protection as I can reasonably get - things like ProcessGuard and SSM can be defeated by human error (if you accidently let something through) so a Reg monitor is not just for reassurance it could be a 'life' saver if it helps you kill off something before it has become too entrenched.

[securityuser]

-{ Quote: " I understand (from The CWS Chronicles) that there are now variants of CWS that are impossible to remove manually (even if you have the knowledge to do it - which I don't!)." }-

which is a good argument for having a recent "good" image ready to slap back on the drive