Creating and Restoring System Restore Points

As part of its normal operation, System Restore will create a restore point automatically every day (called a system checkpoint). Additionally, the feature will also create a restore point when a “triggered event” occurs, such as when you attempt to install an application that is System Restore-aware, when the AutoUpdate feature is used, during a restore operation, and when installing an unsigned driver. (known as an installation restore point) As the disk space allocated to storing System Restore data fills, older restore points will be overwritten with newer ones. If you want the ability to restore older system information, consider allocating most disk space to System Restore.

While the automatic restore point processes may ultimately meet all your needs, it’s generally a good idea to create a restore point manually any time that you are making a significant system change, such as installing an older application, or a new signed driver.. For example, consider creating a restore point called “New Video Driver” prior to installing an updated driver for your card. Restore points are created by accessing the System Restore program from the System Tools menu.

When you ultimately want to restore a previous restore point, you also use the System Restore program. The calendar feature will provide you with a list of restore points that are available, along with details of why the restore point was created, as shown below. For details on manually creating and restoring a restore point, see the Step-By-Step section below.

Author: Dan DiNicolo

Dan DiNicolo is a freelance author, consultant, trainer, and the managing editor of 2000Trainers.com. He is the author of the CCNA Study Guide found on this site, as well as many books including the PC Magazine titles Windows XP Security Solutions and Windows Vista Security Solutions. Click here to contact Dan.