Copyright: By Mark Balthazor


Introduction

As you use your computer, there are many things that can occur behind your back and lead to system instability.  The Windows operating system is made up of hundreds of different types of files.  Open your “C:\Windows\System” folder and you’ll see what I mean.  In theory all these files should be able to work together in harmony.  Remember though, in theory bumblebees shouldn’t be able to fly.  A number of things can and DO happen to destroy this fragile harmony.  System files can be deleted, moved or overwritten.  This is a common thing when installing software.  If the software you are installing is older than the operating system there is a good chance that one of your system files will be replaced by an older version.  This can create a number of problems down the road.  Further, it can be very difficult to determine where the original file came from in the first place.


What is ScanSys
What is ScanSys?

ScanSys is a utility that helps you to keep track of important system files.  ScanSys can scan your computer’s system folders and notify you if files have been added, deleted, updated, or overwritten.  Furthermore, you can use ScanSys to install software and record the changes to a log, which will allow you to identify where all these files came from.  ScanSys will also allow you to restore deleted or replaced files from a backup.


Install

The Install feature lets you launch an installation program with ScanSys and identify any changes that the program makes to your system directories.  You can also use this feature to launch disk cleaning programs, junk file removers, uninstall programs, or any other program that you think might change your system files.  When the “Install” button is clicked you will see a dialog box asking for the installation program name.  Browse to find the desired program and hit “Open”.  This will bring up yet another dialog box asking for an install name.  Type in the name of the program you are installing, or anything else for that matter.  This becomes the name by which this installation will be logged.  If no name is entered, the default install name is the current date.  After entering an install name, ScanSys closes and your selected program launches.  After the installation (or junk removal, etc.) is completed, launch ScanSys and click “Scan” to examine the results of the installation.


Scan

The Scan feature scans all the system files located in various system folders and compares them to your ScanSys log.  If ScanSys notices anything different, it displays the results in the main window.  The first time you scan you will get a large number of results in the main window.  This is because the log is empty, therefore ScanSys sees everything as different.  After this first scan completes, hit the “Update Log” button and you will now have a record of your current system status.  Once a scan is completed, you can explore the results in the main window. It is important to note that ScanSys cannot scan hidden folders, or certain “special” folders such as the Recycle Bin.  This is important to note, as the hidden file “C:\Windows\sysbckup” contains backups of many replaced system files. However, if you set the Windows view option to “View all files”, this folder can be accessed via the Browse feature of the Restore dialog. See “Results Options” for details.


Results Window

The result window shows any changes that have been made since the last time the log was updated.  The first column shows the name of the file.  Filenames listed in black have been replaced.  Blue names are either files that have been added or are updated versions of older files.  Generally, blue listings are not to be worried about.  Red filenames are files that have been removed or are older files that have overwritten newer files.  These files may be cause for concern.  The next column gives the status of the file.  The entries are “Added”, “Missing”, ”Downgraded”, ”Updated”, ”Downgrade”, ”Update” and “Logged”.  “Added” refers to a file that has been added to the system since the last update.  “Missing” refers to a file that has been deleted or moved.  “Downgraded” files are files that have been overwritten by an older version, while “Downgrade” is the older file that has overwritten it. Similarly, “Updated” files are those that have been replaced with a new version and “Update” refers to the newer file that has replaced it.  Finally, “Logged” is an entry that shows up in the View Log feature and simply means that the file has been written to the log.  Then next column shows the install name.  This identifies what installation this file came from.  The next column shows the version of the file (if available), and the final column displays the file path.


Results Options

Right clicking on a file in the result window opens a pop-up menu, which gives you two options.  The first option is “Information”. This will bring up a window displaying various information about the selected file. The second option is “Restore”. The option to restore is only available if the file is listed as Missing or Downgraded.  This option will search your entire hard drive for any instance of the selected file, then will bring up a window showing the results. The top of the window shows information about the selected file, while the bottom lists all found instances of that file. If you wish to restore one of them from the list, select the file you wish to restore and click “Restore”.  A message box will appear to inform you if the restore was a success.  If the file is not found, the browse button can be used to manually find the file.  Note: double-clicking a file will also activate its default action, which is “Restore” for missing or downgraded files, and “Information” for all others.


View Log

The View Log action simply displays the current log in the main view window.  This log will show all the system files currently on your computer.  Files that have been replaced or deleted are not logged, as they no longer exist.  The log will also display the same information about the files as the scan results do, so you can easily determine where each of your files came from.  Additionally, the log viewer will let you view file information, just like the scan results, by right-clicking it.  It is important to remember that the log shows only the files that currently exist, it does not log all activity.


Update Log

After a scan, you will probably want to update the log.  Updating will log all system files that are currently on your system.  It does not log all results.  Thus, is a file was overwritten or deleted, this will not be logged.  Therefore, if a scan shows that files have been deleted or changed it may be best to resolve the issue (if the issue requires resolving) before updating.


Options

The options screen, which can be accesses through the “Options” menu item, allows you to set custom capabilities for ScanSys.  There are three pages to the options screen; Set File Types, Set Directories, and Log View Options.


Set File Types

The File Types page of the options screen allows you to customize the types of files that ScanSys searches for.  The page contains a window that lists all the file extensions that are ScanSys searches for.  To add a new type click the “Add” button.  This will prompt you for a three-character file extension.  Type only the three digits of the desired extension, such as “dll” or “exe”.  Do not try to enter the dot or any wildcard characters, as ScanSys does this automatically.  Once the new extension is typed click “Ok” and it will be added to the list.  To remove a file type, select the desired extension in the list box and click remove.  Finally, if you wish to restore the default file types, click the “Defaults” button. You must have at least one file type selected, for obvious reasons.


Set Directories

This page allows you to set the folders which ScanSys scans.  The top of the page shows a list box containing all of the currently scanned folders.  In the right column you will see a “Y” or “N”.  This refers to whether or not ScanSys scans the subdirectories of the given directory.  To add a new folder to the list simply use the Directory box at the bottom of the page to browse for the desired folder and click "Add”.  You will be prompted as to whether or not you want to scan all subdirectories.  The new folder will then be added to the list.  To remove a folder from the list, select the folder in the top list box and click “Remove”.  If you wish to restore the default directories, click the “Defaults” button.  At this time ScanSys will only scan the “C:” drive for system files.  If you wish to have ScanSys keep track of your entire “C:” drive just remove all default folders and add only the root directory and answer “Yes” to scan all subdirectories.  You must have at least one directory selected, for obvious reasons. Note: if you make use of a Registry cleaner there is a chance that it will remove your custom directories. ScanSys will then revert to the defaults.  Should this happen, simply reselect your custom directories before starting to scan.


Log View Options

The Log View Options page allows you to view only certain log entries with the View Log action.  To do this, select the option button that says “Show Only Entries for Selected Installation”.  Then you can select any one of your logged installations below in the drop down menu.  When an installation is selected you will be shown information about that installation below including the actual name of the installation program, and the time and date of the installation.  After a specific installation is selected pressing the “View Log” button will show only existing files from that installation.


Removing ScanSys

Should you choose to remove ScanSys (which I have no clue why anyone would want to do) you can uninstall the program from the “Add/Remove Programs” applet in the Control Panel.  However, there are two things you should know.  First, the uninstall program may give you a message that some components could not be removed.  This is because of the log file and .ini files that are generated by ScanSys.  If you get this message, simply delete the ScanSys directory.  Secondly, uninstalling ScanSys will probably leave its Registry entries behind.  This will not harm anything at all.  If you wish to remove those entries anyhow then open Regedit and go to “HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Software\VB and VBA Software Settings” and there you will see the key for ScanSys, which you can then delete.