GhostBuster

New Post: Clear Ghostbuster Event Log

gempire — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:34:58 GMT

Looks like I figured it out. It is the Windows System Log File that was full.
thanks!

New Post: Clear Ghostbuster Event Log

gempire — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:28:36 GMT

Hi all,
I am hoping someone can help. I am trying to run GhostBuster and I am getting the following error:

Unhandled exception has occured in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately.

The event log is full.

Thank you!

New Post: Clear Ghostbuster Event Log

gempire — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:28:09 GMT

New Post: Windows 8

MaxMikulov — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 16:49:44 GMT

Does GhostBuster work with Windows 8?

Closed Feature: Add a click-once installer version [15731]

wvd_vegt — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:54:44 GMT

Add a click-once installer version
Comments: Implemented

New Post: Huge thanks! and command line suggestion

wvd_vegt — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:51:22 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for liking my tool.

Automated removal is problematic (but it can be done already) because of elavation.

Currently it's possible to register ghostbuster as a scheduled task and run the task on demand. That way you can start it elevated (which is neccesary for device removal)

I will not add a predfined safe list as it is to machine dependend (and just to dangerous).

regards
Wim

New Post: Why GhostBuster.evtx Administrative Log can not be deleted?

wvd_vegt — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:48:08 GMT

Hi,

I'll try to make this eventlog optionally (until you register it as a task) and add a commandline option to remove the eventlog from within the program.

regards
Wim

New Post: Suggestion: Make it portable with offline installation.

wvd_vegt — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:45:57 GMT

Hi

You can download the GhostbusterPortable.exe version for this.

Ghostbuster leaves some traces but notning besides .net stuff i can't change and things needed for task scheduler support (the only 'good' way i found to run ghostbuster automatically and elevated).

regards
Wim

New Post: Suggestion: Make it portable with offline installation.

bugmenot2 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:50:51 GMT

Currently Ghostbuster leaves a lot of traces all over the system, which kinda defeats the general purpose of house cleaning.

New Post: Why GhostBuster.evtx Administrative Log can not be deleted?

bugmenot2 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:48:57 GMT

I can clean the content of the log but can not get rid of it completely,

Windows 7 SP1 32bit

New Post: pretty cool

wvd_vegt — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 19:39:58 GMT

Thanks for appricating my software.

My guess why it is not built-in is because of the warnings I give.

It's a power tool that makes it all to easy to get serious problems for inexperienced users. It can seriously break/damage you installation, the reason why some devices are marked as services by me. Not all ghosted devices should be removed as some of them are far from plug-and-play.

Besides Windows is a marketplace where Microsoft leaves room for better products.

But I happily sell the code if Microsoft is interested ;-)))

regards
wvd_vegt

New Post: pretty cool

jawz101 — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:51:56 GMT

I've always wondered why MS made this a difficult setting. I'd think it'd pose a security risk that it isn't an apparent setting to see what devices have connected to your computer.

Anyways, thanks because it's always been onerous to do this manually.

New Post: Huge thanks! (and command line)

jnr — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 03:50:23 GMT

Huge thanks for such a great tool!

I've used similar tools before but only GhostBuster does a complete job.

Also, great idea of logging application activity on EventViewer. Perfect!

I would like to suggest a command line switch for automatic removal of the most "safe" category, the ghost Non-Plug and Play Drivers.

Best regards

Source code checked in, #98950

wvd_vegt — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:09:20 GMT

1) Added Main Menu with Help|About. 2) Removed dll directory from project. 3) Version set to v1.0.2.0.

Updated Wiki: Home

wvd_vegt — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:30:38 GMT

Project Description

This application enumerates all devices, detects ghosted devices and removes these if they match selectable devices types and/or devices classes with a single mouse-click.

If you like this tool, leave me a note, rate this project or write a review or Donate to Ghostbuster.

If you've encountered problems, leave a (detailed) issue in the Issue Tracker.

Latest release (Ghostbuster Setup (98926)):

Improved System Restore Detection (search for rstrui.exe).
Flagged null guid device as system so it cannot be removed anymore.
Added <No device class specified> to devices with an empty deviceclass.
Set copyright to 2012.
Version set to v1.0.2.0.
Added Click-Once Release.

See the Documentation and Advanced Options for more information on these new features.
The screenshot below is also updated, for more screenshots see Screenshots.

Previous releases:

CS 91520
Added WMI based RestorePoint support.
Note this is experimental code, it creates a 'GhostBuster Restore Point'.
Removed test code from program.cs.
Improved counting.
Changed color of ghosted but unfiltered devices.
Changed HwEntries into an ObservableCollection.
Added Properties Form.
Added Properties MenuItem to Right-Click Context Menu.
It shows a dialog with some more information on the driver properties found in the registry.
Added Hide Unfiltered Devices to Right-Click Context Menu.
This will hide all unfiltered and non ghosted devices and will condense the list's size.
CS 80445:
Commandline support,
Eventlog output,
Task scheduler support (thanks to http://taskscheduler.codeplex.com),
The scheduled task can be used to run GhostBuster without further UAC prompts.
CS 77227:
Fixed broken wildcard device removal.
CS 76647:
Added statusbar.
Added wildcard support (* and ? are supported as wildcards).
Added Friendly Name / Device Description Column.
Added column showing the match type.
Improved performance
Improved coloring of matching items
CS 74907:
Removed non functional checkboxes (right click a device for the context menu).
Now compatible with UAC (Vista/Windows 7).
Now compatible with WHS and W2K3 Server.
Some user-interface enhancments.
Portable version.
Added some help / tooltips.
Correctly Enable and Disable Context MenuItems.
Ini File now created in %AppData%\GhostBuster.

About Ghosted Devices:

By default Windows does not show ghosted devices. Windows will show Ghosted devices only if two criteria are met:

An environment variabe DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES with a value of 1 is added
In Device Manager (StartMenu & Run 'compmgmt.msc' ) if you check the View|Hidden Devices menuitem.

Because Windows has to detect if a devices is ghosted by trying to start it, a large number of ghosted devices will add to the startup time of Windows. The 'regular' way of removing these devices is right clicking each of them, select the uninstall menuitem and wait for the Device Manager to uninstall the device and rebuild it's tree of devices.

Ghostbuster does this all in one click and removes all the ghosted devices matching your own selection criteria with a single click!

You can select and deselect classes or devices through the right-click contect menu of the devices listview. Only ghosted devices (grayed text) AND devices that match the selection criteria (light yellow background) will be uninstalled when the 'Remove Ghosts' button is pressed. All other devices remain untouched.

Beware that windows has a fair number of devices that are ghosted but should not be ununistalled (like devices in the sound, video and game controller class or system and non plug-n-play devices). Ghostbuster marks most of these as services.

Warning:

So use it with care and only if you know what you are doing!

Screenshot:

In above screenshot the yellow colored devices are set to be uninstalled when they become ghosted. Both device and class name selection can be used.

Some reviews (after being added to Softpedia, people started to find GhostBuster):

Updated Wiki: Home

wvd_vegt — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:30:00 GMT

Latest release (Ghostbuster Setup (98926)):

Improved System Restore Detection (search for rstrui.exe).
Flagged null guid device as system so it cannot be removed anymore.
Added <No device class specified> to devices with an empty deviceclass.
Set copyright to 2012.
Version set to v1.0.2.0.
Added Click-Once Release.

See the Documentation and Advanced Options for more information on these new features.
The screenshot below is also updated, for more screenshots see Screenshots.

Previous releases:

CS 91520
Added WMI based RestorePoint support.
Note this is experimental code, it creates a 'GhostBuster Restore Point'.
Removed test code from program.cs.
Improved counting.
Changed color of ghosted but unfiltered devices.
Changed HwEntries into an ObservableCollection.
Added Properties Form.
Added Properties MenuItem to Right-Click Context Menu.
It shows a dialog with some more information on the driver properties found in the registry.
Added Hide Unfiltered Devices to Right-Click Context Menu.
This will hide all unfiltered and non ghosted devices and will condense the list's size.
CS 80445:
Commandline support,
Eventlog output,
Task scheduler support (thanks to http://taskscheduler.codeplex.com),
The scheduled task can be used to run GhostBuster without further UAC prompts.
CS 77227:
Fixed broken wildcard device removal.
CS 76647:
Added statusbar.
Added wildcard support (* and ? are supported as wildcards).
Added Friendly Name / Device Description Column.
Added column showing the match type.
Improved performance
Improved coloring of matching items
CS 74907:
Removed non functional checkboxes (right click a device for the context menu).
Now compatible with UAC (Vista/Windows 7).
Now compatible with WHS and W2K3 Server.
Some user-interface enhancments.
Portable version.
Added some help / tooltips.
Correctly Enable and Disable Context MenuItems.
Ini File now created in %AppData%\GhostBuster.

About Ghosted Devices:

By default Windows does not show ghosted devices. Windows will show Ghosted devices only if two criteria are met:

An environment variabe DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES with a value of 1 is added
In Device Manager (StartMenu & Run 'compmgmt.msc' ) if you check the View|Hidden Devices menuitem.

Warning:

Updated Wiki: Home

wvd_vegt — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:29:18 GMT

Latest release (Ghostbuster Setup (98926)):

Added WMI based RestorePoint support.
Note this is experimental code, it creates a 'GhostBuster Restore Point'.
Removed test code from program.cs.
Improved counting.
Changed color of ghosted but unfiltered devices.
Changed HwEntries into an ObservableCollection.
Added Properties Form.
Added Properties MenuItem to Right-Click Context Menu.
It shows a dialog with some more information on the driver properties found in the registry.
Added Hide Unfiltered Devices to Right-Click Context Menu.
This will hide all unfiltered and non ghosted devices and will condense the list's size.

See the Documentation and Advanced Options for more information on these new features.
The screenshot below is also updated, for more screenshots see Screenshots.

Previous releases:

CS 91520
Added WMI based RestorePoint support.
Note this is experimental code, it creates a 'GhostBuster Restore Point'.
Removed test code from program.cs.
Improved counting.
Changed color of ghosted but unfiltered devices.
Changed HwEntries into an ObservableCollection.
Added Properties Form.
Added Properties MenuItem to Right-Click Context Menu.
It shows a dialog with some more information on the driver properties found in the registry.
Added Hide Unfiltered Devices to Right-Click Context Menu.
This will hide all unfiltered and non ghosted devices and will condense the list's size.
CS 80445:
Commandline support,
Eventlog output,
Task scheduler support (thanks to http://taskscheduler.codeplex.com),
The scheduled task can be used to run GhostBuster without further UAC prompts.
CS 77227:
Fixed broken wildcard device removal.
CS 76647:
Added statusbar.
Added wildcard support (* and ? are supported as wildcards).
Added Friendly Name / Device Description Column.
Added column showing the match type.
Improved performance
Improved coloring of matching items
CS 74907:
Removed non functional checkboxes (right click a device for the context menu).
Now compatible with UAC (Vista/Windows 7).
Now compatible with WHS and W2K3 Server.
Some user-interface enhancments.
Portable version.
Added some help / tooltips.
Correctly Enable and Disable Context MenuItems.
Ini File now created in %AppData%\GhostBuster.

About Ghosted Devices:

By default Windows does not show ghosted devices. Windows will show Ghosted devices only if two criteria are met:

An environment variabe DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES with a value of 1 is added
In Device Manager (StartMenu & Run 'compmgmt.msc' ) if you check the View|Hidden Devices menuitem.

Warning:

Created Release: GhostBuster Setup (98926) (dec 29, 2012)

wvd_vegt — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:26:13 GMT

If you like this tool, leave me a note, rate this project or write a review or Donate to Ghostbuster.

Changelog (98926):

Improved System Restore Detection (search for rstrui.exe).
Flagged null guid device as system so it cannot be removed anymore.
Added <No device class specified> to devices with an empty deviceclass.
Version set to v1.0.2.0

Changelog (91520):

Added WMI based RestorePoint support
Removed test code from program.cs
Improved counting.
Changed color of ghosted but unfiltered devices.
Changed HwEntries into an ObservableCollection.
Added Properties Form.
Added Properties MenuItem to Context Menu.
Added Hide Unfiltered Devices to Context Menu.

Released: GhostBuster Setup (98926) (Dec 29, 2012)

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:26:13 GMT

If you like this tool, leave me a note, rate this project or write a review or Donate to Ghostbuster.

Changelog (98926):

Improved System Restore Detection (search for rstrui.exe).
Flagged null guid device as system so it cannot be removed anymore.
Added <No device class specified> to devices with an empty deviceclass.
Version set to v1.0.2.0

Changelog (91520):

Added WMI based RestorePoint support
Removed test code from program.cs
Improved counting.
Changed color of ghosted but unfiltered devices.
Changed HwEntries into an ObservableCollection.
Added Properties Form.
Added Properties MenuItem to Context Menu.
Added Hide Unfiltered Devices to Context Menu.

Source code checked in, #98926

wvd_vegt — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:21:16 GMT

1) Improved System Restore Detection (search for rstrui.exe). 2) Flagged null guid device as system so it cannot be removed anymore. 3) Added <No device class specified> to devices with an empty deviceclass. 4) Set copyright to 2012. 5) Version set to v1.0.2.0.