How To Master Microsoft Windows System Restore Points

How to set Restore Points in Windows XP, troubleshoot them, and remove them. Plus a handful of fun videos and quirky sites.

By Steve Bass
Wed, May 07, 2008

PC World — Timing is everything, you know? While I was working on last week's newsletter, I got an e-mail asking about System Restore. I stuck something into that newsletter and decided to expand on it this week.

Here's the message (from my editor, even): "I'm having grief with some software I'm testing, so recently had to call tech supportâ¬¦ and learned how to use System Restore and Restore Points. Sheesh. I'm guessing that maybe some readers out there don't know how to use Restore Points, either, so maybe a quick how-to?"

The Microsoft Windows' Restore Point feature backs up and restores the Registry. To get to it in XP, open the Start menu, head for Help and Support, and choose "Undo changes to your computer with System Restore." Choose "Create a restore point" to back up your Registry; to restore the Registry, select "Restore my computer to an earlier time." (You can also get to the tool from Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore.)

If you're stuck with Vista, read the tutorial at bleepingcomputer.com.

The System Restore Controversy

I have lots of smart readers and they often chime in when I write about something technical. Here some comments from my blog.

"Two out of three times I have used System Restore every restore point is corrupt. The third time, I restored successfully, but my problem wasn't fixed, so I undid the restore. Well, that turned out to be a huge mistake. It screwed up Windows so bad, I had to use my recovery CD!" --Darkmonk

"Sometimes the System Restore points get corrupted. I get a [Windows] error message that says 'System Restore was not successful, Please try a different restore point. Nothing was changed on your system.' I get this message until I turn off System Restore, and then turn it back on again. You would think Microsoft would fix it in Vista, but the problem still is here." --poweruser2 "My experience tells me that ... if you have installed third-party backup software, Microsoft's System Restore will fail. Or, if you have downloaded a virus that embeds itself into the restore point, your antivirus software may be preventing the restore from working." --antb

"I recommend using a drive image of a clean install of the OS and all the primary programs... I also use Carbonite[http://carbonite.com/] online [a fee-based service] in addition to backups to another drive. That way if the entire system is wiped out by a fire or theft, I can at least get my images and documents back." --digitalzen

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