System Restore

Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help as I get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and restore is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I am not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

Have you checked for the existence of a WININIT.INI file?
If found, rename it to WININIT.JNK and reboot
look for it again - if you find another copy of it has appeared, then you
either have a legitimate application (probably a driver) creating a new one
at startup, or malware doing so.
Open the WININIT.INI file in Notepad, and copy/paste the contents into your
response.
If you don't find the file the second time around, you should be good to go
with SR.

If you don't find the WININIT.INI file, then adjust your Folder Options so
that you can see Hidden, and System folders - then look for the C:\_Restore
folder. Right-click on the icon for it, and select Properties. How many
files/folders are there????




--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help as I
get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and restore is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I am not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

I did as you suggested, renaming the wininit file to JNK and it worked so
I'm good to go. Thank you so much Mr. Paton.
"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Have you checked for the existence of a WININIT.INI file?
If found, rename it to WININIT.JNK and reboot
look for it again - if you find another copy of it has appeared, then you
either have a legitimate application (probably a driver) creating a new
one
at startup, or malware doing so.
Open the WININIT.INI file in Notepad, and copy/paste the contents into
your
response.
If you don't find the file the second time around, you should be good to
go
with SR.

If you don't find the WININIT.INI file, then adjust your Folder Options so
that you can see Hidden, and System folders - then look for the
C:\_Restore
folder. Right-click on the icon for it, and select Properties. How many
files/folders are there????




--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help as I
get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and restore
is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I am
not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm glad to hear that worked......but....have you got an extra toolbar on
your Windows Explorer pages that purports to help you but you didn't load
yourself?

Stuart

"vameo" wrote in message
...
I did as you suggested, renaming the wininit file to JNK and it worked so
I'm good to go. Thank you so much Mr. Paton.
"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Have you checked for the existence of a WININIT.INI file?
If found, rename it to WININIT.JNK and reboot
look for it again - if you find another copy of it has appeared, then
you
either have a legitimate application (probably a driver) creating a new
one
at startup, or malware doing so.
Open the WININIT.INI file in Notepad, and copy/paste the contents into
your
response.
If you don't find the file the second time around, you should be good to
go
with SR.

If you don't find the WININIT.INI file, then adjust your Folder Options
so
that you can see Hidden, and System folders - then look for the
C:\_Restore
folder. Right-click on the icon for it, and select Properties. How many
files/folders are there????




--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to
NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart
the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help as
I
get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and
restore
is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I am
not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

Stuart,

May I ask how this relates to the original poster having problems with
system restore and this being because of having a wininit.ini file?

Whilst some malware uses the wininit mechanism to update files, the
wininit mechanism is legitimately used by a vast array of applications
since it is the process by which files which are "in use" when Win Me is
running can be either replaced or deleted as Win Me loads and before the
operating system starts.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]



Stuart Mundye wrote:

I'm glad to hear that worked......but....have you got an extra
toolbar on your Windows Explorer pages that purports to help you but
you didn't load yourself?

Glad to hear it worked for you - have you looked to see what the WININIT.INI
file contained - you will need to reinstall the application which created it
(assuming it's a friendly one!g)

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
I did as you suggested, renaming the wininit file to JNK and it worked so
I'm good to go. Thank you so much Mr. Paton.
"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Have you checked for the existence of a WININIT.INI file?
If found, rename it to WININIT.JNK and reboot
look for it again - if you find another copy of it has appeared, then you
either have a legitimate application (probably a driver) creating a new
one
at startup, or malware doing so.
Open the WININIT.INI file in Notepad, and copy/paste the contents into
your
response.
If you don't find the file the second time around, you should be good to
go
with SR.

If you don't find the WININIT.INI file, then adjust your Folder Options
so
that you can see Hidden, and System folders - then look for the
C:\_Restore
folder. Right-click on the icon for it, and select Properties. How many
files/folders are there????




--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart
the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help as
I
get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and restore
is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I am
not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

Noel, On inspection of wininit.jnk, this is an abbreviated list. I have
omitted the many temp/restore files.

NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\DRIVER.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\MASTER.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INSTALL.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INC.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\LICENSE.TXT
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INLINE.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\USB.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\RESTART.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\LICENSE.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INTRO.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\STATUS.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\STATUS.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFP9812.DLL
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFC1612.DLL
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFECP12.DLL
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFMICM.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFAICM.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFIUI.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFINST.DLL
c:\program files\sygate\spf\rawlog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\tralog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\seclog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\syslog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\debug.log=

*** The Many temp/restore files were located here ***

NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TTFCACHE
[Rename]
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\Del13A0.TMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\_iu14D2N.tmp
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\_iu14D2N.tmp
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE

Mr. Paton thanks again for your ever sage advice!

"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Glad to hear it worked for you - have you looked to see what the
WININIT.INI
file contained - you will need to reinstall the application which created
it
(assuming it's a friendly one!g)

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
I did as you suggested, renaming the wininit file to JNK and it worked so
I'm good to go. Thank you so much Mr. Paton.
"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Have you checked for the existence of a WININIT.INI file?
If found, rename it to WININIT.JNK and reboot
look for it again - if you find another copy of it has appeared, then
you
either have a legitimate application (probably a driver) creating a new
one
at startup, or malware doing so.
Open the WININIT.INI file in Notepad, and copy/paste the contents into
your
response.
If you don't find the file the second time around, you should be good
to
go
with SR.

If you don't find the WININIT.INI file, then adjust your Folder Options
so
that you can see Hidden, and System folders - then look for the
C:\_Restore
folder. Right-click on the icon for it, and select Properties. How
many
files/folders are there????




--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to
NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart
the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help
as
I
get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and
restore
is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I am
not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

Yikes!!
That looks like there's a number of installs that haven't completed
properly!!

One is almost certainly a driver for an HP (Deskjet??) printer - the other
is perhaps an update for your Sygate firewall - the ones at the end are,
IIRC, from an installer - but it's not possible to say which one from that
data.

Since the wininit.ini puts more recent amendments at the bottom, it would
seem that your problems originated with the HP install - you need to sort
that one out first.

HTH

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Noel, On inspection of wininit.jnk, this is an abbreviated list. I have
omitted the many temp/restore files.

NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\DRIVER.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\MASTER.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INSTALL.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INC.HPI
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\LICENSE.TXT
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INLINE.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\USB.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\RESTART.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\LICENSE.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\INTRO.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\STATUS.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\STATUS.BMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFP9812.DLL
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFC1612.DLL
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFECP12.DLL
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFMICM.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFAICM.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFIUI.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HPFINST.DLL
c:\program files\sygate\spf\rawlog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\tralog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\seclog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\syslog.log=
c:\program files\sygate\spf\debug.log=

*** The Many temp/restore files were located here ***

NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TTFCACHE
[Rename]
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\Del13A0.TMP
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\_iu14D2N.tmp
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\_iu14D2N.tmp
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE

Mr. Paton thanks again for your ever sage advice!

"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Glad to hear it worked for you - have you looked to see what the
WININIT.INI
file contained - you will need to reinstall the application which created
it
(assuming it's a friendly one!g)

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
I did as you suggested, renaming the wininit file to JNK and it worked
so
I'm good to go. Thank you so much Mr. Paton.
"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
Have you checked for the existence of a WININIT.INI file?
If found, rename it to WININIT.JNK and reboot
look for it again - if you find another copy of it has appeared, then
you
either have a legitimate application (probably a driver) creating a
new
one
at startup, or malware doing so.
Open the WININIT.INI file in Notepad, and copy/paste the contents into
your
response.
If you don't find the file the second time around, you should be good
to
go
with SR.

If you don't find the WININIT.INI file, then adjust your Folder
Options
so
that you can see Hidden, and System folders - then look for the
C:\_Restore
folder. Right-click on the icon for it, and select Properties. How
many
files/folders are there????




--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to
NG's

"vameo" wrote in message
...
Every time I try to start system restore, I get a message to restart
the
computer in order to get system restore to run. This does not help
as
I
get
the same message repeatedly. I have all the latest updates and
restore
is
turned on. I also tried SCANREG /FIX which didn't help either. I
am
not
running any Norton products. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi Mike, Sorry for delay in replying.

The reason I suggested that was because I had the same problem. I also had
an unasked for toolbar. Spybot and Aluria both detected it (some 27 registry
and file entries!) and said they had removed it; but on reboot it was back.

So I tried to restore the system to the previous day's state, only to keep
being told I needed to reboot in order to run System Restore.

I eventually solved the problem by booting up in safe mode, running Spybot
(cleared 9 entries) and Aluria (cleared a further 13 entries) and then
running System Restore whilst still in safe mode.

On reboot - No toolbar and normal access to System Restore.

Hence my question.

Regards

Stuart.

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Stuart,

May I ask how this relates to the original poster having problems with
system restore and this being because of having a wininit.ini file?

Whilst some malware uses the wininit mechanism to update files, the
wininit mechanism is legitimately used by a vast array of applications
since it is the process by which files which are "in use" when Win Me is
running can be either replaced or deleted as Win Me loads and before the
operating system starts.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]



Stuart Mundye wrote:

I'm glad to hear that worked......but....have you got an extra
toolbar on your Windows Explorer pages that purports to help you but
you didn't load yourself?

Stuart,

As I mentioned there can be many reasons for a recurring wininit.ini file
(which then causes problems when attempting to use system restore) some of
which are due to the presence of an unwanted parasite but even then not
all parasites add toolbars. :-) Therefore whilst the presence of an
unwanted toolbar can be an indication of the presence of a parasite the
absence of an unwanted toolbar doesn't mean that a system is clean as
parasites can take many other forms some of which give no visible
indication of their being present.

I'm pleased to read that at you managed to fix your problems by using
standard anti-parasite tools such as SpyBot.

Regards,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]




Stuart Mundye wrote:

Hi Mike, Sorry for delay in replying.

The reason I suggested that was because I had the same problem. I
also had an unasked for toolbar. Spybot and Aluria both detected it
(some 27 registry and file entries!) and said they had removed it;
but on reboot it was back.

So I tried to restore the system to the previous day's state, only to
keep being told I needed to reboot in order to run System Restore.

I eventually solved the problem by booting up in safe mode, running
Spybot (cleared 9 entries) and Aluria (cleared a further 13 entries)
and then running System Restore whilst still in safe mode.

On reboot - No toolbar and normal access to System Restore.

Hence my question.