Restore points as a solution to all problems

[eganders]

Questions:

1. I just found that I only have restore points back to the first week
of August, but my computer was received in late June and I have been
installing things right along. There is a checkbox that says to check
it to get restore points older than 5 days, but that only displays a
few more restore points.
How do I get it to save restore points older than a few weeks.

2. Is there a way to edit the registry or have it "repaired" for
standard Microsoft features that does not require reverting to an
older version and losing EVERYTHING you have done as far as installs?

Background:
Several things do not work as they should and the solution is always
to go back to a restore point where they did. Three problems with
that. 1. I don't have a restore point where it worked (see above). 2.
I have installed a lot of things that i don't want to reinstall just
to get a minor thing working again. (I would have to do that,
correct?) 3. I did not know that a feature was not working until just
now. For example, I just found that the Windows Management
Instrumentation (WMI) is not working in the windows sharing area. It
recommends....you guessed it..... to revert back a restore point where
it did work. I have no idea when that was (probably upon receipt of
the computer). I am NOT going to go back there to get functionality of
something I have not used yet with the loss of the functionality of
everything I have installed. There are other irritating things that
are also not working properly. For example, the Security Center
service cannot be started. It does not appear to keep the security
components from working, but I can't "turn it on". I assume that there
is a corruption of something in the registery. It would sure be nice
if there was a Microsoft utility that check standard Microsoft
registry entries for integrity and fixed those.

 

[Frenchy]

Questions:

1. I just found that I only have restore points back to the first week
of August, but my computer was received in late June and I have been
installing things right along. There is a checkbox that says to check
it to get restore points older than 5 days, but that only displays a
few more restore points.
How do I get it to save restore points older than a few weeks.

2. Is there a way to edit the registry or have it "repaired" for
standard Microsoft features that does not require reverting to an
older version and losing EVERYTHING you have done as far as installs?

Background:
Several things do not work as they should and the solution is always
to go back to a restore point where they did. Three problems with
that. 1. I don't have a restore point where it worked (see above). 2.
I have installed a lot of things that i don't want to reinstall just
to get a minor thing working again. (I would have to do that,
correct?) 3. I did not know that a feature was not working until just
now. For example, I just found that the Windows Management
Instrumentation (WMI) is not working in the windows sharing area. It
recommends....you guessed it..... to revert back a restore point where
it did work. I have no idea when that was (probably upon receipt of
the computer). I am NOT going to go back there to get functionality of
something I have not used yet with the loss of the functionality of
everything I have installed. There are other irritating things that
are also not working properly. For example, the Security Center
service cannot be started. It does not appear to keep the security
components from working, but I can't "turn it on". I assume that there
is a corruption of something in the registery. It would sure be nice
if there was a Microsoft utility that check standard Microsoft
registry entries for integrity and fixed those.

Get into the habit, say once per week, when the machine is running OK,
to make a manual restore point with a name like "Running sweet".
Certainly after a new installation of a program and all running well,
make a manual restore point

Frenchy

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

1. You can't. There is only so much space for restore points (15% of the
drive volume is the default). Each time a new point is created, older points
are removed to make space for it. Once gone, they cannot be regained.

2. Regedit is the tool for editing the registry. There is no "repair" method
for restoring standard features outside of removing/reinstalling them.
Programs can add/modify anywhere from a few to thousands of registry
entries, there's no easy way to fix it from this direction.

From what you've posted, my guess is that you are getting interference from
something that has been installed on the system. This could be third-party
security suite software (Symantec software in particular cause a number of
similar issues), malware, p2p, distributed comp, or any other number of
things. Best thing I could suggest for you is to start examining the startup
axis and begin selective removal of unneeded routines.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Athanasian Creed]

Get into the habit, say once per week, when the machine is running OK, to
make a manual restore point with a name like "Running sweet". Certainly
after a new installation of a program and all running well, make a manual
restore point

Frenchy

Better yet is to invest some money and get a program such as 'Rollback Rx'
that will allow you to set your own restore points (or program will do so at
sheduled time) and lock them. That way, if you need to go back to that
particular point in time, you can, and it takes less than a minute to return
your system to that point in time.

Don't rely on Windows System Restore - third party programs are much more
inclusive, programmable, robust and reliable bottom line.


Ray