Tap System Mechanic 6 to recover failing systems

Use the Configure Complete Optimization And Repair Actions dialog box to specify the registry actions to perform

The program also presents a number of buttons along the home menu's left edge. Use the Repair icon to access the following System Mechanic tools:

• Repair and Clean the Registry
• Fix Drive and System Problems
• Fix Broken Shortcuts
• Find and Remove Spyware
• Recover Deleted Data

Let's explore repairing Windows registry first.

Repairing the Registry

When selecting the Repair and Clean the Registry option, System Mechanic presents three tools. Registry Optimizer eliminates outdated and invalid registry entries that can slow Windows operations and wreak other havoc. Backup or Restore the Registry simplifies the process of creating registry backups and restoring backed up registry files created using System Mechanic. Compact and Defragment the Registry, meanwhile, optimizes registries by compressing and defragmenting Windows' hierarchical database.

Note that, whenever working with the Windows registry, you should always verify you have a working backup before making any changes. As with other administrative tools, System Mechanic's utilities can't guarantee registry operations will work perfectly, so ensure a working backup is in place before attempting any registry tweaks. Thus, it's a good idea to routinely back up not only system data, but the system's registry, too.

When you select Registry Optimizer, System Mechanic presents several choices. You can set the utility to automatically optimize and repair the Windows registry, or you can elect to configure custom and even advanced options. Above provides an example of just some of the registry problems the Registry Optimizer can diagnose and repair.

The Registry Optimizer menu is straightforward and simple to use

In addition to removing invalid application folders, the registry optimizer can locate references to outdated software uninstallers, shared DLLs that are no longer required, bad font libraries, invalid auto-run programs, bad drivers and more. Options that can be configured for the actual repair process include having the utility automatically repair all the problems it finds, saving the information required to undo fixes and automatically excluding irreparable items from subsequent searches.

Select the options you wish to use, as shown above and click Next.

The Registry Optimizer will display its progress, and then report on its success once run

The registry repair actions will execute, as shown above.

In addition to specifying hard disks, the Drive Medic Hard Drive Repair Tool offers additional customization options, including the ability to perform full system scans

Click the fix button to repair any remaining issues.

Backup or Restore the Registry presents a simple menu for backing up or restoring a registry. Once you've opted to backup or restore the registry, just make the appropriate selection from the menu. The utility will walk you through any remaining steps.

The Compact and Defragment the System Registry utility presents a single checkbox. Titled Compact And Defragment The System Registry Next Time The Computer Is Restarted, use the box to specify compaction and defragmentation. To run the utility the next time Windows starts, check the box and click the Exit button. The next time Windows boots, the utility will seek unnecessary free space within the system registry, clears it and defragments the database to improve performance and regain lost space.

Fixing drive and system issues

System Mechanic's Fix Drive and System Problems option also provides three choices. The Drive Medic Hard Drive Repair Tool diagnoses and repairs hard disk problems, while also providing the ability to perform surface scans. The Drive Medic Disaster Recovery Wizard helps repair failed hard drives, recover partitions, restore data access and repair unstable operating systems. The Create Disaster Recovery Diskette does just what it says: creates a disaster recovery diskette to later enable disaster recovery efforts should something go awry.

Several options exist when using the Drive Medic Hard Drive Repair Tool. As with the Registry Optimizer, you can run a quick search and repair in which the utility automatically fixes the errors it finds, or you can opt to configure specific options associated with the search and repair operation. Among the options you can customize are the hard disks tested. You can also specify whether all detected problems are automatically repaired, drive analysis should be run on reboot if a drive is locked and full surface scans should be run, as shown above.

The Disaster Recovery Wizard walks technicians through several available options that often help fix damaged drives, boot unbootable systems, recover data and restore stability

As full surface scans search for errors at the sector level, such scans can eliminate the cause of corrupted data due to a hard disk's possessing bad sectors. However, surface scans take longer to complete. Other Drive Medic features include the ability to examine and repair Master Boot Records and partition tables.

The Drive Medic Disaster Recovery Wizard helps recover a failed system or a PC that crashes repeatedly. Triggering the wizard opens the menu shown above.

Specify shortcut repair options using the Automatic Cleanup Options dialog box

Navigate the wizard by specifying the type of difficulty from which you're trying to recover. For example, the wizard presents two options: Highly Unstable Operating System and Unable to Start Windows. Specify your preference and the wizard takes it from there.

If you select Highly Unstable Operating System, the wizard presents three options. You can Run System Mechanic's PC Repair Wizard, which searches for and repairs typical problems. The Go Back to a Previous Windows Restore Point helps the technician leverage Windows System Restore feature and load a Restore Point Windows created in the past. The third option, Restore the System Registry from a Saved Backup, simplifies restoring system stability by reverting to a previous stable Registry backup made using System Mechanic's Registry backup utility.

When you select the Unable to Start Windows option two choices appear: Bootable CD-ROM and Bootable Floppy Disk. Unless you've already created a bootable floppy disk or booted using Safe Mode, the odds that you can even get to this screen on a failed system are remote. That's why I recommended you create bootable floppies for systems you intend to support using System Mechanic before trouble arises. When creating such a disk, System Mechanic writes the system's master boot record information and command.com, kernel.sys and other files to the diskette along with additional Drive Medic utilities. Such a disk can prove invaluable in resurrecting a troubled system.

Even if you skipped creating a bootable floppy disk, you can still trigger Drive Medic by booting directly from the System Mechanic CD-ROM. Running Drive Medic directly from the CD results in a scaled-back toolset featuring a basic GUI you can use to specify disks to be scanned and the options that should be applied to the scan (including attempting repairs of master boot records and partition tables).

Fixing broken shortcuts

A minor problem, even by user standards, broken shortcuts nonetheless prove annoying. Using System Mechanic's Clean or Fix Broken Shortcuts tool, administrators can make quick work of such tasks.

You can elect automatic discovery and repair using the utility's Quick Cleanup and Repair option. Alternatively, you can perform a Deep Clean and Repair, which performs cleanup and repair operations on all drives, whereas the quick iteration only cleans and repairs items on Windows' Start Menu and Desktop.

Regardless of whether you select a quick or deep repair, several additional options are available. Click the Options button to access the Automatic Cleanup Options dialog box, shown above.

Specify the type of file you seek to recover using the Things To Search For tab to help limit the number of files the wizard returns

Check the Search For And Assign New Targets To Broken Shortcuts box to instruct the utility to repair broken shortcuts. From the Removal section, specify how the tool should manage the information it deletes.

Removing spyware

Numerous anti-spyware programs exist, and it's quite likely your organization has already deployed at least one such program. When sitting down at an end user system to perform routine service, recover deleted data, optimize the registry or perform other maintenance, it's helpful to also be able to scan a system for spyware and eliminate offending programs. As spyware programs can also prevent a Windows system from operating properly, having an additional potent antispyware program in your toolkit doesn't hurt.

Essentially two options are available from System Mechanic's Find and Remove Spyware feature. You can open the Spython Spyware Removal Tool or check for updates. Check for updates first, which will download updated spyware definitions.

Once updates are loaded, open the Spython spyware removal tool to both scan systems for offending spyware and remove parasitic files. In addition to detecting malware and adware, Spython also detects key loggers.

As with other System Mechanic utilities, several options are available including a Quick Clean and Disinfection or Deep Clean and Disinfection. The quick clean performs a basic search and removal of basic files, folders and the system registry, while the deep clean performs a more thorough, complete system scan.

By default, System Mechanic automatically removes parasites and saves undo information associated with the removal action. Should you wish to change the default behavior, click the Options button to make the appropriate adjustments.

When Spython completes its search and disinfecting operations, it presents the results of its work in a summary screen.

Recovering deleted files

Possibly the most stressful service request IT professionals receive is the lost data call for help. Accidentally deleted files constitute a significant problem, but often data can be retrieved even if it's been removed from Windows' Recycle Bin.

When files are replaced in Windows' Recycle Bin, they're not actually removed from the PC. Only the references to those files, or the actual pointers within the hard disk's table or directory entry, are removed. Iolo's Search and Recover is one tool you can turn to when needing to recover lost data.

Search and Recover offers several options, including a File Rescue Wizard, a Media Recovery Wizard, Advanced Deleted File Search and Recover Lost E-mail.

Files that have recently been deleted, without much new data being written to the hard disk since the file was trashed, can usually be recovered using the File Rescue Wizard. However, even a simple scan using the wizard can turn up hundreds of recovered files. Thus, it's a good idea to use the wizard's built-in filter to limit the type of files targeted. For example, if the file in question is a Word document, use the Things To Search For tab, shown above, to specify documents as the file type. Other options include pictures and images, music, sounds and videos, programs and applications and Web pages.

Search and Recover presents the results of its search on the Recovery tab

If significant time has lapsed since a file was deleted, and numerous new files have been written to the hard drive, it may still be possible to recover the lost data. Even if a drive has been partitioned or formatted, Search and Recover may be able to reassemble it. To attempt such a recovery, be sure to check the wizard's StrongScan search checkbox from the Places To Look tab, where you also need to specify the actual drive location where the file resided before being deleted.

Once the recovery scan's been run, recovered files are listed on the Recovery tab. Highlight the file you wish to restore and select Recover from the menu bar.

System Mechanic's Advanced Deleted File Search utility provides additional parameters you can specify when seeking lost data, as well as a window for viewing a file's hex data

The Advanced Deleted File Search presents a different menu, with additional search options and parameters, as shown above.

In my informal tests, the Advanced Deleted File Search quickly found files the Search and Recover wizard failed to locate.

In addition to viewing a file's condition, you can view its hex code in the lower window using the advanced tool. To recover files the Advanced Deleted File Search locates, just highlight the respective file and click the Recover button. Note that you'll be asked to specify the location where the file should be restored.

Using Recover Lost Email, special applications are provided for recovering messages within Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, Qualcomm's Eudora and Netscape Email. The tool's Email Safety Configuration feature simplifies turning off Microsoft Outlook Express's Automatic Compacting, which can make recovery more difficult. The tool also simplifies turning off Outlook's AutoArchive feature and suspending automatic compacting within Eudora.

The included Media Recovery Wizard, meanwhile, provides a specialized utility for attempting recovery of deleted data from a wide variety of different devices, including digital cameras, MP3 players, flash-based media and more. Its menus are essentially the same as System Mechanic's other recovery tools.