System Restore

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System Restore in Accessories/System Tools is an important part of Windows. It allows you go back to a recent setup of Windows previous to installing software and hardware that may cause problems or make unwanted changes.

System Resore operates by making automatic and manual restore points organized on a calendar. to begin lets look at it click Accessories, then click SystemTools and finaly System Restore, it looks like the screen below.

 

The two basic options are to create a Restore Point or to Restore from a Restore Point. These Restore Points are mini backups. Lets look at the way it works by examining Create a Restore Point. Click create a restore point.

After you select an option and click next you will see that a new restore point has been created it is called here test restore point for your dining and dancing pleasure.

Next lets look at Restoring from an earlier time. Open System Restore as before..But select the top selection as shown below.

Look at the calendar type menu for restoring.

In this example it shows June 30 as the location of two restore points one of which is the one we made manually called test restore point. If we were to restore from here it would ask us if you are sure and step us through a confirmation process and then re-start our computers..sometimes this process will fail, read on...

Now here is where it gets interesting after awhile you may have a bunch of restore point across the calendar. Some of them will be bumped off and will not be available even though they show on your calendar. You cannot delete individual checkpoints and you cannot back up all the restore points. So my advice is to be carefull with this feature and use the restore points quickly after you install something that is bad. Notice carefully when something goes wrong and restore quickly.

Also use Windows built in Disk Cleanup to reduce your restore points down to just the one most recently made. See the Disk Cleanup page by clicking here.

System restore is no substitute for a real backup.

A real backup will not get bumped by a chain of restore points and a real backup is far more under your control than System Restore.