Can't select date to System Restore at?

[Carrie-tastic]

Yesterday, I decided to click "yes" when, during disk cleanup, Windows asked
if I would like to compress "infrequently used old files". A bit of the way
through, the computer said that "some of the files vital to Windows operation
have been changed, and are no longer recognizable". Stupidly, I turned off
the computer without a system restore, and it would not boot for the rest of
the day.
Today, after inserting the Windows XP installation disk (that I found just
a few hours ago), the system booted just fine. I now want to do a system
restore, but when it comes to selecting the date, the back and forward
buttons (for selecting the month) do not work, and I have no restoration
points for July. Help please?

Thank you.

 

[Nate Grossman]

Yesterday, I decided to click "yes" when, during disk cleanup, Windows asked
if I would like to compress "infrequently used old files". A bit of the way
through, the computer said that "some of the files vital to Windows operation
have been changed, and are no longer recognizable". Stupidly, I turned off
the computer without a system restore, and it would not boot for the rest of
the day.
Today, after inserting the Windows XP installation disk (that I found just
a few hours ago), the system booted just fine. I now want to do a system
restore, but when it comes to selecting the date, the back and forward
buttons (for selecting the month) do not work, and I have no restoration
points for July. Help please?

Looks like System Restore is not an option.

Start thinking about a repair install.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[Bod]

Yesterday, I decided to click "yes" when, during disk cleanup, Windows asked
if I would like to compress "infrequently used old files". A bit of the way
through, the computer said that "some of the files vital to Windows operation
have been changed, and are no longer recognizable". Stupidly, I turned off
the computer without a system restore, and it would not boot for the rest of
the day.
Today, after inserting the Windows XP installation disk (that I found just
a few hours ago), the system booted just fine. I now want to do a system
restore, but when it comes to selecting the date, the back and forward
buttons (for selecting the month) do not work, and I have no restoration
points for July. Help please?

Thank you.

Unfortunately System Restore,IMO,is a resource hogger,it wastes space
and never seems to work when you need it.I think it causes more problems
than it solves.
I turned mine off years ago and have not had any problems since.

I know this doesn't help in your situation but it might help in the
future,to bear in mind.
In future,just save regularly to an external drive,if I were you.

Bod

 

[Bill in Co.]

Unfortunately System Restore,IMO,is a resource hogger,it wastes space
and never seems to work when you need it.I think it causes more problems
than it solves.
I turned mine off years ago and have not had any problems since.

And I, along with many others, have had just the opposite experience. So I
would NOT recommend disabling System Restore, although an image or clone
backup is a better idea, of course. However, given what has happened here
at this point, she may not have these options. She might be able to do a
repair install, however.

 

[Bod]

And I, along with many others, have had just the opposite experience. So I
would NOT recommend disabling System Restore, although an image or clone
backup is a better idea, of course. However, given what has happened here
at this point, she may not have these options. She might be able to do a
repair install, however.

A repair install is an option, but I would cut and run by saving any
docs etc and re-format.Of course this might mean using another machine.
I've heard several peeps say that a repair install can also cause more
problems.
In future,consider Acronis for a reliable backup.

Bod

 

[Daave]

A repair install is an option, but I would cut and run by saving any
docs etc and re-format.Of course this might mean using another
machine. I've heard several peeps say that a repair install can also
cause more problems.
In future,consider Acronis for a reliable backup.

In the final analysis, imaging (e.g., with Acronis) or cloning the drive
is absolutely the best method to ensure you will always have a working
system. But Windows System Restore (which is quick) has its place,
especially if the problem is recent. If SR doesn't work, of course one
could *then* restore the image (or swap the clone or re-clone the
clone).

A Repair Install takes a bit of time, so one would still probably be
better off using the imaging/cloning recovery strategy. But for those
who don't use this strategy, a Repair Install might be the only thing
short of a Clean Install that will work. Then again, they need to be
careful with IE and WMP versions if SP3 is involved! And since there are
no guarantees, I agree that all data should be copied first.

But Acronis is still the tops.

 

[Bod]

In the final analysis, imaging (e.g., with Acronis) or cloning the drive
is absolutely the best method to ensure you will always have a working
system. But Windows System Restore (which is quick) has its place,
especially if the problem is recent. If SR doesn't work, of course one
could *then* restore the image (or swap the clone or re-clone the
clone).

A Repair Install takes a bit of time, so one would still probably be
better off using the imaging/cloning recovery strategy. But for those
who don't use this strategy, a Repair Install might be the only thing
short of a Clean Install that will work. Then again, they need to be
careful with IE and WMP versions if SP3 is involved! And since there are
no guarantees, I agree that all data should be copied first.

But Acronis is still the tops.

Another reason why I don't like system restore,is because if you do
happen to get a virus,even if you remove the virus,the system restore
will quite often restore the virus,unless you remove all the saved
s/restores.

Bod

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

And I, along with many others, have had just the opposite experience. So I
would NOT recommend disabling System Restore, although an image or clone
backup is a better idea, of course.

I'm with you almost entirely. System Restore isn't perfect, but it
usually works fine and can be very helpful. It gotten me out of
trouble very easily and quickly a couple of times, and I know many
others who have had similar experiences even more often.

System Restore is certainly not a substitute for backup, and *both*
should be used.

By the way, BOD says "System Restore,IMO,is a resource hogger,it
wastes space." But you should keep only a week or two of Restore
Points (more than that isn't really useful, since old restore points
will be out of synch with other files on the drive). Even if you were
to set it to 2GB (more than almost anyone needs), at today's hard
drive prices, that would be under $1.00 US worth of disk space--a
*tiny* amount. It's foolish to call something that uses so little
space a "a resource hogger."

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Another reason why I don't like system restore,is because if you do
happen to get a virus,even if you remove the virus,the system restore
will quite often restore the virus,unless you remove all the saved
s/restores.

What you say is true, and it requires care not to get reinfected in
that situation.

But instead of System Restore, what you recommended was "In
future,just save regularly to an external drive." Bear in the mind
that that has the same risks regarding getting reinfected if you
restore an infected backup. In fact, the risks with a complete backup
are even greater than with System Restore.

 

[Bill in Co.]

I'm with you almost entirely. System Restore isn't perfect, but it
usually works fine and can be very helpful. It gotten me out of
trouble very easily and quickly a couple of times, and I know many
others who have had similar experiences even more often.

System Restore is certainly not a substitute for backup, and *both*
should be used.

Actually all three - add in ERUNT.

By the way, BOD says "System Restore,IMO,is a resource hogger,it
wastes space." But you should keep only a week or two of Restore
Points (more than that isn't really useful, since old restore points
will be out of synch with other files on the drive). Even if you were
to set it to 2GB (more than almost anyone needs), at today's hard
drive prices, that would be under $1.00 US worth of disk space--a
*tiny* amount. It's foolish to call something that uses so little
space a "a resource hogger."

I've found each system restore point typically uses about 60 MB or so, but
that of course depends - if you've installed a really large app (say like
Office), it can be signficantly larger. And as you said, about 1-2 weeks
worth is probably best, and setting aside around 1 GB of hard disk space for
it (which isn't all that much these days) seems prudent.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Actually all three - add in ERUNT.

Yes, I agree again.

 

[Bod]

What you say is true, and it requires care not to get reinfected in
that situation.

But instead of System Restore, what you recommended was "In
future,just save regularly to an external drive." Bear in the mind
that that has the same risks regarding getting reinfected if you
restore an infected backup. In fact, the risks with a complete backup
are even greater than with System Restore.

Yup,it's always a gamble to a certain extent.

All I can say,is that I have 6 computers that are used very
regularly(one daily).I never have s/restore enabled and I have never had
to re-format or repair any of them in 5 years (touch wood).Xp Pro on all
of them and one has a dual boot : XP Pro and Linux.

 

[Jose]

Yesterday, I decided to click "yes" when, during disk cleanup, Windows asked
if I would like to compress "infrequently used old files".  A bit of the way
through, the computer said that "some of the files vital to Windows operation
have been changed, and are no longer recognizable".  Stupidly, I turnedoff
the computer without a system restore, and it would not boot for the restof
the day.
Today, after inserting the Windows XP installation disk (that  I found just
a few hours ago), the system booted just fine.  I now want to do a system
restore, but when it comes to selecting the date, the back and forward
buttons (for selecting the month) do not work, and I have no restoration
points for July.  Help please?

Thank you.

One option in Disk Cleanup is to delete all but the current Restore
Point. If you did that you have no previous month to go back to for
RPs.

If Disk Cleanup malfunctioned, it may have done it for you in it's
error.

Why not make a RP manually now and see if you can locate it. Make a
couple just for fun and you will know if this feature is behaving.

SR will only accumulate RPs to a certain configurable percentage of
your HDD space. If you don't like it, change it, but generally, the
average person should not try to thwart built in safe gaurds unless
you have some other plan in place that you know is better.

Microsoft has good articles clearly written by human beings about SR,
so before making a bunch of changes in the strategy that is there to
protect you, you might want to get a better education than some users
have (present company excluded of course). Then, you will understand
it, how to change it if you want, test it and be comfortable.

There is discussion of deleting SRs after a malware infection -
usually a good idea, but you need to understand things before you do
it and not do it because someone says so (unless that is adequate
explanation for you). Not everyone is going to have the same
opinion. Talk to experienced people that can explain things so you
understand them.

Too often people think SR will fix every little problem when in fact,
SR may not fix the problem at all and things end up much worse...
they don't understand what it really does and doesn't do. It is not
the first thing to try. I think it should be used when you have few
options left - not first.

I have never used SR on any computer to restore anything but to test
to be sure it works, but do maintain about 2 weeks worth.

Ever wonder why some days end up with no RPs?

 

[Bod]

Actually all three - add in ERUNT.


I've found each system restore point typically uses about 60 MB or so, but
that of course depends - if you've installed a really large app (say like
Office), it can be signficantly larger. And as you said, about 1-2 weeks
worth is probably best, and setting aside around 1 GB of hard disk space for
it (which isn't all that much these days) seems prudent.

I've had 5 years with no probs on 6 computers with no system restore.
I do save any docs etc on separate drives though.
I only use Firefox and NEVER IE, I use Thunderbird and NEVER OE as my
email client.
I use a separate 'paid for' News reader
I clear ALL temp files when I come off the net and run CCleaner straight
away.Every password I have is not saved on any computers and all
passwords are at least 14 digits long.
Spyware and virus check once a week.
This all seems to keep me safe <youches head>.

 

[Bod]

One option in Disk Cleanup is to delete all but the current Restore
Point. If you did that you have no previous month to go back to for
RPs.

If Disk Cleanup malfunctioned, it may have done it for you in it's
error.

Why not make a RP manually now and see if you can locate it. Make a
couple just for fun and you will know if this feature is behaving.

SR will only accumulate RPs to a certain configurable percentage of
your HDD space. If you don't like it, change it, but generally, the
average person should not try to thwart built in safe gaurds unless
you have some other plan in place that you know is better.

Microsoft has good articles clearly written by human beings about SR,
so before making a bunch of changes in the strategy that is there to
protect you, you might want to get a better education than some users
have (present company excluded of course). Then, you will understand
it, how to change it if you want, test it and be comfortable.

There is discussion of deleting SRs after a malware infection -
usually a good idea, but you need to understand things before you do
it and not do it because someone says so (unless that is adequate
explanation for you). Not everyone is going to have the same
opinion. Talk to experienced people that can explain things so you
understand them.

Too often people think SR will fix every little problem when in fact,
SR may not fix the problem at all and things end up much worse...
they don't understand what it really does and doesn't do. It is not
the first thing to try. I think it should be used when you have few
options left - not first.

I have never used SR on any computer to restore anything but to test
to be sure it works, but do maintain about 2 weeks worth.

Ever wonder why some days end up with no RPs?

Having 6 computers,if I did get a problem on 1 of them,it wouldn't be
the end of the world.If it was that serious a prob and I couldn't fix it
easily,I would probably just re-format and re-install the system.I don't
keep anything on the C drive,except the essentials.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Yup,it's always a gamble to a certain extent.

The point I was making is that, from the point of view you stated,
relying on backup is no safer than System Restore.

All I can say,is that I have 6 computers that are used very
regularly(one daily).I never have s/restore enabled and I have never had
to re-format or repair any of them in 5 years (touch wood).Xp Pro on all
of them and one has a dual boot : XP Pro and Linux.

Nor have I ever reformatted and reinstalled. Here's my standard post
on the subject:

With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista,
and now Windows 7 RC each for the period of time before the next
version came out, and each on two or more machines here. I never
reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything more than an
occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your
programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application
updates, you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for
your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work
the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?
Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data
backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and
tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you
like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far
between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all
other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the
same situation.

If you've never needed to use System Restore, consider yourself lucky.
My recommendation is that you turn it on, so it's there just in case
you need it, and because, despite your saying "System Restore,IMO,is a
resource hogger,it wastes space," it uses a *tiny* amount of disk
space if you size it properly--less than $1.00 US worth.

 

[Bod]

The point I was making is that, from the point of view you stated,
relying on backup is no safer than System Restore.




Nor have I ever reformatted and reinstalled. Here's my standard post
on the subject:

With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista,
and now Windows 7 RC each for the period of time before the next
version came out, and each on two or more machines here. I never
reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything more than an
occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your
programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application
updates, you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for
your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work
the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?
Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data
backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and
tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you
like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far
between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all
other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the
same situation.

If you've never needed to use System Restore, consider yourself lucky.
My recommendation is that you turn it on, so it's there just in case
you need it, and because, despite your saying "System Restore,IMO,is a
resource hogger,it wastes space," it uses a *tiny* amount of disk
space if you size it properly--less than $1.00 US worth.

One other point to remember! Some viruses target S/Restore.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

One other point to remember! Some viruses target S/Restore.

Not that I know of. Which ones?

 

[Bill in Co.]

I've had 5 years with no probs on 6 computers with no system restore.
I do save any docs etc on separate drives though.
I only use Firefox and NEVER IE, I use Thunderbird and NEVER OE as my
email client.
I use a separate 'paid for' News reader
I clear ALL temp files when I come off the net and run CCleaner straight
away.Every password I have is not saved on any computers and all
passwords are at least 14 digits long.
Spyware and virus check once a week.
This all seems to keep me safe <youches head>.

I do a *lot* of experimenting with trying out various software programs
(mostly multimedia ones), so having all three options works out quite well
for me (and I've used each of them on various occasions, as the situation
warranted). I like having different tools available at my disposal - and
not just one (like always restoring a clone or image, for example, if
something goes a tad amiss).

 

[Bod]

Not that I know of. Which ones?

A letter from Avast's web forum:

Help ! Virus.....
in viruses and worms

Help ! Virus..... by KSS123
.... /2 months ago. I think I got an UNKNOWN virus (I have not found any
definition for ...
.... virus) from a pen drive. Because, after ...
.... install any new fonts on my operating system. I checked the
Microsoft support center ...
.... a valid Win32 Application."

Then the virus was stacking the infected files into ...
.... System restore folder. I stopped system ...
.... . Still the files are changing.

The virus has also disabled the "Regedit" and " ...
.... ". But my PC is still infected by Virus.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cfb89b85878bbefe96c2048687cfc972&action=search2

Bod