Re: Really LONG System Restore Times on Two Computers

JS,

Well, it SEEMS to be. I never would have thought Zone Alarm would have been
the reason until Bert first mentioned it.

Zone Alarm in now uninstalled, and my RPs are not getting huge. I might not
understand why but I see a definite correlation.

Nothing else on my PC has changed.

Alan

"JS" <@> wrote in message news:uItsl7%23GIHA.2328@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So do you think Zone Alarm was the culprit?

JS

"Alan" <somewhere@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ORXpnQ%23GIHA.1184@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And I'm happy that MY 'normal' RPs are now around 50 MB. I guess that's
whole lot better than my previous 1 GB-plus RPs.

Everything is relative. :>

Alan

"JS" <@> wrote in message news:ukDqo58GIHA.1184@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes it is and the restore points are all small in size, ranging from 1KB
up 1.5MB. The 1.5MB restore point was when I upgraded/installed the
latest version of Zone Alarm a few days back.

JS

"Bert Kinney" <bert@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u%23joaf8GIHA.1316@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Alan wrote:
Yes, since I took Zone Alarm of my machine the end of last week, MY
RPs have been normal.

As I thought.

Yet, JS has installed the same version of Z/A that I had, and HIS RPs
are normal too.

In my case -- unless now that WD is turned back on and I start getting
huge RPs again -- it appears that Zone Alarm Version 7.0.408.000 is
somehow the cause.

But why isn't Z/A v 7.0.408.000 causing any problems for JS?

It could be because ZA is installed on a non system partition.

JS, is the D: partition being monitored by System Restore?


Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


"Bert Kinney" wrote
Ok, there's no ZA installed at this point. Good.

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


Alan wrote:
Hi JS and Bert,

I was going to report MY findings today, and I see you have already
posted yours. :>

After Bert and I discussed using JUST the SP2 firewall rather than
Zone Alarm 7.0.408.000 the other day, I have done that.

Without Z/A, the 6 RPs that have been created on my machine are
between 53 MB and 57 MB.

If you'll recall I also had previously turned off my Windows
Defender. I'm going to turn that back on now to see if my RPs start
climbing in size with WD turned on.

What version of Z/A are you using, JS?

Alan

"Bert Kinney" wrote
Thanks for the update. What version of ZA is installed?

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


JS wrote:
I'm still monitoring the size of the RP files now that I've
installed the free version of Zone Alarm, so far nothing out of
the ordinary as far as RP folder/file sizes but I want to wait at
least one or two more days to be absolutely certain ZA is not the
cause of your problem.

JS

"Alan" <somewhere@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e2rNQVDGIHA.5160@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
JS and Bert,

Is there a later version of Z/A Free than the one I'm using?

In the meantime while YOU try things out, ( :> ) I think I'm
going to take Bert's advice and turn off/uninstall Z/A for now
and just use the native SP2 firewall.

I'll let you both know what's happening to my RP sizes, and
please let me know what you find, JS.

Alan

"JS" wrote
Bert, Alan
Well I guess it can't hurt to try the latest version of Zone
Alarm (free) available on their web site. I'll report back any
findings.

JS

"Bert Kinney" wrote
That's good to know JS. I believe some newer versions are
responsible for the bloat of the SVI folder also.

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


JS wrote:
The version of Zone Alarm (free) that I am using (6.5.737.000
installed in Oct. of last year) which is two updates past the
initial release of version 6.5 has caused me no problems with
system restore. What version are you using Alan?

JS

"Bert Kinney" wrote
Hi Alan,

Zone Alarm has has a bug that creates very large .rdb files
within the system. These .rdb files are monitored by System
Restore and thus end up in the restore points located in the
System Volume Information folder, along with other locations
on the system. The best advise is to revert to an earlier
version of Zone Alarm. Then disable System Restore which will
purge all existing restore points, then turn it back on. For
more information on this subject please visit the Zone Labs
User Forum.

ZA Free bloats System Restore - Beware - General - ZoneAlarm
User Forum
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=gen&message.id=34871

Now the question arises, is ZA really necessary. How does
this machine connect to the internet, DSL/Cable or Dial-up,
and is there a router involved?

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


Alan wrote:
Hi Bert,

Yes, I have ZA Free installed.

Alan

"Bert Kinney" wrote
Hi Alan,

Is Zone Alarm installed on this system?

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


Alan wrote:
Hi Bert and JS,

When I adjusted my SR size to 3 Gig, I ended up with RPs
going back only three days -- including the one that was
made on 10/24/07 and was 1.15 GB.

So, I just turned off SR, restarted it, and manually
created an RP in addition to the one that was
automatically created.

I then ran SR to go back to one of the two RPs. This time
System Restore took less than 5 minutes (probably only two
minutes) to gather the files and return to the RP.

After I cleaned out all previous RPs, I set the maximum
size once again to its maximum 12 percent of the available
HD space.

Since then, there have been 4 RPs made with the following
statistics:

- 54.9 MB (34 Files, 3 Folders) October 25, 2007, 8:17:02
PM -- Auto-created

- 61.1 MB (259 Files, 3 Folders) October 25, 2007, 8:18:20
PM -- Manually created

- 389 MB (218 Files, 3 Folders) on October 25, 2007,
8:23:12 PM -- System Checkpoint

- 513 MB (259 Files, 3 Folders) Today, October 26, 2007,
1:48:33 AM -- Software Distribution Service 3.0.
According to my Windows Defender log, this is the time
that WD ran overnight.

As you can see, the RP size is very quickly increasing in
size within 4 RPs and an elapsed time of 12 hours.

Is this 'normal?'

Alan

"Bert Kinney" wrote
Hi Alan,

Set System Restore to only monitor the drive/partition
Windows is installed on.
How to disable a monitored drive:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/drivedisable.html

Set System Restore to use 1 - 2 GB's of disk space to
hold restore points.
How to Adjust the amount of disk space System Restore
uses to hold restore points:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspace.html

Then test System Restore.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#3

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


Alan wrote:
Hi all,

I have a question regarding the time for a System
Restore on my PC -- a Dell DM061/Dimension E520 with 2
GB RAM-- and my son's machine -- a Dell XPS 410 also
with 2 GB RAM.

My PC has a 250 GB hard drive, while my son's is 325 GB.

I notice that on both machines, which are running XP
Home with SP2 and all updates, System Restore takes what
I think is a really long time to complete. Each take
anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to complete.

On my older Dell Dimension 2400, also running XP Home
with SP2 and all updates and which has a 40 GB hard
drive, System Restore never has taken more than 10
minutes and usually less time.

Is the length of time for System Restore related to the
size of the Hard Drive, and is 45 minutes or so an
excessive amount of time for SR to complete?

Thanks.

Alan








.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Really LONG System Restore Times on Two Computers
    ... Yes, since I took Zone Alarm of my machine the end of last week, MY RPs have ... Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User ... These .rdb files are monitored by System Restore and ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Really LONG System Restore Times on Two Computers
    ... And I'm happy that MY 'normal' RPs are now around 50 MB. ... version of Zone Alarm a few days back. ... partition being monitored by System Restore? ... Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Really LONG System Restore Times on Two Computers
    ... Zone Alarm has caused me some ... Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User ... RPs have been normal. ... partition being monitored by System Restore? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Really LONG System Restore Times on Two Computers
    ... I believe that someone mentioned previously that large RPs had been reported ... I'm willing to un-install Zone Alarm from my D: ... partition being monitored by System Restore? ... Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Really LONG System Restore Times on Two Computers
    ... Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User ... Member: http://dts-l.org ... I'm willing to un-install Zone Alarm from my D: partition and re-install it to the install's default location on my hard drive if you are interested. ... partition being monitored by System Restore? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)