Another startup manager problem in Vista

zinoswink

I've had problems of one type or another with every release of the 2008 version I've tried.

If it wasn't for OS Ghost backups, I'd be SOL.

I don't believe I'm alone when I say that it's getting on my last nerve.

This never should have been released.

I believe you may need either more testers or a new more versatile beta testing group.

Starting with the last several releases of the 2007 version, something disastrous has happened regarding this software.

Possibly they don't really understand Vista or don't have enough Vista beta testers.

I've tolerated bugs in the program for many months but now new bugs are not just a minor annoyance.

jv16 powertools has the distinction of being the most buggy software I "currently" have installed on my pc's.

Anyway, I've had the problem indicated in the attachment with every 2008 release including .448 version.

When trying to enable or disable a startup menu item, sometimes I get the error message indicated.

Once I get the error message, it will occur everytime when I try to enable or disable that particular key, even after a reboot.

I contacted Macecraft support a couple of weeks ago with no reply.

tullik

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zinoswink

Thanks for your reply Tullik, I now see a small glimmer of light in the darkness:)

By the way, I've duplicated this error on Vista Ultimate with quad core and Ultimate with P4 3.0 Northwood numerous times.

I can restore image and reinstall 2008 version and it happens again.

I use startup manager a lot but I can't use it at all with 2008 releases.

I only run certain programs occasionally so when I need to, I enable them in startup manager, log off, and log on again.

Man, the number of issues reported (& unreported?) with jv16 powertools 2008 is frightening.

jv16, I hope you can get a handle on this and fix the issues.

I've been a loyal supporter for years and I don't jump ship lightly.

jv16

zinoswink wrote

Man, the number of issues reported (& unreported?) with jv16 powertools 2008 is frightening.

jv16 PowerTools 2008 is one of the most feature-rich application of its genre, if not the most feature-rich. This means that it's very complex and there will always be bugs. It's a matter of laws of physics: no machine (or software) can work with 100% efficiency. Instead, it's a matter of compromises: what kind of bugs are acceptable and what kinds are not, with jv16 PowerTools the focus of QA has always been avoiding serious bugs, i.e. bugs that can or will cause damage to user's computer and with this policy we have been very successful even as PT 2008 did have one such serious problem.

The bug in question means that the backup file used by the Startup Manager doesn't exist while it should. Do you happen to use any products that delete the Index.dat files of Internet Explorer, such as CCleaner?

tullik

Startup Manager does multiple Disable/Enable actions incorrectly

@ jv16

One may recreate this bug at will as follows:

1. Select multiple Run key type items in the list and click Disable just once.

2. Select the same items and click Enable; if you selected 5 items, you get 4 error message pop-ups.

3. This is because the first restore removed the Index.dat file (plus more), although it did restore all the data in the Entries.reg file.

4. Furthermore, the data in the MainIndex.dat file is now incorrect.

5. So when you run Startup Manager again in a later PT session, its list is incorrect (items are duplicated; one shows disabled, the other shows enabled).

There is also a user impact if he just disables multiple items (say 6) as described in 1 above. When he enables only one in a later PT session, all 6 are restored, which is not what the user intended. And the bug exactly as reported above by member zinoswink is now latent.

The bug may be worked around by only disabling one item at a time.

jv16

This bug is now fixed, thank you for reporting! The fix in question will be included to the next released version which should be out later today.

zinoswink

Great, thank you!

Does this mean we can now enable or disable multiple items at once in startup manager instead of doing them one at a time?

jv16

zinoswink wrote
Great, thank you!

Does this mean we can now enable or disable multiple items at once in startup manager instead of doing them one at a time?

Yes, exactly.

tullik

Fix confirmed. Now each one of the several done at once has, in the _StartupManager folder, its own subfolder.