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Strange behavior after Microsoft August updates


Andavari

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I don't know what's going on but I wonder if Microsoft had did something in the August critical updates because:

 

  • Some (not all) programs in C:\Windows and C:\Windows\System32 must be given full paths to run them correctly. This was discovered just recently after I got a PM from Jamin4u about the Shutdown, Restart, Log Off batch files I made for him when he said they didn't work at all. I found out that ability was broken on my system too for some files like Attrib.exe, Shutdown.exe, etc. I had to edit and include the full path in each and every one of my backup batch files I use after I found out they weren't backing up everything they're supposed to.
  • When I went to run Windows own built-in Disk Cleanup it took forever and found a horde of Temporary Files not thinking it would do anything harmful I let it clean them. Come to find out it deleted almost every empty folder, empty 0 byte file on my C: drive from what I could tell, and I ended up having to use System Restore to undo the damage.
  • Just today I thought I'd update my Mother's laptop which doesn't have a permananet Internet connection because she said AntiVir was bugging her to update. Disk Cleanup found a horde of Temporary Files on her computer too - but I didn't let it clean them by unchecking Temporary Files. It also had some locked registry keys that setting to Administrator wouldn't even allow them to delete.

 

Has anyone else had this problem lately after the Microsoft August updates?

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When I went to run Windows own built-in Disk Cleanup it took forever and found a horde of Temporary Files not thinking it would do anything harmful I let it clean them. Come to find out it deleted almost every empty folder, empty 0 byte file on my C: drive from what I could tell, and I ended up having to use System Restore to undo the damage.

So cleaning up 0 KB files and folders can do damage?

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What is the System Path Environment variable set to?

 

Mine is:

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager\

 

I have no problem running your scripts without the full path name.

 

I have not had any problems yet with my 3 SP3 systems like you document.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein

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I don't know if this applies but recently CCleaner has been picking a few items I suspect were important so I excluded them...

 

th_excludes.jpg

But those are junk extensions that many registry cleaners will find.

 

So cleaning up 0 KB files and folders can do damage?

It indeed can when an application that expects a folder to be there isn't. I'm not totally sure about the 0 kb files, but I know first hand removing those folders causes a load of trouble which is why I System Restored my way out of trouble.

 

What is the System Path Environment variable set to?

 

Mine is:

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager\

That was one of the first things I looked at, and mine are all there too.

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I don't know if this applies but recently CCleaner has been picking a few items I suspect were important so I excluded them...

 

th_excludes.jpg

Those \FileExts\ entries are safe to remove, although they are not high priority and critical. Basicly it's a good thing to exclude them.

 

Those FileExts entries are created and become useless, when you double click (try to open) a file type (like .bak), which is not registered (to open) with any application. One thing to do, is register them to open, for example with Notepad.

 

---

 

And then about those 0 byte folders: Yes, they might seem to be safe to delete, but actually it's not that safe. After all, they are created by application or Windows, so those apps/OS might expect them to exist. I think some of those empty folders (and files) can be recreated, when you launch a program or Windows. Anyway, it's better to leave, atleast those empty folders alone, if the actual program it's referring to, is still installed on your system.

 

It's pretty much a same thing with empty registry keys.

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So far, I understand that there are empty files (and sometimes empty folders) which are automatically recreated if they're deleted earlier, I assume on boot-up or when the associated application that created them detects they're missing. Also, sometimes they aren't recreated, if its associated application is not geared toward making new ones if missing. Judging from that, I'll not be deleting any 0 KB files or empty folders within system areas.

 

What worried me about those files CCleaner caught in my earlier post was that I noticed they were Explorer files....and I can't recall CCleaner ever picking them up before. (I read everything it picks up.)

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I have tried Remove Empty Directories and it works quite well:

http://www.jonasjohn.de/lab/red.htm

 

It somehow knows which empty Folders should not be deleted.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein

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It's that "somehow" I'm trying to figure out.
Its that "somehow" that I want to figure out that makes me rich.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein

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I don't know what's going on but I wonder if Microsoft had did something in the August critical updates because:

 

[*] When I went to run Windows own built-in Disk Cleanup it took forever and found a horde of Temporary Files not thinking it would do anything harmful I let it clean them. Come to find out it deleted almost every empty folder, empty 0 byte file on my C: drive from what I could tell, and I ended up having to use System Restore to undo the damage.

 

I ran Windows Disk Cleanup on two XP Systems and one Vista, with 0 KB Temporary Files found.

 

Did you find out why this happened on your systems?

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I ran Windows Disk Cleanup on two XP Systems and one Vista, with 0 KB Temporary Files found.

 

Did you find out why this happened on your systems?

No I haven't found out yet. I can only come to two conclusions:

1. It's Microsoft Update, or:

2. It's some common program installed on my PC and my mom's laptop, and narrowing that down would be really difficult as they have almost virtually the same stuff installed because I'm the one who loaded the software on it for her.

 

Which one it is I don't know.

 

One other thing I found out since this thread started is Spybot-S&D's Secure Shredder when using the option to load files from the Temp directory on my system lists almost the whole C: drive. So I've removed all shortcuts to Disk Cleanup and Spybot-S&D's Secure Shredder.

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Just food for thought.

Do you use a Sync program or method between your two systems ?

:) davey

Nope, they're not connected in any way and I wouldn't want my computer connected to another hence my security practices are too strick.

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