System restore question

[Rob]

Hi, I installed Zone Alarm Pro but then decided i didn't need it so tried
uninstalling it using both the uninstall in the start, program menu and via
control panel, add/remove programs. Both ways caused the computer to restart
and gave a message saying windows had recovered from a serious error. The
program wouldn't uninstall. I used system restore to take the computer back
a day to before the software was installed. When it then restarted the Zone
Alarm program was gone. What i would like to know is, as i didn't uninstall
it properly, where is it now?
Any help / advice appreaciated.

 

[Jerry]

It is gone - to CyberSpace.

 

[Brian A.]

You restored the OS to a time before it was installed, therefore you
won't have it or any possible number of other apps installed after that
date.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Rob,

System Restore monitors a core set of system and application files. Any
files added after the restore point being to will not be present.

 

[Rob]

Thanks for the help, looking at the Microsoft page about system restore it
says you should never use system restore as an alternative to uninstalling a
program.(which i did in effect). I worry that it could cause problems in the
future.

 

[Brian A.]

It shouldn't cause any future problems, yet stranger things have
happened. Using SR to uninstall programs is a bad idea because anything
else that was installed after that prog install will potentially be removed
as well. Any other issues I'll leave to others to mention since I never
use SR, I use Norton Ghost to create an image before any changes which I
can revert back to if something went bang.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Rob,

What happens when System Restore is used to uninstalled an application
is that only the monitored files and registry settings are removed,
along with any other monitored changes that had been made after the
restore point being used. SR was not designed to remove applications and
should not be used to do so.

How many days has it been sense this was performed?

You could try reinstalling the application then uninstall it via
add/remove programs in Control Panel to completely remove all the
applications files.