PrivaZer Discussion Thread

Can you explain more?

 

If you put your email & licence in and go back its not in the boxes, usually it is
I tried updating to the new version, wouldn't work
then uninstalled a got a new pro version, using portable, still had to update manually

 

Do you delete the PrivaZer.ini (in the same directory as the exe file) that stores your settings and your license?

 

Yes

 

Keep the PrivaZer.ini files along with the PrivaZer.exe portable in the same dir.

 

Made sure of that
Question
should the email I use and the licence number stay in the boxes , so if later I hit modify licence one can see them in the boxes

 

We do not display the license again in the fields when you come back to modify it.
The license is encrypted in the PrivaZer.ini file

 

Thanks

 

Need help - any help would be appreciated.

I recommended installing PrivaZer free on a Windows 11 machine. The first time a "Scan In-depth" was run from the main page, it deleted all the files from Desktop, files from Documents, many of the applications and device drivers. Trying to see if there is any way to recover.

I made recommendation for using this program as I have been using it for over a year on a Windows 10 machine with no issues.

Thanks in advance.

 

see if you can run the file in backups? it makes them I think
folder labelled "PrivaZer registry backups"
Likely run it from main PrivaZer page
Main Menu Select Restore and Repair

 

Strange.
Do you have a backup?

 

This looks like the same issue I had in one Windows XP VM (not in other VM's).
In no time Gigabytes of files were gone.
Had to recover from a backup.

Before

After

 

Maybe a new user profile has been created.
Check if you have a new user in C:\users
It can be a user like C:\users\YourUsername.000

That would explain why you do not see your files, documents and installed apps.

 

@nicolaasjan,
Do you think that would be possible to reproduce the issue in your XP VM?
We would be interested to investigate...

 

I may look into it tomorrow (in a snapshot).
I don't dare to use PrivaZer normally again in this VM.

 

OK. Maybe you can copy paste this VM to enable us to perform some tests.

 

Thanks to you for your help and also to @nicolaasjan for your suggestion (unfortunately did not have a backup - but will be creating one now!)
The files that we thought were lost are actually still present on the drive under C:\users\username. But, almost none of the programs are working and the missing files dont appear when user logs in. Suspect the registry is messed up.

Will keep you posted on progress. In the meantime any other suggestions are still welcome.

Once again, your help is greatly appreciated.

 

Do you mean that the files located in C:\users\username\documents have been moved into C:\users\username ?

 

I'm not sure what you mean with copy/paste the VM?
This whole thing is 10.4GB and for privacy reasons I'm not willing to share it.

 

OK, I understand.
Can you run a scan, not a cleanup with PrivaZer on a copy of your XP VM?
I would like to see the list of files found.
Maybe you can send us some screenshots to support@privazer.com. ?

 

Done.

 

Thanks.

 

@jayrug
I think I fixed it.
In the registry, the following value was empty for some reason:

Code:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
"Cache"=

Trying to manually change it to the value I have in another VM, didn't stick.
It became empty again after Explorer restart.

Then, after reading this, I changed the temporary IE files location in Internet Explorer settings and after that the issue was resolved.
Now I would like to know what caused the Cache value to become empty and cause this disastrous behaviour of PrivaZer.

BTW, the cache location changed after Windows 7.
From that forum thread:

 

By emails, @nicolaasjan and we, were able to find the cause.
A definitive fix will be added in the next release of PrivaZer to address this rare case when the Cache entry is missing in the registry.

 

Thank you!
Will there be a check for the empty Cache entry and if so, do nothing and give the user a warning/hint?