How do I stop System Restore points from self-deleting each week?

[Guest]

I have set the amount of disk space to maximum for the System Restore
function and tried both turning off system restore to delete all restore
points and choosing the delete all restore points in Disk Cleanup. Neither
seemed to have any effect on the regular deletion of restore points that were
created in the previous week. i have searched for help on the MS website re:
the possibility that the 90 day auto deletion setting might have been
adjusted to 1 week on my computer, but have not found any help. This was
just an idea I had and if it has no merit that's fine--i just want my system
restore points to last longer than a week. i got caught without a system
restore point in January and ended up having to reinstall my Windows XP (with
SP2) because of it! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

--Fran

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Fran,

Here's a good place to start.
Troubleshooting missing restore points:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/missingrps.html

The (XPSystemRestoreLife.vbs) utility on the following page allows you to
view and change the amount of days System Restore holds restore points.

System Restore Scripts & Utilities:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srscripts.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[Guest]

Hi Bert--

Thanks for the suggestions. I downloaded the utlities and everything is as
it should be. I also checked the troubleshooting webpage and noticed that I
have ZoneAlarm Security Suite 6.5 wich can fill the space allocated for
system restore points. it's the only thing i can see, but interestly enough,
before my hard drive crashed and I reinstalled XP Pro, I had ZASS 6.5 and
System Restore created and held my restore points with no problem. I'm not
really sure how to pursue checking this. The Troubleshooting webpage was a
bit confusing to me. Any help would appreciated. Thanks again--

Fran Hensen

 

[Bert Kinney]

Are you still loosing restore points?

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[Guest]

Hi Bert--

i'm not sure--it usually happened each weekend. I'll get in touch with you
on Mon or Tues and let you know. By the way, one of the utlities did make 2
register fixes for my System Restore function. I'll just remain hopeful that
this was what was needed, but as i said, Ibe in touch.

Thanks--

Fran Hensen

 

[Guest]

Hi Bert--

I checked my previously created System Restore Points and they appear to
have lasted from last Wed. to today--no deletion over the weekend!! I used
the following utility which I believe did the trick (from that web page of
utilities you suggested to me):

"Repair Blank System Restore Calendar - A utility to repair a blank calendar
in System Restore. Author: Doug Knox MS-MVP"

I've learned to be cautiously optimistic about my "computer fixes". I'm
going to wait to celebrate until I get through one more weekend. Thanks
again for all your help to date!

--Fran Hensen

 

[Enkidu]

Why do you want to keep system restore points for so long? I've never
ever had to use the facility. I can't see the need, unless you a)
continually up date your hardware and drivers, or b) aren't sufficiently
protected against viruses and other nasties that might touch your system
files.

Why, why, why?

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Guest]

Hi Cliff--

It's not that I want to keep Restore Points for a long time. My particular
issue created a situation where my restore points were regularly being
deleted for some reason and system restore points weren't automatically being
created periodically like they normally do. This created windows of time
where i had no system restore points at all to cover me for unforeseen
ciecumstances. Because of this, when my computer had a "fatal error" in
January, I didn't have any restore points at all to roll my system back to.
I eventually had to reformat the whole hard drive and reload my operating and
third party software--it was very inconvenient for me at the time (I was
trying to finish something for my business), and something I don't want to
have to do again any time soon. Just so you know, on a semi regular basis, I
delete all of my system restore points because I know I don't need them
all--just my latest one.

--Fran

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Fran,

Here are some tips on adjusting disk space usage and keeping System Restore
healthy:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/healthy.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org