Overview:
Restore points are snapshots of critical system information. By default, when you install a new piece of software or hardware (with its associated drivers), the system takes inventory and makes a note of the the system before the installation. It also monitors the software installation that triggered the restore point's creation. On this page, I'll guide you through some of the features associated with restore points.

To find the available restore points, you go to START >> HELP AND SUPPORT CENTER >> UNDO CHANGES TO YOUR COMPUTER WITH SYSTEM RESTORE.

This dialog box allows you to create a restore point, to return to a previous restore point or to change the system restore settings. We chose to return to a previous restore point and clicked NEXT.

Here, you choose the point to which you want to restore your computer. If the problem just recently arose, you'd go back the latest point. If the problem started at a known point in time in the past (a week ago, two weeks ago), you would go back to that point. After you select the desired date and the precise restore point on that day (only one point for this date), you click NEXT.

This is simply telling you that the restore process will begin in the next step and that you should save any unsaved work you may have open.

When you click NEXT in the previous window, Windows will begin shutting down. It then begins restoring all settings to the time that the selected restore point was created. When finished, it will reboot.

After rebooting, this is the first thing you will see on the desktop. You must click OK to close the window and to allow Windows to continue loading.

If we go back the System Restore window, you will see that there is now a new option to undo what previously did.

If we go to the window with the restore points, you can see that a second restore point is available on todays date (superstitious?).

To show you what a date with more restore points looks like, this one has four restore points. One was created when I installed a piece of software. One was created by the system and 2 were created when Windows Media Player was being installed (it crashed during the first try).

If we look at the system restore window, you can see that there is a link to change the restore points settings.

This is the dialog box that you see when you click the link. Here, you can choose to turn off system restore for the entire system.

If you select a drive and click SETTINGS, you will see the following dialog box. Here, you can turn off system for the selected drive. You can also change the global setting for the total disk space used for restore files. Remember that everything is un-doable. Those restorable files have to be stored and this sets the maximum allotted storage space.

If you go to the system restore page, you click the 'create a restore point' radio button and click NEXT.

To indicate why the restore point was created, you need to type a descriptive name in the text field that you see in this dialog box. When you click NEXT, the restore point will be created.

See? I told you. :)

If you go back to the restore points, you will see the restore point you created.

I put this at the end of the page so that you'd be more likely to remember it. If you do something silly (like clicking on an email attachment from some unknown sender) and your computer becomes infected with a virus, you can often clear it from your computer by going back to the last restore point.

You May Be Interested in My Other Sites All Sorts of Stuff: This site was started for pages/information that didn't fit well on my other sites. It includes topics from backing up computer files to small engine repair to 3D graphics software to basic information on diabetes. Basic Macro Photography: This site introduces you to macro photography. Macro photography is nothing more than the photography of small objects. It can take quite a while to understand the limitations associated with this type of photography. Without help, people will struggle to get good images. Understanding what's possible and what's not possible makes the task much easier. If you need to photograph relatively small objects (6" in height/width down to a few thousandths of an inch), this site will help. Air Rifle Links and Demos: If you're interested in air rifles, this site will introduce you to the types of rifles available and many of the things you'll need to know to shoot accurately. It also touches on field target competition. There are links to some of the better sites and forums as well as a collection of interactive demos. Basic Car Audio Electronics: This site is for those who want to install or update their car stereo. It begins with the most basic electronics theory, progresses into basic transistor theory as well as covering virtually everything associated with car audio.