All my pictures are Nexus Image Icons, no pictures....

This is the file.......

 

See post 54.... there is the files you need..... it's okay, no wrong doing on your behalf. Thanks for your concern on my issue. I really appreciate your help..

 

melen001...

Thanks. Just looked over the logs. Here are some of the errors sfc /scannow is reporting as unrepairable:

numerous mentions of desktop.ini
several utc.app.json errors
several amd PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 errors
several Microsoft-Windows-Unified-Telemetry-Client errors
several winsat.wmv errors
several Microsoft-Windows-WinSATMediaSamples errors
several Microsoft-Windows-SampleContent-Music-Package errors
several Wildlife.wmv errors
Others

60 unrepairable errors total. This is a pretty rough scan. Looks like Free Viewer didn't do a very good job of removing itself after making some very aggressive system changes.

Just out of curiosity, can you run the MS default media samples successfully in Windows Media Player? They are in your Video and Music folders?

sfc is probably finding some sort of problem with these media files that has to do with the icons issue and has determined either that replacing the file would not repair the problem or that it cannot replace the file, because there is no source (installation disk). I am mostly just curious about these.

Not sure what to say at this point. Sending you another PM in about 5 minutes...

 

In Wins Media Player I can see all my pictures and the samples. In Wins Photo Gallery (set as default) I see my pictures and samples. What next....???

 

Open the Registry Editor - type regedit in the search bar at the bottom of the Start Menu and press enter. Click File > Import... and find the backup file. Click Open.

 

Please be more specific on what I should do. I am not a GEEK and English is my second language so you have to explain in detail, please. One step at a time... I will appreciate it...

George

 

OK.
Click the Start Button.
At the bottom of the Start Menu you will see Search programs and files.
Type regedit and press the Enter key.
If UAC is enabled, the screen will dim and a small window will open.
Click Yes.
Registry Editor will open.
At the top left, click File and then click Import...
A window will open.
Find your registry backup file.
Click the file and then click open.
And that's it.

BTW English is also my second language.

 

Which backup file??? Do I check in highlighted file or "open" the complete file??? See thumbnail below...

 

In post #52 you said you have a Registry Backup. Open the folder in which the file is, as in the image you uploaded. Those are folders, not files.

BTW What program created the backup?

 

I don't remember what program created the registry backup but I think it was JRT Junkware Removable Tool. I have included a zip of the backup and wonder if you can take a look. I would really appreciate it...

 

You could go to control panel, Folder Options, and select to show file extensions. That way you can be more certain what kind of file you are dealing with. I believe you need to change the default program to open what I am assuming are .jpeg or .jpg files. Right click on one of the files and choose Properties. Then click change next to opens with. If you pick Windows Photo Viewer and apply you should see your pictures if viewing is set to icons.

 

Went to Folder Options and there is no Show Files Extensions to select. I would advise you to go to my original post and see Screen Capture and see what I mean. I have Wins Photo Gallery as default. I don't have Wins Photo Viewer... Photos are jpg and png

 

It's under the "View" tab in the "Folder Options" Window.

You want to un-check "Hide extensions for known file types"

 

I have unchecked "Hide extensions for known file types" but that did not solve the problem.... I am almost sure that when I installed Free Viewer by Blue Labs ... http://www.freeviewer.com/ ... that it has added or changed something to my registry. It has been uninstalled but that didn't help as well.

 

Did exactly as instructed. Installed first REVO and then FreeViewer. REVO (free) does not show FreeViewer as installed. I tried to install the 30 day trial REVO offers but it seems that you have pay and after 30 days you can remove it with no charge. Can I use another Uninstaller or does it have to be REVO???

 

melen001...

You might like this option. If the program is not showing up in Revo, take a look at one capability of Z-Installer:

http://dottech.org/3138/how-to-trac...-your-computer-during-a-program-installation/

The article says that Z-Installer is kind of annoying as an unistaller, but then goes on to detail a feature of the program that you may be able to use. It will give you a log of an installation...every file/folder/registry change or addition. If you think you are up to this, you could potentially record the installation and then post the log to get some input. You can also use the log to search out everything installed by Free Viewer and then remove it manually...

I used to use a program called InstallWatch Pro to do this, but it will only record up to 180,000 files for making the install comparison as it was designed for Win 98. I couldn't get it to work on W7, even in compatibility mode...

 

Maybe try: | MG |-IObit Uninstaller Portable.

 

Z-installer sounds like a good idea. I will look into that and let you know. Thanks....

 

Idid try IObit as one my first options and that didn't work. Thanks...

 

Done as advised ..... I wonder if you can take a look at the included file. I suspect that the registry entries are what has caused the problem I have. You can take as much time as you need, I'm not in a hurry. Thanks.....

 

Done as advised ..... I wonder if you can take a look at the included file. I suspect that the registry entries are what has caused the problem I have. You can take as much time as you need, I'm not in a hurry. Thanks.....

The zip file is in post #77 just below this one...... thanks.....

 

melen001...

That's the craziest installation I have ever seen. This installation deletes hoards of normal Windows registry keys and then adds hoards of keys, too. No wonder none of the uninstallers are able to fix the changes. An uninstaller would also have to be able to restore the keys that were removed.

You mentioned that you have a registry backup from another program (JRT?) you ran prior to installing Free Viewer. Do you actually have that backup? If you do, you could make another backup of the registry in its current condition and then restore the older backup. That might work. The only problem I could foresee would have to do with changes you may have made to the system since the time of that backup. If you have any programs installed that you know were installed after that time, it would be a good idea to uninstall them before you run the backup restore. Otherwise, if you have added any Windows updates, I would undo those additions from Control Panel->Programs and Features->View installed updates (top right). Look at the date the update was added and remove any added since the time of the registry backup. Go in reverse order so that the newest ones are uninstalled first. To uninstall right click on the update and select "uninstall". You can easily readd these updates later.

Otherwise, I think you will be perfectly safe to do this. Actually, even if you didn't take the precautions above, the worst that could happen with programs would be that a program or programs installed since the registry backup was created would malfunction and require reinstallation. You wouldn't even have to remove the program, just install over the top of the current installation. With updates, I would for sure remove them. It should only be a handfull. I think I recall the date on your backup as somewhere around the beginning of May.

No way will you be able to remove these files by hand. This program is really bad stuff for a system. I just have no idea what they were thinking who wrote the program...

 

melen001...

Hope I catch you before you restore the registry to save you some time. Forgot to mention, before you restore the registry you really should uninstall Free Viewer. Use whichever uninstaller you prefer best. Revo seems to not see the program, so any of the others will do.

If you restore the registry before you remove Free Viewer, you would then still have to remove Free Viewer, and who knows what might be in that process when using the program's uninstall feature (assuming it has one). Best to get it off the system first...

 

It looks like "Tweaking.com - Registry Backup" is the application that created the backup log file attached in post #66.

 

plastidust...

Thanks. I was looking at this:

One thing occurs to me after looking at this log. It runs a removal sequence to remove old backups, so that, if Melen001 were to back up before restoring, I think he would lose the backup he wants to restore. I think it would be a good idea to find the old backup and move it to some other location before running the new backup. Then move the new backup to another location and restore the old (the one to be restored) to its original location and restore it with whichever program created the backup...

Just something I noticed. I would definitely not run a new backup until the first one is moved to another location after looking over the backup log...

 

Just what I suspected...... that is what I was thinking as I went along applying fix after fix and didn't have any results while trying to correct the issue. Thanks to your expertise, now I know what went wrong with this piece of JUNK software FreeViewer of course thanks to you. And yes, I do have a registry backup as of May2 2015. Just not sure how I should use it to fix the problem. When looking at the registry backup (see screen capture below) it has 2 different dates 5/2/2015 and a modified date as of 5/26/2015. I have a zip of registry backup but it's over 2 mb and can not post. How can I send you the zip so you can tell me how and what to use to fix my registry? Maybe an email address???

 

melen001...

Yes, there are many ways to attack registry problems. The reason it took so long to get to how to repair your registry is that noone knew Free Viewer had actually deleted Windows keys. Z-Installer is the first program I have seen that will allow a user to actually see what has changed on their system when installing a program. What we were doing prior to Z-Installer was trying to use one uninstaller after another to see if anything would remove what we thought were elusive keys that had been added. Looking at the Z-Installer log, it became apparent that Free Viewer also REMOVED keys. This is NOT GOOD.

You are so fortunate to have the backup of the registry (fingers crossed it's all there). Even with the Z-Installer log, it would have been impossible to correct your registry without a Windows installation disk had you not had a backup of the registry from before you installed Free Viewer. Thanks to JRT I guess, but that's like a 1 in a million shot that you had that backup. Amazing.

That said, before you go to restore the registry, you really should create an image backup of your whole system and place it on a 2nd drive of some sort. That will be your insurance policy in case something goes wrong after the registry backup restore. Macrium Reflect is a good program. You will just need to install it and then created the burnable restore boot disk that you can use to restore the installation if you can't get into Windows for some reason down the road.

Once you have backed up the system, open JRT and restore the registry. I believe you would use the 5-2-15, which is the one that was created before you installed Free Viewer. Any backup created after you installed Free Viewer for the first time is essentially useless for repairs.

Good luck on this. Keep us updated...

 

Done and all is good. I did as you suggested and all is just fine now. I also used Macrium Reflect which was a cinch to use and quite easy. I was using AOMEI Backupper but I will stick with Macrium Free from now on. After I did the Registry Restore I spent some time looking at what Free Viewer removed and added to my registry and the truth is that I have never seen anything like that before. What where they thinking when they developed this software??? The good news is that all is good now and I have my pictures back in their folders like before.

I did send an email to the Free Viewer software developers notifying them of the "horrible job" with Free Viewer and thanking them for their reply which has now been over a month that I am STILL WAITING FOR.

Thanks AtlBo for your advice and most valued service.

Included picture just behind my home in Humacao Puerto Rico... enjoy ...

George
Puerto Rico

 

I thought I recognised the username.
Any program that deletes registry entries during installation should be considered malware. Thanks to your troubles many users of MajorGeeks, including myself, have learned something.
And the credit must go to AltBo for his persistence.

 

Thanks fellows. melon001...Really appreciate you taking the time to post your success here. Hopefully noone else will run into Free Viewer, but if they do they will be able to see how you were able to resolve the issue.

You did a great job of providing alot of information about what was happening. Also, those registry backups were the "key" :-o rolleyes:-D to the whole thing. I don't know anyone who saves registry backups like that. Really made me think about it and a smart thing for you to have done. My backup drives look like Berlin after WWII, so I need to get that dealt with before I think about more backups like registry backups.

I agree with Eldon. A program removing keys is just not a good idea. If the program's uninstaller placed them back, it would still be a bad thing to do. Thanks to Eldon for the comment. I learned alot from this following along with this thread from he and everyone else concerned.

Wow, what a back yard you have! Makes me wonder why we aren't all choosing to try to find a way to live someplace just like that.....oh wait, we aren't?...rolleyes:-D

Puerto Rico...a beautiful country...

 

Right on and 3 Cheers for AltBo's expert advice....... :wine

 

Glad you enjoy the "view"..... and once again, thank you so much for your expert advice. I really appreciate the time you spent resolving my issue. And I'm also glad that Eldon has also gained some knowledge about this horrible software, Free Viewer. I am sure that Timothy (MajorGeeks headman) will inform all the Geeks about this issue so that NO ONE comes across this piece of JUNK.... sorry to say that but that's what it is.... MALWARE... if it deletes Windows registry files and substitutes them with anything else I would have to say that it's MALWARE, period. Again, thanks to all.....

 

Hi plodr,

The software that caused the mentioned issue is Free Viewer >>> http://www.freeviewer.com/ <<< ... If you look at the comments you can see all the problems I had with this software. I have also posted a few zip files where you will be able to see all the registry entries it removed and added it's own entries. Thanks for your interest and I would not use this software ever again...... it's nothing but Malware...... :

 

This problem happened after installing Free Viewer..... don't use it, it will remove registry entries and add it's own........ it's Malware.....

 

plodr, yesterday I came across another program - Free Editor.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/free_editor.html

The publisher is Blue Labs, LLC.
http://www.freeeditor.com/

The publisher of Free Viewer is Free Viewer, LLC.
http://www.freeviewer.com/

But, when you scroll down and you'll see Blue Labs, LLC.

I'm sure you'll agree - It's unacceptable for any program to delete multiple registry entries during installation. File associations can be set from within Windows or the program.

BTW
nexus image is a simple image viewer for Windows.
http://www.xiles.net/

Nexus Photo Viewer is an image viewer for Android.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.homeysoft.nexususb.viewer

 

Hi...

That is correct about Blue Labs... they are the ones that developed Free Viewer which caused all my problems. I agree with you that ANY PROGRAM that deletes registry entries during installation is just not right and should be marked as MALWARE.

And concerning Nexus Image, it's a very simple image viewer for Wins and it has a eye catching GUI. Been using it for a few years and it's my default viewer. That's why I use it... It look's nice (eye candy) and so easy to use. It's very basic but as a viewer it's great. :wave