Undoing auto analyzer damage: screwed up metadata

Question

I am annoyed at the Adobe auto-analyzer for touching all my JPG photos and re-setting the file's time stamp, among other possible changes (adding GPS coordinates, maybe other changes).  I am trying to neatly undo that unwelcome change.  Ideally, I wouldn't have to abandon my catalog, where I've invested hours over many years labelling and grouping photos (version sets) in Elements 4. So here's what I tried, which didn't work.  I am hoping someone has a suggestion. I hope I am providing enough detail, as this is a bit confusing.
I keep a backup of all my photos on another computer.  I simply map a network drive from the backup PC to the work PC.  Periodically, I use Microsoft's SyncToy to copy all files from work PC to backup PC.  Today, wtihout any Adobe software running, I copied some images back from the backup PC to the work PC using Windows Explorer.  The time stamp in windows now shows the original image time, e.g., 2002.  In the organizer, photos show Date Created=2010 and Date Modified=2002.
For photos taken with an old (year ~2000) camera, which didn't use EXIF, the dates appear correct until the file is opened in the editor.  When I close the file without changing it or saving it, the Date Modified is set to 2010, and it jumps to the bottom of the organizer (which I keep sorted by date). And to add insult to injury, the filesystem timestamp gets updated to 2010.  What do you know, the image now has GPS coordinates (0,0) too.
OK, so now I test with images that include EXIF data.  In the organizer, photos show Date Created=2010 and Date Modified=2004. If I open in the editor and close without changing them, the Date Modified gets updated to 2010 and Windows time stamp gets 2010.
So as far as I can tell, opening an image for viewing in the editor has the same affect as running it through the auto-analyzer.  I am in the habit of opening images in the editor to play with lighting, etc., and then discarding changes.  I don't want timestamps updated when I do this. I am certain autoanalyzer is off in preferences both in the organizer and editor.
Because of all my time invested, I want to make lemonaid of the lemons and keep using the organizer, despite my disagreements with its design. Aside from undoing today's attempted restore, and giving in to the auto-analyzer behavior, do I have any options?
Thanks.

Answer 1

You’re the victim of multiple PSE bugs.  Besides the Auto-Analyzer mess: Whenever you invoke the Editor, it does the equivalent of File > Write Keyword Tag and then rereads all the photo’s metadata from photo back into the catalog.  There is a bug that prevents PSE from writing the metadata (e.g. the date) into older photos, so when you invoke the Editor, incorrect date information will get read back into the catalog.
Here’s how to recover from the Auto-Analyzer mess:
1.    Turn off the auto-analyzer in Edit > Preferences > Auto-Analyzer Options.
2.    Remove all the Smart Tags assigned to your photos:  Select all you photos, right-click and click Remove Keyword Tag > tag for each smart tag.
3.    Remove all the GPS locations of 0,0 assigned to some of your keyword tags by the Auto-Analyzer:  For each tag, right-click it and click Show On Map.  If its location is 0,0, then right-click the tag and select Remove From Map.
4.    Remove all the GPS locations of 0,0 assigned to your by images by the Auto-Analyzer:
a.    Window > Show Map
b.    Scroll the map until the equator is showing.
c.    Scroll to Africa.
d.    There will be a red pin at 0,0.
e.    Zoom in on the pin until only the ocean is showing around it.
f.    Click Limit Search To Map Area.
g.    Edit > Select All.
h.    Right-click the photos and click Remove From Map.
5.    Get the metadata in your catalog (date/times, keyword tags, GPS locations, etc.) correctly written into your photos, including your very old photos that PSE trips over: Download the utility psedbtool:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/
and run it on your catalog with the -writeMetadata option:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/#_Writing_File_Metadata
This will add EXIF metadata to your old photos that currently don’t have it.
6.    Delete all the ._00_* files created by the Auto-Analyzer and littering your folders:  In Windows Explorer, search all your picture folders for filenames containing “ ._00_” and delete them.
7.    Going forward, if you continue to use Map View to assign GPS/map locations to photos, PSE will write invalid GPS locations into your photos. There is nothing you can do to stop that – you can only correct it using psedbtool.
A final note: Don’t worry about the Date Created and Date Modified time stamps on your files – they are assigned by Windows when files are created, copied, and modified, and they are mostly out of your control (and PSE’s).  What matters is the date/time the photo was taken, which is recorded in the photo’s EXIF metadata.