Problems with Tea Timer

T

twriterext

New member
OK, I admit, I find Tea Timer very confusing. I have been working on a computer with Spybot 1.6. I ran the Windows CHKDSK utility. Somewhere in the process Spybot notified me of a registry change. I must have said yes when I should have said no, because now CHKDSK starts on every reboot.

Yes, I found some postings in this forum, but it is STILL not clear what to do in order to stop the CHKDSK from starting on each reboot. I right clicked on (what I think is) the Tea Timer icon in the system tray. I then left clicked on Settings, and found "Allowed processes," "Blocked Processes" and "Blocked Registry Changes." (The instructions in the posting I found are incomplete)

Under one tab I found:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSel00\Control\Session Manager \BootExecute=autochk autochk /r\??\c\autochk *\

Under another tab, I found:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSel00\Control\Session Manager \BootExecute=autochk autochk *\

Do I remove the "black X" from one (if so, which one), or both of those entries? Or is there something else I need to do in order to stop the CHKDSK from starting on each reboot?

I may be a very small minority of one, but the "Value Added" or "Valued Deleted" registry notification is insufficient for me to make a decision on whether the registry change should be allowed or denied.
 
Thank you for your help.

I followed your instructions (and Leo's). The problem is solved. At least, there have been no automatic starts of the CHKDSK utility after several computer restarts, so I think I can conclude that the problem is solved.

Although I consider myself a reasonably knowledgeable user, I have been avoiding registry edits. So, it was with a great deal of trepidation that I performed the edit described by Leo. However, his instructions were detailed enough that I found them easy to follow, and they (appear to have) worked.

Thanks again, but please consider my plea for more information about the consequences of the accept/reject decision regarding registry edits.
 
There is no one "simple, official" rule to decide whether to Allow or Deny the change. It is just simply too complicated, because there are just too many changes to decide on.

What I can say is that if you are unfamiliar with TeaTimer and do not wish to use it, then you can disable it anytime (Spybot>Advanced Mode>Tools>Resident). The changes would be the same if you were to Allow it and if you did not have TeaTimer active.
 
twriterext:

From Spybot's Tutorial:

...

8. Resident

...

Resident TeaTimer

... If something tries to change critical registry keys, TeaTimer will detect it. TeaTimer can protect you against such changes by giving you an option: You can either Allow or Deny the change. TeaTimer is always running in the background.


Since Spybot-S&D 1.6 the TeaTimer uses our database where known files are rated as good or dangerous. This database contains several hundreds of thousands entries and is enlarged continuously. Nonetheless now and then there are files which are not contained yet. In these cases and if you use older Spybot versions Resident TeaTimer will ask your permission for every change. If you are not sure if you should allow the change, there is a simple rule of thumb:

If you have been installing something and/or if you judge the file that is going to be installed as good because you know its name, you can proceed by allowing the registry change (same thing if you or Spybot-S&D were deleting an application). But if the message comes out of the blue sky while you were surfing the web, you should get cautious. In this case it is better to deny the registry change. …

__________

The registry change monitoring function within TeaTimer is merely reporting that a change to one the registry keys it monitors has occurred. This gives you the opportunity to reverse that change by responding with "Deny Change" if you think the change has been initiated by something malicious.

My personal philosophy on handling TeaTimer registry change dialogs is:
  1. Realize that the registry change monitor within TeaTimer is merely reporting that a change to one the registry keys it monitors has occurred. This gives you the opportunity to reverse that change by responding with "Deny Change" if you think the change has been initiated by something malicious.
  2. When a change occurs try to take into consideration what is happening on your system (installing, updating, removing malware, etc.).
  3. If you can't figure out what the change is, don't necessarily "Deny …" the change. If you deny the wrong change you can adversely affect the stability, functionality and even the security of your system.
  4. Remember, if you "Allow …" all changes, you would be no worse off than if I didn't have TeaTimer enabled at all.
One additional note:
  • As long as the TeaTimer dialog is outstanding there is an opportunity to reverse the registry change by doing a "Deny change". This gives you a chance to either think about or research that type of change and what was going on in your system.
 
Thanks md usa spybot fan, for filling that in. :red: I'm just sort of saying there is no one official rule because there are so many variables, like the type of change, what is occurring during the change (normal browsing, update, installing). And it can sometimes take some knowledge to make sure what this change is and confirm it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top