Registry Cleaner Disaster!

[monoclover]

I recently ran RegSeeker 1.52 in an attempt to clean out my registry on my Windows XP. It came under high recommendations from a lot of people under many forums. And I thought (being a novice) that it will help to make my computer run faster.

Assuming that I can backup everything through RegSeeker, I stupidly selected to delete every entry that it deemed invalid/obsolete etc in its search through the registry.

Then I discovered that my anti-spyware stopped working and that I can't even remove the anti-spyware program from the system. Plus the fact that I have now lost "administrator privileges" in the system.

At the time, I believe that I was feeling feverish and hence careless. I did not back up the registry by myself before hand nor did I make sure that I had a system restore point to go back to...

The program failed to backup what I had deleted and I don't even know where to begin nor how to restore my registry to what it was before.

I am at my wits end and greatly lacking in knowledge & expertise. If anyone could help me, it would be very much appreciated.

Cheers in advance

[njustice]

Windows XP periodically records a snapshot of your computer. These snapshots are called restore points. Windows XP also creates restore points at the time of significant system events (such as when an application or driver is installed) or you can create and name your own restore points at any time. If you’ve installed a program that has made your computer unstable, you can open system restore, choose a restore point, and return your computer to its previous stable state.

When you run System Restore, a calendar is displayed to help you find restore points. If you don't use your computer every day, some days might not have any restore points. If you use your computer frequently, you might have restore points almost every day, and some days might have several restore points.

Use System Restore to undo changes you’ve made to your computer

Before you open the System Restore console, you may want to save your work and close all programs since System Restore requires you to restart your computer.

There are two ways to access System Restore – through Help and Support or through your All Programs folder.

Through Help and Support:

1.

Click Start, and then click Help and Support.

2.

Under Pick a Task, click Undo changes to your computer with System Restore.

3.

Follow the instructions on the wizard.

Through the All Programs menu:

1.

Click Start.

2.

Point to All Programs.

3.

Point to Accessories.

4.

Point to System Tools.

5.

Click System Restore.

6.

Follow the instructions on the wizard.

[JeanInMontana]

Hi and welcome to Malwarebytes. In addition to what njustice has said you should be able to create a new administrator account by going to Start>Control Panel>User Accounts>Create New Account.

What antispyware program are you using and why can't you remove it? Is it because your not an administrator?

[monoclover]

Did a system restore as recommended by njustice initially but that didn't fix the problem with CA.

Finally realised that it was a bug that was a common problem with that software. (After googling it)

Boy, I will never go There again. Wouldn't recommend CA in general, too resource intensive. Slowed everything the hell down.

The computer reported a file attached to CA Internet Suite called PPCtl.dll that needed "repairing or that it was being used/shared by other programs or I'm lacking in administrator privileges".

I replaced the file with good copies where required and no change. And I couldn't find any other programs that used the same file. So I finally decided to go into the registry to have a look. Turns out that the crucial registry keys (2 long lists - one for spyware detection, the other firewall) only had a read-only for the administrator/user name account I was in. But the "system" had full control. The way it was set up, the "system" and the "administrator" are 2 seperate entities. God knows what that's about because I certainly don't. But I had to change all the "read-only's" to full control. And that fixed the 2 problems I was having with accessing the CA software.

Before I fixed it, I couldn't use the anti-spyware & firewall aspect of the CA program (where the dll file was employed) nor could I uninstall those same components.

After I fixed the problem & uninstalled the entire package - I was home free.

So that's what happened. Thanks for your help njustice and your query JeanInMontana. And thanks for your Welcome *smiles*

[RubbeR DuckY]

Good investigative work. I personally don't like Internet Suites because this is the exact thing that happens. The program gets to complicated to keep track of for the programmers and there are tons of bugs and issues. If you go with separate programs, the chances of that happening lower.

Glad you got it figured out =)