"Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare.
But if you seek safety, it is on the shore."

Tweaks and tricks for security and privacy : Part Three

System Restore privacy issue and fix

System Restore is a feature in WindowsME and WindowsXP that "should" help users to undo changes done to the computer. This is usefull if you or someone else tampers your settings or installations. However, I have discovered that System Restore usually doesnt do its job. What you cant do with command prompt and commands like "scanreg /fix" (fixes the registry) or "scanreg /restore" (restores old, hopefully working registry), you cant do with System Restore. In short, System Restore doesnt do any miracles. Dont count on it.

However, the privacy issue with System Restore is that it stores, in the backround, lots of files, information and logs to your computer (under C:\_restore folder which is hidden in default). Like this isnt enought, but it also denies you to delete them under Windows! I personally had a virus trapped there, and found that it had copies of my documents, programs I had installed, etc. etc. Its a goldmine to anyone who wants to see what you have been doing lately. Also, it can take hundreds of Mb:s of space from your HDD! Thats why you better rip it off. And I mean rip it off because normal disabling it wont help! This tip is for WindowsME, check "Windows2000/XP" for guide on how to do this with Windows2000/XP.

If you want to use a good backup system to backup your system settings, I suggest getting Norton Ghost. You can create byte-by-byte image of your C-partition and save it somewhere save like other HDD or partition or even burn it to CD-R(W). It is 100% backup that you can create or restore in matter of minutes. I suggest using it. Dont use System Restore. Its no good.
1. Go to Control Panel / System / performance / file system / troubleshooting and disable System Restore.

2. Run "msconfig" and go to "startup" and disable "*statemgr" from loading. After reboot, you are done!

3. You can boot to DOS and delete the content of C:\_restore -folder. If you made that little tweak described above for the Index.dat -files, you can easily add one line to that xxx.bat file, add (without quotas) "deltree /Y c:\_restore\" and now the content of that folder will be deleted on every boot. You see, sometimes, windows wants to store your old swapfile in that location if you change your swapfile preferences somehow.

Clean up your system

You can cleanup your system with programs like EasyCleaner, but you can also clean up a bit with Windows tools too. You can use "Disk Cleanup" to get rid of not needed files but there is more powerfull option to be used too if you are using WindowsXP (atleast, Im not sure does it work with other versions).
1. Run (without quotas) "cleanmgr /sageset:1" this lets you choose what is to be cleaned up. I recommend selecting everything except "Compress old files" unless you are really running out of space. "Compress old files" also requires you to have NTFS and takes a quite a bit of time.

2. Run (without quotas) "cleanmgr /sagerun:1" this actually clears the stuff you just selected. If you want to, you can create a .cmd file that has (without quotas) "cleanmgr /sagerun:1" inside and then create a quicklink to it anywhere you need, so you can easily clean your computer later on.

-Markus Jansson