IBM eGatherer + system restore

[PetraM]

Hello!

Got a couple of questions.

First one:
Sometimes (every third startup or so) there's a process in task manager called ucgather.exe and it makes the CPU run at 100% for about a minute right after startup. Then it goes away. The event viewer says it's IBM eGatherer and that it gathered something succesfully.
Why is IBM gathering something from me and from where? Is this important? Can it be stopped?

My second problem is this:
I can connect to the internet but I can't view any websites or check email in OE. Strangely, this happens only if I connect and disconect from the internet a couple of times. If it happens and after I restart the machine it then connects to the internet normally. (Which is what I just did to be able to write this post.) The ports 80 (web) and 110 (email) are closed. Firewall is not to blame, I checked. I also ran the antivirus program, ad-aware and spybot, they came up with nothing.
Any ideas to what could be causing this?

Which brings me to my last question:
Because of this problem I wanted to use windows system restore. (Never used it before.) Windows help says it creates a restore point every 24h and when installing programs and backing up. I wanted to set my computer to one week earlier but there were no restore point available. The only one was from today, two hours ago. (Oh, and the system restore is turned on and using 12% of my hard drive.)
How come? Where are the restore points? Is there any other way to solve this?
I am planning to restore the computer to factory setting someday soon, it got quite messed up during the 4 months I own it, but I cannot afford to do it now, got loads of work.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Petra

[jdhurst]

Hello!
First one:
Sometimes (every third startup or so) there's a process in task manager called ucgather.exe and it makes the CPU run at 100% for about a minute right after startup.

My second problem is this:
I can connect to the internet but I can't view any websites or check email in OE.

Which brings me to my last question:
Because of this problem I wanted to use windows system restore. (Never used it before.) Windows help says it creates a restore point every 24h and when installing programs and backing up.<snip>(Oh, and the system restore is turned on and using 12% of my hard drive.)Petra

1. I think this is Update Connector, and I think the program uc_start runs it. It does not use as much CPU for me, and I find it pretty benign. I don't think IBM is doing anything nefarious. I use Startup Cop (PC Magazine Utilities) to look at startup activities. Startup Cop allows me to disable a startup process without uninstalling it to see what happens. Recommended.

2. In Internet Explorer -> Tools -> Options -> Connections -> Lan Settings, make sure Automatic detection and Proxies are both unchecked.

3. System restore has never worked when I needed it to work. In My Computer - > Properties -> System Restore, set it for less than 12 percent. I set mine for 5 percent which is nearly 3Gb.
... JD Hurst

[PetraM]

Thanks JD for such a quick reply.

1. Can I safely remove ucstartup.exe from startup via msconfig? If it's the update connector then I can update the things I want myself.

2. They are both unchecked. I also use firefox and it doesn't work, neither does Outlook express. I think the problem might be winsock but i know to little about it. (I have no idea what that is.) Local area network works fine BTW. Internet does not, DSL or dial-up. The symptoms look like New.Net or after it's been removed with Ad-Aware but never had this pest.

3. Thank you, Windows!


Petra

[jdhurst]

1. Probably, but I prefer Startup Cop because it works better than msconfig in my opinion. Google for Startup Cop and you will quickly find it.

2. Check recent posts by me or JHEM in the thread where he had a machine that was having issues. I posted a link there for a winsock fix program that is used to correct spyware screwups. I haven't used it but I have heard it works.
... JD Hurst

[PetraM]

I tried a program called winsockfix.exe which is supposed to fix messed up registry keys among other stuff.

Didn't help.

Petra

[Leon]

I believe that you can't get Startup Cop unless you subscribe to PC Mag online.... unless someone has a link I couldn't find....

[Darkfire01]

About windows system restore.. when going into it you will need to select the day and month, you need to click on the day and it should list all of the restores avaiable for that day, days with restore points are usually bold. if you do not see them, then it may be possible to restore them from winternals, or other recovery cd's, there is also a way to view and restore them using the windows xp cd, though i have never tried to do it that way.