erunt

Hello I have been reading a lot about ERUNT. Althoigh I image weekly and perform restore points it sounds like ERUNT can restore the whole registry if neeed, and can be set to image the registry daily. It sounds great for a goofer like me who is always making mistakes and could avoid Acronis recoveries. However, I have read that there were confliccts with restoring in Win 7. Also, I was unsure of the latest, best version to download. One said it was a lightweight version with a good GUI -I know it stands for graphic user interface but don't know what it really means. Soooo, is Acronis and system restore enough or is a daily ERUNT a good idea also? I think you double click the Erdnt.exe folder to initiate recovery and i think it dates itself. Thank you Peter.

you know i think you'd have a lot less problems if you didn't always find the need to try out and experiment with all those different programs peter. acronis is all you really need in my opinion. just use and enjoy your pc and keep 2 upto date backups just in case things do go wrong.

To use ERUNT in W7 you need to turn off UAC.

ERUNT is a great problem but I fail to see any reason to have it run every time you boot. Clearly, BY FAR, most users would be MUCH better off if they never ever dinked with the Registry for the entire life of their computer.

I run ERUNT on my Win 7 Pro X64 system and have made use of it's daily reg backup several times. Quicker and easier that using System restore if it's a registry problem and a whole lot quicker that an Acronis restore. I think if you install ERUNT as an Administrator (right click on the install program and run as Administrator), UAC is not a problem. Not sure about this though as I have UAC turned off so never ran into the problem.

just a thought but did you ever think the reason you needed to make use of erunt in the first place Ztruker was because you had uac turned off? from a security standpoint alone i wouldn't recommend anyone turning of uac in their operating system.

run ERUNT on my Win 7 Pro X64 system and have made use of it's daily reg backup several times

Yeah, but you don't count. You, by no means, are a "normal" user!

I am not good at reading between the lines and hope I have not caused a problem here. Terry, I learn by experimenting and try to look before I leap. The little I know can be atttributed to the help i have received at forums like this. When one has a problem it is a good thing to be as ready as one can to solve it rather than just surf and email. I have tinkered for 7 decades and still maintain my car and house -except tv. It sounds as if regular system restore and use of Acronis is what I will use and not ERUNT. It did sound interesting, though I keep reading about WinPatrol and do not know if you are encouraging or discouraging its use. It seems to be quite popular. Semper FI !!!

i don't see where anyone mentioned winpatrol.. both winpatrol and erunt are good programs but neither are programs i'd say you "need" on your or any pc. regular use of system restore? you shouldn't need to use it regularly.. it's there for when things go wrong and things shouldn't go wrong regularly, you should be able to run your pc for years without any problems. the only tinkering you need to do with your pc is to keep the software updated and hard drive defragged and backed up regularly and that's it. (and a good clean every now and then to get rid of any accumulated dust.) any more tinkering than that usually causes more problems than it's worth. if you want to experiment and tinker and try new things then i suggest you get another pc just for that purpose, that way you can test and destroy to your hearts content while learning without worrying about data loss or when you need to reinstall an os again. Semper FI !!! and no you never cause any problems peter, discussion is a good thing, we all have our own favorite programs and ways of doing things.

I've had one infection in 12+ years and that was on a XP system running AVG, Spyware Blaster and Spybot Search & Destroy. Not a single problem on my Win 7 systems, so no, I don't think ERUNT was useful because I had UAC turned off. It was useful because I am constantly trying things, mostly to see what would happen and often to try out things I'm going to recommend here or on other forums.

i was just pulling your leg Ztruker,

I'm with Rich on this. IF your computer is used by several users, including - or rather, especially invincible teenagers - then UAC is very good. And with Windows 7, certainly much less annoying than it was with Vista. But if you are the sole user of your "personal" computer, and you are conscientious at "practicing safe computing", then UAC is more bother than worth. That said, if you are not comfortable with your own user discipline, then leave UAC enable.

It was useful because I am constantly trying things, mostly to see what would happen and often to try out things I'm going to recommend here or on other forums.

Exactly what I was implying when I said you were not a normal user.

It has been longer than 12 years for me - more like 20 when I got my one and only infection on a machine I was responsible for and that was via "sneakernet" on my work machine. Someone on another shift left an infected floppy in the drive they brought in from home. I did not pay attention and powered on the machine in the morning and of course, it booted to the infected floppy. That was the beginning of my malware removal secondary career. That infection caused me to dump McAfee, which was getting too bloated anyway, and try out the new kid, Norton AV. Of course it soon became the bloat king and I eventually went to AVG. But now I use MSE, Windows Firewall, and IE9 with AdblockIE, and MailWasher Pro as my only real time security programs - unless you count Secunia PSI as a security program. And of course, I keep Windows 7 updated.

I keep reading about WinPatrol and do not know if you are encouraging or discouraging its use.

WinPatrol is one of those programs I like and dislike. I like it because it does keep track of what starts with Windows and that is nice to know, especially when you install new programs. But WinPatrol can do much more, and therefore can be dangerous. That said, I do not encourage or discourage its use - I will just say it has its benefits, does not hog resources, and to the best of my knowledge, does not interfere or cause problems with other programs.

As for defragging, today, its value is way overrated. If you are constantly adding and removing major programs, and/or you are running desperately low on free disk space, then defragging can be beneficial. But if you have lots of free disk space, and with monster drives costing so little, you should - then regular defragging is not necessary. I defrag my drives about once every 6 months - so I guess technically you could call that regular defragging.

That said, I am not in favor of any defragging program, including Windows 7's own defragger, that runs by a schedule or full time in the background for 2 key reasons. (1) It is counterproductive and senseless IMO to defrag with potentially 1000s of tiny temporary files and other clutter on the drive. For this reason, Disk Cleanup, CCleaner or TFC should always be run first and that is not possible with a real-time defragger, and difficult at best with a scheduler. And (2), when Windows is running in normal mode, there are a whole bunch of opened files on the disk. Opened files typically cannot be moved and therefore are skipped during defragging - which leads to an inefficient defrag. Therefore, to minimize the number of opened files, defragging should be done in Safe Mode - which again cannot be done by schedule or by a real-time defragger.

The good news is, Windows 7 is, by far, the safest Windows version yet. And 64-bit Windows 7 has a few extra security features that make it even more secure than its 32-bit sibling. And Microsoft, tired of years of biased, unjustified bashings, has rightly put security first, as seen with Windows 7, and the free MSE, IE9, MS Safety Scanner, and most recently the new Windows Defender Off-line scanner.

The bad news is - the user is, always has been, and likely always will be the weakest link. If the user invites the badguys in (by not keeping their systems updated or with illegal filesharing via torrents or P2P), all bets are off that Windows or any security defense can protect you.

I noticed Ccleaner was mentioned as one tool to maintain the pc. I was told not to use reg cleaners as they cause more harm than good. Is this a situation where it is safe to use only by a professional who understands the registry? Regarding defragging, is "defraggler" used occasionally(monthly) a good idea, especially after installation of a new program? I think Terry makes a good point . I will just use Acronis and common sense maintenance with my home pcs. As far as learning, I would have to get an old machine to expirement with. I have really benefited from ideas I have picked up in this forum. For example, I now set my boot order to dvd 1st in case I can't start my pc.This is an example of why I ask questions ; I think I am better off at the end of the day because I have more knowledge to work with, just in case.. Learning new concepts, whether employed or not, is both interesting and beneficial to me. I try to balance doing so with not getting my pcs in trouble.

CCleaner contains a Registry cleaner as a separate function - you don't have to run it.

Regarding defragging, is "defraggler" used occasionally(monthly) a good idea, especially after installation of a new program?

I gave my opinion on that. Note installing a program does not promote fragmentation. Uninstalling creates holes, as does modifying files. And again, if you have lots of free disk space, the problem is minimized.

Should you defrag every day? Even though a defrag works the heck out of a hard drive (just watch the hard disk led) you won't wear it enough to cause trouble. Today's hard drives MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) is around 100,000 hours, up and running. Thats 11.5 years. ELEVEN POINT FIVE "YEARS", and thats up and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you don't use your computer reading and writing files all day, every day then that hard drive should last a lot longer than 11.5 years. Does defraging harm your hard drive? Wears the heads but not excessively. Will it cause you any problems? None. Does it make your computer faster? Absolutely but if you sneeze you probably wasted all the time you would gain in a year. Defrag every day or once every 6mths. whatever suits your fancy. I'm a regular defrager, others are not. Does it matter? Not in the least. (paraphrased from a very long article by ??? from ??? in 2004). PS Edit: If your a gamer though and used to installing games up to 15GB, then be a defragger or crash during game play!