Windows 7 Restoration Features
Does Microsoft provide any registry repair software or virus recovery software to repair critical Windows components that may be damaged or missing? Or am I missing the obvious ones like SFC, CHKDSK, etc.? The reason I ask is because I will encounter issues that are being caused by changes made in the registry by a trojan or a 3rd party application(such as a registry cleaner or "System Optimizer") that remain even after uninstalling the app. So having a way to restore these Windows registry settings to their default condition without doing a system restore would be ideal. Thank you in advance, Techy1984.
Software/Hardware used:
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit
Software/Hardware used:
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit
ASKED:
March 11, 2011 4:07 PM
UPDATED:
June 14, 2011 5:48 AM
Answer Wiki:
Very little people know about this but yes Microsoft does have some extra tools, if you are a Microsoft Volume Licensed customer and are licensed for Microsoft MDOP(Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack), inside MDOP there is a very cool toolset called DaRT(Diagnostics and Recovery Tollset) when written to a bootable device and booting from it gives you a range of tools from restoring bootfiles to even browse explorer when your OS is corrupted.
Look at these links:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/mdop/dart.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/mdop/default.aspx
Thanks
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If the programs that Charlie suggested don’t get you fixed up, then there’s always Windows Recovery Console to repair your windows installation…
All said clearly.
Some good suggestions that I am aware of.
I used to use CCleaner but I’m not entirely unsure that it did not affect the Windows registry in some way as I could not use any of my restore points or Windows Recovery.
I am looking for something less invasive. If Microsoft had a utility that could scan and check all Windows Specific entries and correct them, that would be ideal. These 3rd party apps delete entries in order to “fix” them. The problem with that approach is that the issue may not go away but made worse because the component that the OS relied on is now missing.
Thank you for all of your suggestions any other insights are greatly appreciated.
If you’ve tried all the aforementioned tools all to no avail, best and fastest option is to reformat and reinstall – your install is pretty much hosed
Thank you for the suggestions. I am not currently having any issues with my OS install. I was just wondering if there was any support from Microsoft to recover or repair the Microsoft specific entries in the registry.
From these responses I am guessing that the only support is recovery repair or reinstall. Not ideal but what can you do?
Thank you again for all of your help.
Techy1984
I gez the only possible solution is to make sure that you get your registry back up from now and then..incase you come to a time where you really needed; (for example like Techy1984′s case)..then you have a backup registry prepared and can always use it to restore and recover when you come to this situation..
Hope this is of any help..
Heres some links to back and restore registry for Windows 7
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Back-up-the-registry
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4230-registry-backup-restore.html
DaRT from time to time do not work
I use Norton Ghost or Free Acronis True Image WD Edition – as our pc fleet have WD drives
Thank you,
This is all great.
It looks like DaRT may not be readily available for my purposes.
I provided case-by-case software support and may never speak to the same client twice. I was just looking for something that may help me more effectively resolve software issues that are caused by a corrupt registry.
I have recently installed COMODO Time Machine on a few systems and have it running and creating snapshots for me. This may be the best way to prevent issues due to registry corruption short of a registry backup.
It’s nice to know that the tools are out there if I ever end up supporting clients in home/office though.