CREATE  A  RESTORE  POINT

System Restore is a feature of Windows Vista that allows you to Restore (Repair) Windows Vista back to an earlier date/time, if it should become corrupt/broken. Preferably back to a date/time when Windows Vista was working 100%.

Windows Vista creates a Restore (Repair) Point for you automatically every day, and whenever software is installed (i.e a Program, Driver Software, Protection Software and so on). So if Windows Vista freezes/crashes frequently after software is installed you can use System Restore to restore Windows Vista back to the state it was in before the software was installed. Before I show you how to use System Restore I will first show you how to manually create a Restore Point.

To create a Restore Point you first need to open the Control Panel, and then double click on the SYSTEM Icon (Fig 1.0) which will open the System window (Fig 1.1).



Fig 1.0  Double click on the SYSTEM Icon from inside the Control Panel



Fig 1.1  Click on the SYSTEM PROTECTION link

When the System window has opened look towards the top-left corner of the window. You should see four links (Device Manager, Remote Settings, System Protection and Advanced System Settings) with security shields on their left side. You need to click on the one named SYSTEM PROTECTION. It will open the System Properties window (Fig 1.3), after you have clicked on the CONTINUE button of the UAC (User Account Control) requester that appears.



Fig 1.2  Click on the CONTINUE button to continue

User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of Windows Vista that helps to prevent unauthorized changes to the computer, such as deleting a system file or creating a restore point. When attempting to create a restore point UAC automatically blocks you off with the above requester, because it wants to know if you are the one attempting to create the restore point and not a piece of malicious software for example. In the above case simply click on the CONTINUE button to continue.


Fig 1.3  Click on the CREATE button to create a Restore Point

With the System Properties window open click on the CREATE button to create a restore point (Fig 1.3 above). A requester will then appear asking you to enter a Description for your restore point (Fig 1.4 below). Give the description some meaning. For example. If your computer is working fine and is fully updated with all the necessary Security updates and Windows Vista updates you could give your restore point a description like: Working Fine - Fully Updated. In this example I gave a description of: Working 100%. This lets me know in the future that at this restore point everything was working fine. When you have entered a description click on the CREATE button to continue.


Fig 1.4  Enter a description for your restore point and then click on CREATE to create it



Fig 1.5  The restore point is being created



Fig 1.6  The restore point has been created - Click on OK to finish.

The reason for creating your own restore points is because some of Windows Vista's restore points only have a description of - System: Scheduled CheckPoint - which means nothing to the average computer user. This only adds to confusion when doing a System Restore. Take the following scenario.

Imagine you have 8 of these - System: Scheduled CheckPoint - restore points and then you install some software called "YOUR". The software crashes halfway through the installation process and forces Windows Vista to crash (breakdown). You restart the computer but find Windows Vista still not fully working and frequently crashing, due to "YOUR" software corrupting Windows Vista files. You ignore the crashes, cursing Windows Vista along the way, but live with a damaged Windows Vista. A month later it all gets too much and you go to see a Computer Engineer and say "I'm off to work now.....fix my computer....I'll collect it whenever". Even with the computer engineer knowing the history of what happened to your computer he/she cannot find evidence of "YOUR" software being installed. Why? Because "YOUR" software did not register itself with Windows Vista. It never got to that stage. Therefore the computer engineer cannot just do a simple system restore before "YOUR" software was installed because "YOUR" software was not installed 100%, so was not listed in the restore list. So the computer engineer has to rely on the date/time you said you attempted to install "YOUR" software. However. A month has passed and you cannot remember the exact date/time, so you had to give the computer engineer a rough-idea date/time. The dilemma for the computer engineer is that if he/she restores the computer too far back previous corruption with Windows Vista might be exposed - Corruption that you might not of been aware of, perhaps due to a similar failed software installation that you ignored thinking "It failed/cancelled so it must not of done anything bad to Windows Vista".

With the above scenario the computer engineer must System Restore one day before the date/time you stated and then work backwards, System Restore, from there. So if System Restoring back one day did not restore Windows Vista the computer engineer must System Restore back two days and so on until a good restore point (restore day) is found whereby Windows Vista is working again or is at least stable. If the computer engineer would of been able to see "YOUR Software installed 01/07/2007" in the restore list he/she could of quickly restored Windows Vista to one day before 01/07/2007 or before the point of "YOUR" software being installed. The - System: Scheduled CheckPoint - restore points have a date/time associated with them but are useless description-wise. It would be good if they described non-working or disabled software for example.

RESTORE  THE  COMPUTER

To restore the computer back to an earlier date/time, preferably when it was working 100% or at least stable, you first need to launch System Restore. You will find System Restore on the System Tools menu (Path Name: START button >> ALL PROGRAMS >> ACCESSORIES >> SYSTEM TOOLS). Alternatively. You can follow the steps in Figures 1.0 to 1.3 above but instead of clicking on the CREATE button in the System Properties window (Fig 1.3 above) you need to click on the SYSTEM RESTORE button (Fig 2.0 below).


Fig 2.0  System Restore from the Control Panel
 
Fig 2.1  System Restore from the Start Menu

After clicking on SYSTEM RESTORE, either from the Control Panel or from the Start Menu, the next window you will see is the actual System Restore window (Fig 2.2 below). It offers you two options to restore Windows Vista. The first option is to use a recommended restore point, which is normally the most recent restore point. In this example the most recent restore point was created on 05/07/2007 at 23:19:40 (Fig 2.0 above), just before I installed some hardware. System Restore is now offering to undo my hardware installation and then copy back (restore) the Windows Vista files that were backed-up on 05/07/2007 at 23:19:40. So if it is now the next day (06/07/2007), at 10:30:00, all the Windows Vista files that were backed-up on 05/07/2007 at 23:19:40 will be restored (copied back) but the current date/time will be 06/07/2007 10:30:00. Only Windows Vista files will be restored - Your personal files are not affected by a system restore.


Fig 2.2  Click on NEXT to restore the most recent backed-up files



Fig 2.3  Click on FINISH to start the restoration process

Clicking on the FINISH button will start the restoration process for the most recent restore point. However. If I wanted to choose my own restore point I would have to use System Restore's second option - CHOOSE A DIFFERENT RESTORE POINT - by clicking on its radio (circle) button.


Fig 2.4  Select the second option - CHOOSE A DIFFERENT RESTORE POINT - to use another restore point



Fig 2.5  Select the restore point you want to use



Fig 2.6  Click on FINISH to start the restoration process

In this example (Fig 2.5 above) I have chosen to use the restore point I created in Figures 1.3 to 1.4 above, called Working 100%. I know I created it because its description states MANUAL. If Windows Vista had created it its description would of stated SYSTEM. And if Windows Vista, some Hardware or some Software had created it its description would of stated INSTALL.

After clicking on the FINISH button of whichever restoration option you chose the NEXT window to appear is a warning/notice message requester that needs your attention - Read it carefully. If you agree to what it says click on its YES button to continue with the restoration process, otherwise click on its NO button to cancel the restoration process.


Fig 2.7  Read the information very carefully



Fig 2.8  The restoration process has begun

At this stage of the restoration process, when the above progress window appears with its green (progress) guage going across the window, you should not do anything with the computer. This is because after a short while the restoration process will restart the computer, in order to complete the restoration. When this happens and the computer is up and running again you should see the following window, stating that the restoration (system restore) was successful.


Fig 2.9  The restoration process has completed successfully

In this example system restore copied back (restored) the Windows Vista files that were backed-up on 03/07/2007 at 23:25:46. The date/time I created the restore point called Working 100%. As the above completion window states, my documents (personal files) were not affected.

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