how to check windows system files integrity?

[thanatoid]

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in
news:#N8$6KcTIHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:

> "thanatoid" <waiting@the.exit.invalid> wrote in message
> news:Xns9A18B3580161Athanexit@66.250.146.158...
>> "glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in
>> news:uudq9RLTIHA.4272@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:
>>
>>> Corrupted Setupx.dll After Installing Windows 98 Second
>>> Edition http://support.microsoft.com/kb/231793
>>
>> Thanks, Glen.
>>
>> I checked it out. Mercifully, it was a very small page,
>> especially by MS standards.
>>
>> "This issue can occur if the verification table that SFC
>> uses is not current".
>>
>> What do they mean? It was done when I installed 98SE and
>> NOTHING has changed, so HOW can it NOT be current? Does it
>> have a time- expiration bug or something?
>>
>> It's sort of a rhetorical question, but if you DO have an
>> explanation, feel free to post if so inclined.
>>
>> Thanks again.
>
> Well, I don't have *the* answer, but I have *an* answer.
> Simply put, SFC has some bugs in its verification system,
> as well as in its file extraction process. I think in the
> case of this file, even though the file is the same version
> as when Windows was installed, it either doen't seem to
> register this fact in the verification table or the program
> itself doen't read it correctly.
>
> The verification process in SFC was so buggy, MS had
> already retired that function by the time it was reworked
> in Windows ME. The only good use of SFC is the file
> extraction function.
>
> System File Checker explained:
> http://www.rickrogers.org/sfc.htm
>
> How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files
> http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=129605
>
> Description of the System File Checker Tool (Sfc.exe):
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=185836
>
> System File Checker Tool Extracts Incorrect File Versions
> http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=192832
>
> Error Message: System File Checker Identified that the
> Following File may Be Corrupted. File: EXTRAC32.EXE...:
> http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=264865
>
> System File Checker May Not Replace Older Files:
> http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=182725

Thanks, that is good info.

Just the names of the links are scary enough to pretty much put
me off SFC for good - not that I really need it, obviously.
Still it was interesting to find out about its existence.

I have /several/ times been surprised by goodies found on the OS
CD's that do not install as a standard part of the OS -
obviously SFC installs, but I have never heard of it before.

--
Needless to say, I disdain such idiocies as Xmas and New Year's,
but I'd thought I'd play along just once...

thanatoid's New Year's Resolutions.

01. Stop posting good advice to help newsgroups.
02. Stop posting stupid advice to help newsgroups.
03. Drive to see the Grand Canyon and then to Las Vegas, buy a
gun.
04. Gamble a little in a desperate attempt to fit in for once.
05. Hire 5 of the best looking Las Vegas hookers and have a 3
hour orgy.
06. Have a king-size eggs and bacon and hashbrowns with onions
breakfast.
07. Return to hotel room, put gun in mouth and pull trigger.

 

[thanatoid]

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in
news:e$IzuCdTIHA.5524@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:

> glee wrote:

<SNIP>

>> The verification process in SFC was so buggy, MS had
>> already retired that function by the time it was reworked
>> in Windows ME. The only good use of
> SFC
>> is the file extraction function.
>
> Not quite. It's still VERY useful to me to run it just
> after installing some new programs to see if they have
> modified any system files (which quite often happens, and
> sometimes with bad or untold consequences). It has (on
> occasion) saved me a LOT of grief in that regard (sometimes
> I have had to bring back the original files I had copies
> of, from a backup drive).

Not just because of /my/ experience, such as it was, and what
Glen said, but I would suggest using a file-change/registry
monitoring program and/or InCtrl 4 (or whatever equivalent runs
on one's given system).

I have never bothered with a file-change monitor program -
although I do have "FileMap-by-BB" installed and running - but I
ALWAYS use InCtrl 4 and could not live without it.


--
Needless to say, I disdain such idiocies as Xmas and New Year's,
but I'd thought I'd play along just once...

thanatoid's New Year's Resolutions.

01. Stop posting good advice to help newsgroups.
02. Stop posting stupid advice to help newsgroups.
03. Drive to see the Grand Canyon and then to Las Vegas, buy a
gun.
04. Gamble a little in a desperate attempt to fit in for once.
05. Hire 5 of the best looking Las Vegas hookers and have a 3
hour orgy.
06. Have a king-size eggs and bacon and hashbrowns with onions
breakfast.
07. Return to hotel room, put gun in mouth and pull trigger.