Win 7 problem

[ell46]

I've just got a new PC and installed Win 7 professional 64 bit. I spent all day yesterday installing my software, copying files, downloading Windows Live Mail etc etc etc.

 

I got up this morning to find that Firefox was no longer my choice of web browser, all my bookmarks were gone it was like a new install, all my emails and contacts were gone from Windows Live again pristine, all my copied files and folders from my back up disk were gone from the desktop, the taskbar was sporting all the default icons as you see the Win7 desktop for the first time, the same with the task manager, it was as if most of what I spent yesterday doing was gone.

 

I did a recovery, not really knowing if this would help or not, the recovery function identified Java as being the last thing to update and it removed it, now everything is back the way it was when I switched off last night, can anyone tell me what in heavens name happened or why Java caused this I really really don't want anything like this to happen again.

[DarkeWolf]

Ok, I asked one of my instructors here at school about this, and this is what's going on. Its a combo of the java, and some of MS' recent updates.

MS has released some updates that are trying to deal with anti-piracy on the computer. Where it tries to recognize "authorized" content and legitimate installations. The java update runs this MS update. And your OS didnt recognize the installs and copied content as legit, so it wiped it to a prior state.

Here's what she said that you need to do. 1) Set your system NOT to autoupdate the MS updates.

2) Make a restore point for it as it is right now.

Then go to the ms update, let it do a scan, to see what updates you need. Research the update numbers. Google them and see if people have had issues with them. Then only install a couple at a time. If it causes an issue, rollback to your restore point. Then dont let that one install again.

 

Essentially, this is one of MS' big eff ups. Another example of why they need to keep their noses outta people's business cause they cant get their *bleeping bleep* right. And then java comes along and makes their screw up activate.

 

My recommendation is to put a halt to those updates. From Java, and from MS. ANd only do them manually. You might also try an older version of the java, such as the one that was released right before the current one. Oldversions.com might have one. Or you could probly find one doing a google search for "java version xx.xx.whatever". (Sorry, I cant think of what the current version number is).

 

Another thing that I would do, is if you have any kind of firewall going on, BLOCK java's access to the net. Basically not allowing it to phone home.

[TheTerminator2004]

Java updates are generally a good thing to install regularly, as they frequently fix security vulnerabilities etc. I do agree you don't want it to update automatically though (same with Windows update).

 

Blocking its access to the net is a bad idea, however, as this will break a lot of applications (especially any using Java webstart, or applets which use more than one jar file) - and won't even prevent it from updating. Instead, what you want to do is stop jusched.exe from running at startup - this is the program that checks for and installs Java updates. Just go to Start -> Run, and type msconfig.exe. Press enter, then go to the startup tab and uncheck the entry for jusched.exe. Click OK, and you're done. To update Java when you want to, just download the newest version from the Java website and install it.

[ell46]

Thank you for all the information DarkeWolf and Terminator I've denied it access to the internet for now until I get time to sort it out. I hate the way software these days tries to take over and do everything for you ugh, where's the fun in that. Every time I seem to do anything up pops another window telling or asking is this OK is that OK, it's driving me up the wall.

[DarkeWolf]

Echo that, BIG time. And MS is getting really carried away with it. I've equated WinBlowz to a virus in the past, but its really starting to get to that point when it can revert your harddrive to a prior state, without asking you!

And no problem. Thats definitely something to keep track of. I'm really glad that my instructor was able to nail it down, right off the bat. Oh, and sorry I havent answered your PM yet, I'll get on that real soon, really sorry about that :(

Are you referring to the UAC? That can be turned off, of course ;) http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/12/30/how-to-disable-and-turn-off-uac-in-windows-7/

 

I have Very Few apps that use Java, and I have it turned off in my browsers at home. And the forums here use javascript, not java, so just staying away from it entirely is ok for me. Tho yeah, I do know that others have progs that use it, or visit sites that make it necessary. But for me, its an unnecessary security risk, so it just gets shut down.

[ell46]

When I kept getting an alert that Java update wanted to access the net I chose 'deny' and I've not heard from it since. That was a few days ago and so far I can't see any problems browsing or using programs, for now I'm going to leave it as it is.

 

I really can't be bothered with all the pop up nonsense this Win7 keeps throwing at me eg why does it have to keep asking if just about everything I open or do at the moment can make changes to my PC, for Gods sake I didn't have problems with XP so why is this Win7 so damned paranoid. I've checked the options to stop some of them but they are so badly worded to put the fear of God in people I haven't decided yet if it's all or nothing.

 

The problem is now the games are installed and working, I keep getting sidetracked from installing the last bits of software :laugh: