Problem file

[J!ll]

  Sorry I can't help, have a drink on me! 

[Sebby]

Good luck, Noreen. Let us know how you get on.

(By the way, I've no idea what's on the disc I sent you! )

[Noreen]

I think that it was you Sebby but might not have been. It's supposed to be a Vista Startup/Repair disk.

[Rik]

That was Sebby.

[Noreen]

Glenn, was the file that you attached from a Vista machine? I've done a lot of googling about this and found at least one person who'd replaced a corrupt Vista autocheck file with one from XP but it seems a bit risky to me. I looked at the properties of your file and at the bottom it said that this file came from another machine and could be blocked for security reasons, did I want to unblock it? So I've unblocked it.

Next problem is that, of course, Vista won't let me replace or rename this existing corrupt file, says that I have to have "ownership". A lot of googling again and I found at least a couple of refs to how to do this however I eventually found this in the Vista Help files

The owner of the object controls how permissions are set on the object and to whom permissions are granted.

The Take ownership permission on an object or the Restore files and directories user right are the minimum requirements to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.

To take ownership of a file or folder

Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder you want to take ownership of.

Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.

Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.

Click Edit, and then do one of the following:

To change the owner to a user or group that is not listed, click Other users and groups and, in Enter the object name to select (examples), type the name of the user or group, and then click OK.
Take Ownership of a File or Folder

To change the owner to a user or group that is listed, in the Change owner to box, click the new owner.


(Optional) To change the owner of all subcontainers and objects within the tree, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.

Additional considerations

An administrator can take ownership of any file on the computer.


Assigning ownership of a file or a folder might require you to elevate your permissions using User Access Control.


To open Windows Explorer, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.


You can transfer ownership in two ways:


The current owner can grant the Take ownership permission to others, allowing those users to take ownership at any time. A user granted the Take ownership permission can take ownership of the object or assign ownership to any group that the user is a member of.


A user who has the Restore files and directories privilege can double-click Other users and groups and choose any user or group to assign ownership to.


The Everyone group no longer includes the Anonymous Logon group.


Additional references

Manage Object Ownership

So I'll have a look at this now. 

[Noreen]

I couldn't make sense of the MS instructions so looked at these that I found online, much easier.

Go to C:\Windows\System32
Right click on Autochk.exe -> Properties
Click the Security tab, then click Advanced (button)
On the new window 'Advanced Security Settings for Autochk.exe' click the
'Owner' tab
Below the box labeled 'Change owner to:' click 'Edit...'
In the new window, under 'Change owner to:' select yourself (or the
Administrators group), then click OK
Close all property windows for autochk.exe, then go back to (right click)
Properties->Security
Click 'Edit...'
On the window 'Permissions for Autochk.exe' select the Administrators group,
then under 'Allow' click the 'Full Control' checkbox
Click OK and close the property windows
Ok...NOW you can rename autochk.exe to autochk_old.exe (that took a lot of
work!)

All I had to do in fact was click on allow full control and then I was able to rename the file (didn't remove it). After that I copied the new file into System32 and..............IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've just done a complete check disk for both file and sector errors. After that I ran CCleaner again and the bad file had GONE.

Thank you to all for your help especially Glenn. Glenn and to Gary for suggesting running the check that identified which file was corrupt.

[Rik]

Glad you got there Noreen.

[Noreen]

I wouldn't have been able to do without the help of the great people on this forum, Rik. From what I've now read it seems to be not an uncommon problem with Vista or XP and unless people are made aware of a problem they don't know that they have a corrupt check disk file. It seems that it's worth running it occasionally just to find whether it's OK and to check other files anyway.

I'm wondering whether I should now change the security settings for check disk back to as they were before. Perhaps some Vista person will advise.

[Rik]

I see you got your sig back, Noreen. 

[Noreen]

Oh yes, I hadn't noticed, Rik. 

[Glenn]

Great news Noreen, glad you got it sorted, thanks for the Karma.

[Noreen]

Glenn, was it from Vista?

Oh dear, my signatures gone again.

[Rik]

It's OK here, Noreen, and I can read the file direct from the website too.

[Glenn]

Glenn, was it from Vista?

Oh dear, my signatures gone again.

Yes, it was a Vista file, I would not have posted it otherwise

[Noreen]

It's OK here, Noreen, and I can read the file direct from the website too.

I can't see it here, Rik.

[Simon]

I have it here, Noreen.  Try clearing your cache. 

[Rik]

I can't see it here, Rik.

Webspace has apparently gone down again. Do you clear your cache every time you leave the forum?

[Noreen]

Yes, it was a Vista file, I would not have posted it otherwise

I thought so but just thought that I'd check out of interest. I'll be keeping a copy for future use "just in case". Do you think that I should change the "owner's" stuff back to what it was before?

I've made a new System Restore point and I suppose that I should make a new Acronis TI backup now too.

[Simon]

Webspace has apparently gone down again.

I've just managed to log into my webspace, Rik.   

[Rik]

Me too, but it times out on larger files...  OTOH, I was just able to d/l a file of 381k...

[Noreen]

Webspace has apparently gone down again. Do you clear your cache every time you leave the forum?

No I don't, Rik.

[Rik]

That's odd then - until I cleared mine, I retained your sig.

[Gary]

I would change your security settings back the way they were, glad it worked Noreen

[Noreen]

Signature OK now, Rik.

[Rik]

So it is.