2008 Software Manager Urgently needs Disk Selector

siliconman01

The Software Manager urgently needs a disk selector that will prevent the Software Manager from checking or referencing user specified disks on the user system.

Reason:

Users, including myself, have dedicated disks as full system backups through such software as Casper or BounceBack. The intent of these disks is to provide recovery from a problem (user created or otherwise) or a catastrophic failure of the main operating disk or system. jv16 PowerTools 2008 should NOT tamper with anything on these recovery disks via the Software Manager or any other utility. Doing so defeats the whole intent of the recovery backup system.

jv16

Hmmm... Instead of a disk selector for Software Manager, how about a global ignore list feature that would allow you to disable PT from accessing a certain drive or directory with any tool, such as Software Manager or Registry Cleaner?

siliconman01

That would certainly work, yes. Just need a way to keep jv16 from accessing/modifying/changing anything on the backup drive(s). I have for several versions always manually changed the Filecache.dat file below to keep jv16 from referring to them on cache building.

c=True

d=False

e=False

f=False

LastAsked=0

But this does not stop other components. :?

siliconman01

Will a "fix" for this design issue be incorporated in the next release?

jv16

Yes. Software Manager's Ignore List feature will be extended to cover this.

So, in order to exclude for example all references to D drive, simply add D:\ to the Software Manager's ignore list (SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat under Settings directory. If the file doesn't exist, you can simply create it with e.g. Notepad)

This improvement/fix will be included in the next released build to be out in this week.

siliconman01

Thanks for implementing this option.

I have added SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat to the installed Build 457 and will do some testings.

Hopefully in a future version, this option will be part of the Settings so that it is visibly available for users.

siliconman01

This new feature does not appear to work. I am running Vista SP1 Business

1. I have SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat in the Settings folder of C:\Program Files\Jv16 PowerTools 2008. It has the following 3 entries

D:\

E:\

F:\

2. The E:\ drive is a clone of my C:\ drive and the F:\ drive is a clone of D:\. (Note: The D:\ drive contains pics, etc., and is not used for any running program installations, so I want jv16 not to access it either).

3. The test I ran with Software Manager.

- I ran Software Manager and let it remove Belarc from my C:\ drive.

- I then ran Software Manager again. It found Belarc again. I instructed Software Manager to uninstall it. It clearly identified that it found Belarc out on the E:\ drive and requested permission to remove it. (jv16 identified the E:\ as e:\. I am assuming it is not case sensitive).

tullik

Sorry, we encountered an error while displaying this content. If you're a user, please try again later. If you're an administrator, take a look in your Flarum log files for more information.

siliconman01

Thanks Tullik for your investigative work on this issue. Below is what jv16 is seeing. I'm not sure how these pictures are going to line up on the forum post; however...

1. I uninstalled Belarc from the C drive using jv16 Software Manager. Then ran the Software Manager again. Using the Custom Uninstall, it found two registry keys for Belarc which were just empty software folders. However, jv16 Software Manager still points to the e:\Program Files\Belarc as the installed path of Belarc.

tullik

siliconman01 wrote
... Using the Custom Uninstall, it found two registry keys for Belarc which were just empty software folders. However, jv16 Software Manager still points to the e:\Program Files\Belarc as the installed path of Belarc.

Who knows where the program is getting that e:\?

Have you tried Registry Finder set to look "everywhere" for E:\Program Files\Belarc? Maybe there will be a clue ... for example, if it's not in the registry, it's probably coming from a scan of the disk ... ?

You could also rename E:\Program Files\Belarc (assuming the system doesn't actually use it) to E:\Program Files\Belarc_x, then start PT and SWM to see what then shows for Belarc in the caption area ...

siliconman01

The E:\ drive is a fully bootable backup of the C:\ drive via Casper V4.0 backup software. So there is an exact copy of everything on the E:\. The only time that the E:\ is changed is when I run Casper to perform a backup of C:\ onto the E:\ again. This is the reason that I am asking that jv16 does not access/modify the E: drive. It's whole purpose is backup protection in the event of a C:\ drive failure or a stupid mistake by me or some piece of malfunctioning software. From what I see, jv16 is still scanning this E:\ drive.

tullik

siliconman01 wrote
... From what I see, jv16 is still scanning this E:\ drive.

I think it more likely that the active registry (the one on C:\ which I assume is the one you normally use to boot), contains entry names and/or values that reference E:\.

If you use Registry Finder set to look "everywhere" for E:\, you can verify or disprove my theory.

In any event, for your information, I just did the following:

1. Installed RegSupreme to G:\Program Files\RegSupreme; moved an application to G:\Program Files\dddappl -- dddappl has no registry reference whatsoever, but is shown in the Software Manager list from the scan of C:\Program Files

2. Started PT2008 and ran the Software Manager; RegSupreme and dddappl were both listed as being on G:\

3. Closed PowerTools and put G:\ in SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat

4. Started PT2008 and ran the Software Manager; RegSupreme and dddappl were no longer in the list

5. Used RegEdit to navigate to the Uninstall keys; RegSupreme is there referencing G:\

6. Therefore, in this case, the new feature did exactly what it is supposed to do (did not scan G:\ and did not use G:\ references in the registry)

If your Registry Finder search found anything containing e:\Program Files\Belarc (as shown in your earlier screenshot), post some details for examination by jv16.

BTW, the results were the same regardless of the case of the drive letter used at 3.

siliconman01

Thanks again Tullik for your continued efforts on this.

Yes, the C drive is my primary disk for Vista. I ran the Registry Finder and it found no e:\Program Files\Belarc in my active registry. I did the same search using Regedit and it did not find anything either.

I did a Custom Uninstall>Find Registry Keys and then deleted the key below via the Delete option. After deleting this single key, Belarc is no longer "discovered" by Software Manager. As you can see, this key did not point to Belarc being at e:\Program Files\Belarc.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; File created by TBackupTool

; Component version: 1.4.1

; Component used by: jv16 PowerTools 2008

; Program version: 1.8.0.457

; File Description: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Belarc

; Date: 27.04.2008

; Time: 04

tullik

siliconman01 wrote
... As you can see, this key did not point to Belarc being at e:\Program Files\Belarc. ...

Then it would seem that Software Manager got the e:\ from one of these:

1. A scan of E:\ (which I theorize is not happening because of the E:\ in SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat)

2. FileCache.dat (which is not likely since you have excluded E:\ from the cache build)

3. Access by windows to one or more of the hives on E:\ as part of your active registry (which is unlikely since Registry Finder should have seen the same thing; Registry Compactor would show where the active hives are ...)

4. Residual data in the running PT2008 memory (this could be possible if you did not close and restart PT2008 right after modifying SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat before you ran the other parts of your testing (*) -- it is also unlikely since I doubt you left the same PT2008 image running during all of your tests)

5. Can you think of some other possiblities? …

To more closely approximate your situation, I'll install RegSupreme to C:\Program Files\RegSupreme in addition to the one on G:\, then run some actual Software Manager uninstall tests to see if I can reproduce your experience ...

(*) Software Manager does not reload an updated SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat unless you completely exit PT2008.

siliconman01

Then it would seem that Software Manager got the e:\ from one of these:

1. I am not yet convinced of this yet.

2. I have D:\, E:\, F:\ excluded in FileCache.dat, yes.

3. Registry Compactor does not indicate any hives on E:\ drive.

4. No, I do not leave jv16 open. It has been closed and reopened several times since modifying SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat.

5. Cannot think of others at the moment; however, there is something out there that is happening.

I did the following additional test since the last post.

1. Ran Software Manager which showed no entries for Belarc either on the C: or E: drive.

2. Using Windows Explorer, I checked the E: drive and there is a fully loaded/operational E:\Program Files\Belarc folder on this drive. This is the way it should be because I have not let Software Manager remove this folder on the E:\ drive.

3. I re-installed Belarc back onto the C:\ drive.

4. Software Manager now detects and shows 2 Belarc entries both on the C:\. (Shown in the pic labeled Belarc1)

5. I let Software Manager uninstall Belarc from the C:\ drive.

6. After the uninstall, a New Belarc entry now shows up in Software Manager. This time it points to e:\Program Files\Belarc. (Shown in the pic labeled Belarc2)

7. By using the Explore command in Software Manager, it promptly opens Windows Explorer to the E:\Program Files\Belarc location. (Shown in pics labeled Belarc3 and Belarc4.)

This indicates to me that the E:\ is not being "avoided" as per the SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat settings.

siliconman01

And Belarc4

tullik

Well, I couldn't reproduce the situation. With G:\ already in SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat when I started PT2008, the Software Manager list did not show any of the four applications I had in G:\Program Files. When I uninstalled the RegSupreme application on C:\, the Software Manager automatically refreshed and still showed none of the applications in G:\Program Files.

As far as I can tell, the feature is working as intended on my Vista Business PC (not SP1 but that shouldn't matter).

Your last posted test results prove Software Manager is definitely getting the E:\Program Files references from somewhere -- an unwanted scan of your E:\Program Files seems to be the most likely explanation left.

siliconman01

Hmmmm... well, thanks very much for your intense testing. Hopefully jouni can find the problem and fix it. :? Or explain to the simpleton (me) running the program where the cockpit error is... :

siliconman01

I repeated these tests on my XP-SP2 system (different computer) and have the same problem. On this system, the J drive is a clone of the C drive. Software Manager finds Belarc on the J drive after removing it from the C drive....exactly as on the Vista system.

siliconman01

Will this problem concerning the new feature be fixed in the next release?