Problems with the "Risk Registry Modify" popup

[CrazyTim]

Although it may seem like I'm mostly complaining and bitching here (and I guess I am... sorry :neutral:), my intent is that I hope someone from IObit development will eventually get hold of this information, fix/change the way the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup works, and therefore make IMF a better product that causes less problems for us customers.

 

As a second objective, if anyone else on this forum has an answer to help get around the problems I'll relate here, PLEASE let me know. I bet the "Risk Registry Modify" popup is causing some IMF users problems and they don't even know it.

 

To begin, when I refer to the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup, I am talking about this little popup window (see below images) that you might sometimes see above your Windows' System Tray (also called the Notify area), during the installation of, or after, you install some software:

 

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/IMFRiskPopup01nVidiaUpdate.jpg

Image 1 -- This is the popup as you would first see it -- if you

EVER see it and don't miss it. Nothing on its window has

been clicked and the timer is counting down to a point when,

this time only, IMF will block the indicated registry modification

by default if you do nothing.

 

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/IMFRiskPopup02WinPatrolUpdate.jpg

Image 2 -- If you are lucky enough to see it and don't miss

it, and you then click in the Remember box and the box

becomes checked, and if you do nothing more, the timer will

continue to count down and IMF will block the listed registry

modification by default (just as it did before in Image 1), BUT,

IMF will also block the registry modification each and every

time that software attempts the same modification in the

future and you won't see this popup if that happens.

 

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/IMFRiskPopup03nVidiaUpdate.jpg

Image 3 -- If you are lucky enough to see it and don't miss

it, and you then click on some inactive area somewhere on the

popup's window, the timer countdown will be stopped and you'll

no longer see it counting down. You'll then have some additional

time to consider what you would like to do... i.e., either Block or

Allow the registry modification.

 

 

If we can agree that this is the way this popup works, then I'll get on with it as to why it is a big problem. I'm really, really trying to hold back here and not be a jerk, but I just can't do it. IMHO, the way this works is stupid and not thought-out.

 

<<-- Jerk.

 

 

The problems:

 

20 or 30 seconds? This popup notification only stays up 20 or 30 seconds and then blocks the registry modification and goes away???!!! (Yes. I'm yelling. I learned that is what I am doing from JohnnySokko here. :razz: ) No wonder I sometimes have problems with software I install. (Note to self... before posting decide if you should put a period or an exclamation point at the end of that sentence, and how many. Don't go too far. You don't want to piss them off.)

 

Am I the ONLY one that doesn't sit patiently in front of their computer the WHOLE time some software is being installed, mindlessly staring at the screen waiting for some popup or that popup?

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/Wt.jpg

 

Jeese! Sometime software can take quite a long time to install!

 

• What if I get a phone call and I stop paying attention to the installation and miss the popup?

 

• What if some Jehovah's Witnesses knock at my front door wanting to talk about Jesus and I have to leave the computer and miss the popup? (or) What if some church mice knock at my front door and want to talk about cheeses?

 

• What if the boss asks me what I want for dinner during the install and I start having a conversation with her about the options and we end up in a big fight and she leaves and slams the door and I go out back and contemplate which tree limb would be best to throw a rope over and I miss the popup?

 

• What if we have a kitchen grease fire (they are usually in the sink), or some other emergency like one of the dogs throwing-up on the carpet and I miss the popup? (Oh. What? So your dogs don't throw-up. Sure.)

 

• WHAT IF I FALL ASLEEP DURING THE INSTALLATION??? (It has happened all too often.)

 

Do you get the point? Do you understand that some software will NOT work unless some portion of it is autorun at startup, or some other registry change needs made that sets off the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup, and not making that change will keep that software from running, or running properly?

 

For instance,

 

• Do you think my Logitech G9 Gaming mouse will work as intended if, during the installation/setup, whatever change to the registry that this install program for it wanted to make is not allowed to be made?:

 

C:\DOCUME~1\TIMNAS~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\LOGITECH\SETPOINTSI32_1\5-SETPOINT\EVTMGR6\SETUP.EXE

 

If I never see the "Risk Registry Modify" popup, that change won't be made.

 

This popup being so easily missed, and defaulting to blocking a registry change, will cause all kinds of software (display drivers, antivirus software, even some Microsoft stuff, etc.), to not work correctly. One may never know why they can't get some software to install right.

 

• Another huge problem is that IMF is not keeping an easily user-accessible list of what registry modification this popup may have blocked during a timer countdown. Presently there is NO WAY to learn what registry modification may have been blocked if the blocking wasn't remembered with the check in the checkbox -- if it was remembered, you could be able to figure it out from the REMEMBER.INI fille, if you are somewhat computer savvy. If they are going to have a default of block and a countdown timer, not having a list of what happened is, IMHO, just inexcusable.

 

 

Even a bigger problem:

 

This IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup does NOT always show up during an installation, but rather can sometimes show up way after an installation, by all apparent indications, has already completed.

 

I'm 100% positive about this. I've seen the "Risk Registry Modify" popup show up as much as a few minutes after an installation apparently had completed. I've also seen it show up several minutes after a reboot had apparently completely finished -- sometimes because I had installed software prior to the reboot. It is much, much too easy to miss ever seeing the "Risk Registry Modify" popup in these situations, for the countdown to then timeout, and some registry modification end up being blocked that should not be blocked.

 

OK. PLEASE make a change to this, IObit. If nothing else, either 1.) turn off that countdown timer so the popup will stay up till the user makes a decision about the registry modification, or 2.) tell us how to turn the timer off ourselves with regedit or what-have-you, or 3.) add a user option to the IMF settings to turn the countdown timer off. Even if one of these three are implemented, it still would be nice to have some record or log of any blocking initiated by use of the "Risk Registry Modify" popup.

 

If you want to go further and really be good guys, do something that will allow us to reverse the blocking IMF made of registry modifications without having to reinstall the installation software.

 

(CrazyTim slides soapbox back under desk.)

 

Thxm

 

Tim

[enoskype]

Hi Tim,

 

Well prepared bitching.:-P:lol:

 

I agree with your suggestions to give an option to choose if there will be a coundown timer function for that pop-up window and listing the one time allowed and blocked items.

 

Image 2 -- If you are lucky enough to see it and don't miss

it, and you then click in the Remember box and the box

becomes checked, and if you do nothing more, the timer will

continue to count down and IMF will block the listed registry

modification by default (just as it did before in Image 1), BUT,

IMF will also block the registry modification each and

every time any software attempts the modification in the future and

you won't see this popup if that happens.

I don't think the above quote is correct for the part "each and every time any software attempts the modification in the future ", as the remembering concerns only that specific process and NOT any software.

Otherwise, in the other thread, all others after your # 8 would not have been allowed and blocked automatically.

 

Cheers.

[CrazyTim]

I don't think the above quote is correct for the part "each and every time any software attempts the modification in the future ", as the remembering concerns only that specific process and NOT any software.

Otherwise, in the other thread, all others after your # 8 would not have been allowed and blocked automatically.

 

I agree, enoskype. I think my post is fixed now. Thx for pointing out my error.

 

Tim

[Melvin_Deal]

Hi Tim!

 

Thank you for your valuable input!!:grin::grin:

 

A registry change that is blocked by default (even through a timer), that has been commanded by the user (in this case through installation), is in fact an unwanted registry change.

 

Agreed that the default is a fault!

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!!

[Cicely]

Hi CrazyTim,

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

I have already forwarded your concern to our program manager. Please rest assured that we will consider them seriously and keep on improving our products.

 

All the best!

[solbjerg]

Hi Tim

I like a swallow of beer - and since I know the European kinds best I think I would opt for Tuborg or possibly one of the Czechoslovakian brands.

Cheers

solbjerg :-)

 

 

Hi Tim,

 

Well prepared bitching.:-P:lol:

 

I agree with your suggestions to give an option to choose if there will be a coundown timer function for that pop-up window and listing the one time allowed and blocked items.

 

 

I don't think the above quote is correct for the part "each and every time any software attempts the modification in the future ", as the remembering concerns only that specific process and NOT any software.

Otherwise, in the other thread, all others after your # 8 would not have been allowed and blocked automatically.

 

Cheers.

[CrazyTim]

Hi CrazyTim,

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

I have already forwarded your concern to our program manager. Please rest assured that we will consider them seriously and keep on improving our products.

 

Thx much, Cicely!

 

I think this IMF popup timeout-blocked part of an nVidia upgrade a couple weeks ago I was doing on my son's computer and caused it to become pretty much unbootable.

 

Thx again!

Tim

[CrazyTim]

Does anyone know???:

 

If one shuts down IMF before doing an install or upgrade, will IMF still find a registry modification and give you this popup warning box (just as it would have done if it had been running during the install/upgrade), the next time IMF is started?

 

IOW, do you get the "Risk Registry Modify" popup because:

 

1.) IMF sees that something IS WANTING TO MAKE a modification to your registry before it is made.

 

2.) IMF sees that a modification HAS BEEN MADE to your registry and wants to know if it should stand.

 

Or can it be both situations?

 

Thx!

 

Tim

[CrazyTim]

Hi Tim

I like a swallow of beer - and since I know the European kinds best I think I would opt for Tuborg or possibly one of the Czechoslovakian brands.

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/Smillies/scratch.gif

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/Smillies/what.gif

[solbjerg]

Hi Tim

When I download a program I always place it in my downloaded Programs folder and prior to installing I always right click on it and choose properties - in that window I then choose to unblock the program - why else would I install it, right - why indeed would I download it :-)

Therefore I never get that warning you are talking about.

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

Does anyone know???:

 

If one shuts down IMF before doing an install or upgrade, will IMF still find a registry modification and give you this popup warning box (just as it would have done if it had been running during the install/upgrade), the next time IMF is started?

 

IOW, do you get the "Risk Registry Modify" popup because:

 

1.) IMF sees that something IS WANTING TO MAKE a modification to your registry before it is made.

 

2.) IMF sees that a modification HAS BEEN MADE to your registry and wants to know if it should stand.

 

Or can it be both situations?

 

Thx!

 

Tim

[CrazyTim]

Hi Tim

When I download a program I always place it in my downloaded Programs folder and prior to installing I always right click on it and choose properties - in that window I then choose to unblock the program - why else would I install it, right - why indeed would I download it :-)

Therefore I never get that warning you are talking about.

 

[[sol, see last paragraph before replying.]]

 

Hey Solbjerg,

 

Yeah, I know you said that. ;-)

 

Concerning your above quoted message, in this thread, see my message #41 to you (feel free to reply there or here).

 

In that same thread, also see the part in message 44 about Plugin-container.exe.

 

Be aware that I was still using Firefox 3.6x-something till very recently. (If you're wondering why I was using the old, old Firefox version, it was because I was using the TurboPasswords, Firefox plugin. It is password vault software that also syncs with my old Palm Treo 680 smartphone, and TurboPasswords is incompatible with any newer Firefox version.) I had been getting notices when starting Firefox about Firefox upgrades being available for quite some time and had been disallowing them. I started Firefox one day a few weeks ago and got a message that the version I was using was very old, had many security issues, and that I would only be able to run it 2 more times till an upgrade to a current version would be done automatically. A couple more runs and I was automatically updated to Firefox 13.x upon starting it. It never gave me any option to stop the upgrade, it just did it as it started. Since I didn't download the upgrade, I never would have had any chance of viewing the executable files Properties or Unblocking it. As you can see from message #42, I did see the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup concerning Plugin-container.exe sometime after the Firefox update, allowed it and had the action remembered. If the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup had shown itself when I wasn't at the computer, and timed-out, I wonder if Firefox would have stopped working.

 

Being the idiot that I often can tend to be, I'll probably need to apologize to you, but I think you are wrong about the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup not showing up if one clicks the Unblock button for an installation file's Properties. I'm off now to run a test of that.

 

Thx!

 

Tim

[Cicely]

Hi Tim,

 

IMF will not give you this popup window every time when you install or upgrade a program. The winodow will only pop up when something is wanting to make a registry modification, which may harm your Registry.

 

Moreover, it will not give you this popup warning box either when a risky registry is about to modified during the install/upgrade if you exit IMF.

 

 

 

Does anyone know???:

 

If one shuts down IMF before doing an install or upgrade, will IMF still find a registry modification and give you this popup warning box (just as it would have done if it had been running during the install/upgrade), the next time IMF is started?

 

IOW, do you get the "Risk Registry Modify" popup because:

 

1.) IMF sees that something IS WANTING TO MAKE a modification to your registry before it is made.

 

2.) IMF sees that a modification HAS BEEN MADE to your registry and wants to know if it should stand.

 

Or can it be both situations?

 

Thx!

 

Tim

[CrazyTim]

IMF will not give you this popup window every time when you install or upgrade a program. The winodow will only pop up when something is wanting to make a registry modification, which may harm your Registry.

 

Moreover, it will not give you this popup warning box either when a risky registry is about to modified during the install/upgrade if you exit IMF.

 

OK. That gives me some ideas.

 

Thx!

 

Tim

[CrazyTim]

Nutz! Harder to test than first anticipated

 

solbjerg

 

Being the idiot that I often can tend to be, I'll probably need to apologize to you, but I think you are wrong about the IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup not showing up if one clicks the Unblock button for an installation file's Properties. I'm off now to run a test of that.

 

This is much harder to test than I thought it would be, solbjerg.

 

First I hand edited my IMF REMEMBER.INI file that looked as it did in this message, removing the 3 lines pertaining to WinPatrol that were originally referenced with a "1," "2," and "10" in front of them, so that my new REMEMBER.INI file looked like this:

 

[version]

version=1.1

[data]

1=C:\DOCUME~1\TIMNAS~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\IS-MK3NA.TMP\MBAM-SETUP.TMP

2=C:\DOCUME~1\TIMNAS~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\IS-JJF5F.TMP\MBAM-SETUP.TMP

3=C:\NVIDIA\DISPLAYDRIVER\280.26\WINXP\ENGLISH\SETUP.EXE

4=C:\PROGRAM FILES\NVIDIA CORPORATION\INSTALLER2\DISPLAY.NVIEW.0\NVIEWSETUP.EXE

5=C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOZILLA FIREFOX\PLUGIN-CONTAINER.EXE

6=C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\DW20.EXE

7=C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL USERS\APPLICATION DATA\CARBONITE\CARBONITE BACKUP\CARBONITEUPGRADE-V5.EXE

8=C:\NVIDIA\DISPLAYDRIVER\285.58\WINXP\ENGLISH\SETUP.EXE

9=C:\PROGRAM FILES\ALWIL SOFTWARE\AVAST5\SETUP\AVAST.SETUP

10=C:\DOCUME~1\TIMNAS~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\LOGITECH\SETPOINTSI32_1\5-SETPOINT\EVTMGR6\SETUP.EXE

11=C:\DOCUME~1\TIMNAS~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\NVIDIA\CONTROLPANELINSTALLERTEMP\SETUP.EXE

12=C:\NVIDIA\DISPLAYDRIVER\301.42\WINXP\ENGLISH\SETUP.EXE

13=C:\PROGRAM FILES\CARBONITE\CARBONITE BACKUP\CARBONITESETUP.EXE

14=C:\PROGRAM FILES\EVEMON\EVEMON.EXE

[style]

1=REGISTRY

2=REGISTRY

3=REGISTRY

4=REGISTRY

5=REGISTRY

6=REGISTRY

7=REGISTRY

8=REGISTRY

9=REGISTRY

10=REGISTRY

11=REGISTRY

12=REGISTRY

13=REGISTRY

14=REGISTRY

[block]

1=0

2=0

3=0

4=0

5=0

6=1

7=0

8=0

9=0

10=0

11=0

12=0

13=0

14=0

 

and had no references to the WinPatrol installation.

 

Then I uninstalled WinPatrol with the Control Panel Add or Remove Programs applet. I then installed WinPatrol again leaving its Unblock button in Properties alone and

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Utopia2115/WinPatrolSetupProperties.jpg

 

NOT clicked.

 

Apparently since the system registry entries that would have been changed by the WinPatrol installation software already existed, I didn't get any IMF "Risk Registry Modify" popup at all, though I expected to see one.

 

So now I'm still thinking about this and working on figuring out a way to test it.

 

I'll let you know when I find out you were right, solbjerg. :-)

 

Tim

[Buddahfan]

My suggestion is that IObit add the option of voice to the popup. This way for those not at the computer but within hearing distance of its speakers which can be across the street with some speakers they will be able to hear it. In fact the voice message should repeat itself endlessly until you are able to get rid of the Jehovah Witness folks, your mother-in-law or finish in the "can" etc, and get your butt back in front of the computer.

[CrazyTim]

My suggestion is that IObit add the option of voice to the popup. This way for those not at the computer but within hearing distance of its speakers which can be across the street with some speakers they will be able to hear it. In fact the voice message should repeat itself endlessly until you are able to get rid of the Jehovah Witness folks, your mother-in-law or finish in the "can" etc, and get your butt back in front of the computer.

 

Hey Buddah,

 

I agree on it staying up and visible till clicked, and I'm personally a fan of audible alarms, too.

 

Tim

 

(P.S. I don't think anyone got my church-mice/cheeses joke cause I didn't hear any groans. I guess I should have said to speak it out loud.)

[Scannan]

IMF "Risk Registry Modify" affects System Restore

 

CrazyTim

 

I just love this post. Would never have seen it except the dreaded IMF Risk Box struck today. I think the problem I had adds to your request that this matter be addressed by Iobit. My problem is:

 

Today I wanted to run System Restore to solve an issue with missing Taskbar Icon (see this thread). So I opened Rescue in ASC (V6 Beta 2).. selected view system restore, selected Restore my Computer to an earlier time. I selected yesterday as the restore point (everything was fine yesterday) and clicked Next...Lo and behold....up pops IMF "Risk Registry Modify"... so I start to read it and....Yep...it timed out and disappeared.....So I went through the procedure again and chose Block (thinking it the wise thing to do) then clicked Next on system restore to carry on...BUT... System Restore refused to do anything....Soooo...I went through the whole procedure again and when the popup appeared selected Allow...and this time System Restore continued its operation.(To be honest I have no idea what Allow did, but I assume it allowed a changed to be made to the Registry, and can only hope it does not cause a problem later,,,,fingers crossed)

However when the pc rebooted I was informed that My Computer Could Not Be Restored to Yesterdays restore point. I ignored this and allowed the reboot to continue. Guess What...All was fine, the Icon was back in the Taskbar...so obviously the system WAS actually restored to yesterdays settings.

I think Iobit Really need to look at this issue as a priority, as anything buggy in System Restore could cause havoc for users. The relationship/interaction between IMF/ASC V6/System Restore...needs to be investigated.

[solbjerg]

Hi Scannan

the "allow" or "block" is a query whether you will allow or block the changes to the registry that you have just asked it to perform.

As you have asked for the change yourself it would be contrary to your wish to block it.

In Usage of IObit Products it is mentioned that the optimization of the program can sometimes skip some functions in order to save resources apropos your missing icon.

Did you try the toolbox's Winfix? And could it fix it?

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

CrazyTim

 

I just love this post. Would never have seen it except the dreaded IMF Risk Box struck today. I think the problem I had adds to your request that this matter be addressed by Iobit. My problem is:

 

Today I wanted to run System Restore to solve an issue with missing Taskbar Icon (see this thread). So I opened Rescue in ASC (V6 Beta 2).. selected view system restore, selected Restore my Computer to an earlier time. I selected yesterday as the restore point (everything was fine yesterday) and clicked Next...Lo and behold....up pops IMF "Risk Registry Modify"... so I start to read it and....Yep...it timed out and disappeared.....So I went through the procedure again and chose Block (thinking it the wise thing to do) then clicked Next on system restore to carry on...BUT... System Restore refused to do anything....Soooo...I went through the whole procedure again and when the popup appeared selected Allow...and this time System Restore continued its operation.(To be honest I have no idea what Allow did, but I assume it allowed a changed to be made to the Registry, and can only hope it does not cause a problem later,,,,fingers crossed)

However when the pc rebooted I was informed that My Computer Could Not Be Restored to Yesterdays restore point. I ignored this and allowed the reboot to continue. Guess What...All was fine, the Icon was back in the Taskbar...so obviously the system WAS actually restored to yesterdays settings.

I think Iobit Really need to look at this issue as a priority, as anything buggy in System Restore could cause havoc for users. The relationship/interaction between IMF/ASC V6/System Restore...needs to be investigated.

[Scannan]

Solbjerg

 

Yes, I accept that, but my concern is the way it prevents System Restore from proceeding. If you select Block, you are saying that you do not want any change to occur in that specific registry entry, but why should the prevent System Restore from continuing with the restore process,

Additionally, why does System Restor say it cannot restore to the selected date, and yet when the reboot is completed it is obvious that the changes have been made. In other words that it did roll back to the previous date,

[enoskype]

Hi Scannan,

 

I strongly advice, specially to read the description parts/posts of Why is there no Explanation of the IMF pop-up? thread.

 

It will give you more ideas to figure out how IMF pop-up works.

 

In your case, it should have been correct to use Remember and Allow for SR not to activate IMF blockage again.

 

Cheers.

[Scannan]

Hi Enoskype

 

Right, I have read the thread you recommended...:-?....have taken my headache tablets.... and I must still ask, why if you choose Block in the IMF popup, does it prevent Restore from proceeding. I understand that you have told it not to make a change to a specific registry item, but surely that should not completely halt the restore. Also why did the restore say it could not restore to the selected date, when it is obvious that it did roll back.

I must agree with Crazy Tim, that there needs to be more info regarding the files in order to decide whether to block or allow.

In my case it was not due to downloading software, that the pop up appeared, but it just popped up out of the blue when I ran System Restore, which means the wise thing to do was to choose Block....but then System Restore would refuse to proceed.

I really do think this needs to be looked at.

[Buddahfan]

Agree there should be more info like a radio button on the IMF GUI to click on that will show all the items blocked by IMF including their full path. Also adding the ability to restore individually blocked items even a couple months after the fact would be good.

 

System Security Guard has a great feature. They categorize all their scanned items into one of three categories; i.e. Safe, Unknown or Malicious. For any scanned item in the scanned items report you can click on that item and it will take you to their website where it will give you all kinds of useful and some not so useful information about the item. However the information is enough to begin to research the item.

 

IMF should do the same for all "Blocked Items" including having a brief explanation of why the item was blocked.