TeaTimer "Hickups" Reg Changes Endlessly

[BrianMJC]

Hi,

I use 1.4 on a WinXPSP2 PC. About two weeks ago, when McAfee VirusScan was updating itself, the update failed due to a McAfee server problem, which was consequentially fixed within several hours and after a few manual attempts on my part to update it, but later VS updates have since completed successfully. When updating, McAfee usually triggers a TeaTimer popup asking to allow or deny a registry change for "CleanUp." But since this failure, everytime I reboot or start my PC, the same TeaTimer popup repeats itself.

A few days ago, I did a registry cleanup with RegSeeker, and let it remove 599 registry problems. Since then, every time I reboot or start, not only does the "CleanUp" popup continue to come up, but three other TeaTimer popups come up in rapid sequence. Here is a clip of the SpyBot log which indicates the four changes:

10/24/2005 11:29:33 PM Allowed value "MCUpdateExe" (new data: "C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\McUpdate.exe") changed in System Startup global entry!
10/24/2005 11:29:33 PM Allowed value "CleanUp" (new data: "") deleted in System Startup global entry!
10/24/2005 11:29:46 PM Allowed value "Local Page" (new data: "") deleted in Browser page!
10/24/2005 11:29:48 PM Allowed value "Local Page" (new data: "") deleted in Browser page!

The "Local Page" entries have to do with the blank home page that I have Internet Explorer defaulted to upon startup.

How do I end this endless "hickuping" of registry changes?

Thanks!
- Brian

[md usa spybot fan]

TeaTimer takes snapshots of Registry entries and compares these with the Registry at startup. Until these snapshots are updated you are likely to get pop-ups (at startup) of changes you made in the past. In other words, TeaTimer attempts to return the Registry to the state it was in when the snapshot was taken. This happens primarily when you reboot the system. To refresh TeaTimer's snapshot files:

• Right click Spybot's TeaTimer System Tray Icon > click Exit Spybot-S&D Resident.
  • TeaTimer closes.
  • TeaTimer's snapshot files are refreshed at this time.
• Restart TeaTimer:
  • Using Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy.
  • Double click TeaTimer.exe to start it.

[BrianMJC]

Thanks - that solved it.

[md usa spybot fan]

It appears that when TeaTimer starts the snapshot files are read into memory and maintained there and that they are only rewritten when TeaTimer closes. During system shutdown (or restart) it appears that TeaTimer is terminated and does not have a chance to rewrite the snapshot files.

Suggestion: As a matter of routine maintenance to keep the problem of multiple messages appearing at startup from reoccurring, consider periodically exiting TeaTimer (Spybot-S&D Resident) just prior to powering off or restarting the system.