repeated alerts

[brynn]

Hi Friends,
I'm having trouble with repeated alerts. But they aren't malware alerts. They're alerts that some change has been made. And in every case, they're changes I made on purpose. And upon receiving the alert, I Allow the change in every case, because I made the change on purpose.

But then every time I restart my machine, the exact same alerts are displayed, which I have to Allow every time I restart my machine, just as I did when I made the original changes.

And they seem to accumulate. For example, I might remove a couple of programs from the Startup list one day. Then every time I restart, I have to Allow those exact same changes again. Then let's say I installed some new program a few days later. I had to Allow the change at the time I installed it. But then whenever I restart my computer, I have to Allow the 2 Startup programs PLUS allow the new installation, every time I restart. Then let's say I make some other change, I get the alert, I Allow it. But the next time I restart, I have to Allow the 2 Startups, the new installation, and whatever the 4th change was, and I have to Allow all 4 changes every time I restart!

This happened once before, a year or so ago. But it seemed to resolve on its own. In fact, I don't remember exactly when those alerts stopped showing up after every restart. But now it's happening again.

Is there some way to prevent these multiple alerts? I mean, I don't get why they're recurring after Restarts. Normally I would expect restarting to sort of "reset" the system.

Thanks for your help :)

[md usa spybot fan]

What version of Spybot Search & Destroy are you running (Spybot > Help > About)?

[129260]

Hi Friends,
I'm having trouble with repeated alerts. But they aren't malware alerts. They're alerts that some change has been made. And in every case, they're changes I made on purpose. And upon receiving the alert, I Allow the change in every case, because I made the change on purpose.

But then every time I restart my machine, the exact same alerts are displayed, which I have to Allow every time I restart my machine, just as I did when I made the original changes.

And they seem to accumulate. For example, I might remove a couple of programs from the Startup list one day. Then every time I restart, I have to Allow those exact same changes again. Then let's say I installed some new program a few days later. I had to Allow the change at the time I installed it. But then whenever I restart my computer, I have to Allow the 2 Startup programs PLUS allow the new installation, every time I restart. Then let's say I make some other change, I get the alert, I Allow it. But the next time I restart, I have to Allow the 2 Startups, the new installation, and whatever the 4th change was, and I have to Allow all 4 changes every time I restart!

This happened once before, a year or so ago. But it seemed to resolve on its own. In fact, I don't remember exactly when those alerts stopped showing up after every restart. But now it's happening again.

Is there some way to prevent these multiple alerts? I mean, I don't get why they're recurring after Restarts. Normally I would expect restarting to sort of "reset" the system.

Thanks for your help :)

Spybot's resident protection. Have you read and understood what teatimer is? Would you like some information on how to deal with these alerts? If you check remember and allow you won't be asked again. :) Or have you done that already and you say it is not working correctly?

[md usa spybot fan]

brynn:

If you are running Spybot 1.4, I do not recommend using "Remember this decision" as suggested by 129260 (http://forums.spybot.info/member.php?u=28569). There is probably a better solution.

[brynn]

Hi again,
Thanks for your help :)

I'm using v 1.4.

I don't remember seeing a "Remember this decision" button. But as you probably know, the alerts don't display completely. So it's possible I just can't see "Remember this decision". In any case, I'll wait until I've heard everyone's comments.

Thanks again :)

[md usa spybot fan]

brynn:


I'm using v 1.4.
Just as I suspected from reading the description of your problem.

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 snapshots were taken. This happens primarily when you reboot the system. To refresh TeaTimer's snapshot files and synchronize them with the registry:
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.

This is speculation, but I believe this behavior was because of the following:
It appears that when TeaTimer starts the snapshot files are read into memory and maintained there. The snapshot files only appear to be rewritten when TeaTimer closes. During system shutdown (or restart) it appears that TeaTimer is terminated before it has a chance to rewrite the snapshot files.
Please note: This problem has been corrected in Spybot 1.5.

[brynn]

Thank you very much, md usa spybot fan!

Problem solved!

I should probably plan to get v 1.5. But meanwhile, no repeat alerts! If I understand what you're saying, I would need to stop and restart Tea Timer before each restart, until then, correct? Well, IF I've made any changes that produce alerts, I guess? Correct?

[md usa spybot fan]

brynn:

After you have made changes, just "Exit Spybot-S&D Resident" before you turn off or restart your system instead of letting it get terminated with the shutdown process.