Corrupt Parental Controls File

[niemiro]

Hope that it is not too scary! You might now understand why I didn't want to start this at 8:30 at night!

Not too scary for me.

One question, however, before I get underway: Do we need to take care of the cambriab.ttf and the tpm.sys files at the same time? In other words, would it be simpler-- present less risk of complication-- to try one file at a time, starting with the esrb.rs file?

It would take longer to address each file at one time; but would doing so help identify which file is causing which problem(s)?

Don't worry about time. Take a week or longer if necessary! Or a month! In your own time! Don't rush! I know what it is like to be busy!

The system file (tpm.sys) is the one I am most worried about. Two small data file corruptions are one thing, but I am more worried about corruption of a code file which could be run. This is the only one that is really causing the risk in the first place. The other two are fine. One is a ratings data file. This is hardly life or death if we lose it for a few hours. The font file is not the Default Vista Font (I would have got you to change the font used by Vista by now if it was - no font makes Vista hard to use!) and again is hardly life or death if we lose it for a few hours.

However, if you want, we could almost entirely remove the risk by not fixing the tpm.sys file now, see if the initial problem is resolved, and let sleeping dogs lie, or fix later when needed.

Change of mind!

For step two, use this script file. This will only fix esrb.rs and the font file. It will give us a test run, and remove the risk almost entirely, by not dealing with tpm.sys yet.

:Files
mkdir C:\BackedupFiles\ /c
xcopy C:\Windows\Fonts\cambriab.ttf C:\BackedupFiles\2\ /v /i /h /k /x /y /c
C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-font-truetype-cambria_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6002.18208_none_f4901c8c012fa95b\cambriab.ttf|C:\Windows\Fonts\cambriab.ttf /replace
xcopy C:\Users\Chris\Desktop\Downloaded Installs\CAMBRIAB.TTF C:\BackedupFiles\3\ /v /i /h /k /x /y /c
C:\Users\Chris\Desktop\Downloaded Installs\CAMBRIAB.TTF
xcopy C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-p..-gameratingssystems_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6001.18000_none_29e52517ee5dbeba\esrb.rs C:\BackedupFiles\4\ /v /i /h /k /x /y /c
xcopy C:\Windows\System32\esrb.rs C:\BackedupFiles\5\ /v /i /h /k /x /y /c
C:\Users\Chris\Desktop\Downloaded Installs\esrb\esrb.rs|C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-p..-gameratingssystems_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6001.18000_none_29e52517ee5dbeba\esrb.rs /replace
C:\Users\Chris\Desktop\Downloaded Installs\esrb\esrb.rs|C:\Windows\System32\esrb.rs /replace
xcopy C:\Temp for ESRB\esrb.rs C:\BackedupFiles\6\ /v /i /h /k /x /y /c
C:\Temp for ESRB\esrb.rs

:Commands
[CREATERESTOREPOINT]
[EMPTYTEMP]

Richard

 

[niemiro]

I have been thinking very carefully about this. The only thing that could go wrong is OTL messing up the backups. Let us manually make the backups now, so we can forget about this worry. Simply run the batch file attached to this post, and all will be well. After this, I refuse to make any more backups. We have almost done too much now. It is not that big a thing. If this was my computer, I would not do anything (even a system restore point) however I do have a proper Vista DVD somewhere nearish to hand. Obviously we have to be very careful, but I think that it has gone over the top at this point.

Richard

EDIT: Just noticed that this thread is in System Security. Is there a reason for this? Do you actively suspect a virus?

 

[WindowsDad]

No, I do not suspect a virus.

I suspect it is a problem with some Windows update somewhere-- so Microsoft's fault. My research shows that others have had the same problem-- parental controls worked, then stopped working after updates were installed. The games that come with Microsoft Vista don't work (with the singular exception of Inkball) which is a problem also reported and the symptoms are the same-- nothing crashes, they just won't start. (I can point you toward the threads.)

I wish I could find a contact in Microsoft's software coding department that handles parental controls in Vista, because I suspect they created the problem and should be able to fix it for all users with an update.

Been busy so I will give you an update on my status within on your recommended steps within the next 6 hours or so.

Thanks again.

 

[niemiro]

Updates are extremely complex. What you have here is a file corruption. I find it unlikely that Microsoft would ever push an update to fix a file corruption because people have so many different versions of each file. I think you are correct about it being a Windows Update issue, but there is one good side to this: it implies that this is a software fault, and not a dying hard disk that needs replacing.

Not that you need to, but here is where you can report bugs to Microsoft: https://connect.microsoft.com/

This cannot be classed as a bug (you are asking for cleanup, and it is too old to work out the exact cause now) and Vista no longer accepts things like this now, but you may just be interested.