Teatimer

[sbfantasia]

I hope this is the proper place for this question. I have been having a recurring problem with a particular BHO coming back even after it is removed from the registry. I finally discovered that if I disable Teatimer and then using HiJack This I remove the BHO entry and reboot the entry does not come back. However if I enable Teatimer again and reboot I have the entry back again. So I now have disabled Teatimer but I was wondering if there is a problem with my Spybot S & D. I would appreciate any help.

Thank you

[md usa spybot fan]

TeaTimer works by taking snapshots of various registry keys and periodically comparing these snapshots with the contents of the registry to determine if changes to the registry occur. The cause of the problem that you are having is because TeaTimer's snapshot files are out of sync with the registry after the removal of the BHO.

Until TeaTimer's 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.

It appears that TeaTimer's snapshot files get out of sync with the registry is because 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 and therefore they are out of sync with the registry if changes have been made to the registry.

The solution to your problem is two fold.
Inspect TeaTimer's "White & Black List" to make sure that you have not use "Remember this decision" on any changes related to that BHO. If you checked "Remember this decision" on a change the information concerning that change it is stored in a file. TeaTimer uses that information to automatically "Allow" or "Deny" changes. To edit this information:Right click on the TeaTimer system tray icon and select Settings. This will bring up TeaTimer's "White & Black List". There are four (4) Buttons across the top of the "White & Black List":

Allowed processes
Blocked processes
Allowed registry changes
Blocked registry changes

Note: If you don't see all four buttons, try expanding the window to the right.

You can review all the entries that you have stored by clicking on these buttons. The entries that you should review are in "Allowed registry changes" and "Blocked registry changes". You can delete entries by clicking on the scripted black "X" to the right of the entry that you want to delete and then clicking the "OK" button when you're done. This will in effect make TeaTimer forget what you told it to remember so that during future changes to these items TeaTimer will issue a pop-up dialog rather then just a notification pop-up.


Then remove the BHO (with TeaTimer running) and refresh TeaTimer's snapshot files as follows:
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.