System Restore question

[RB]

Hello I continually amazed at how good an OS that WinXP is.
I recently chose a system restore previous to an uninstall that
caused other applications not to run. And the restore not only
restored my configuration but it also restored all of the files
of the product that I had just uninstalled.
I surmise that it must do this from the recycle bin ? At
least if someone has not emptied it.

 

[SC Tom]

Hello I continually amazed at how good an OS that WinXP is.
I recently chose a system restore previous to an uninstall that
caused other applications not to run. And the restore not only
restored my configuration but it also restored all of the files
of the product that I had just uninstalled. I surmise that it must do this
from the recycle bin ? At least if someone has not emptied it.

Actually, all the restore files are in a hidden folder called System Volume
Information.

One thing to remember is that SR is not a replacement for a full system
back-up. It may restore your OS to a usable state, but it will not restore
any other programs that may be wiped or corrupted by malware, hardware
failures, etc. You should always have another solution in place.

SC Tom

 

[Twayne]

Hello I continually amazed at how good an OS that WinXP is.
I recently chose a system restore previous to an uninstall that
caused other applications not to run. And the restore not only
restored my configuration but it also restored all of the files
of the product that I had just uninstalled.
I surmise that it must do this from the recycle bin ? At
least if someone has not emptied it.

The information that System Restore uses to restore your operating
system files are contained in the System Volume Information file. Those
are the only files that System Restore can work with and they are ONLY
system files, nothing else. The Recycle Bin doesn't come into play.

If doing a restore re-energized a program you had uninstalled, it was
because the uninstall did not actually delete it; all it did was remove
it from being capable of being started. When you restored, you put back
all the registry entries, etc., needed to run that program.
I despise those kinds of programs but they're a fact of life
unfortunately. That's why uninstalling programs often doesn't get back
as much space as the user expects; the files and folders are all still
there and have to be deleted separately. Same goes for the registry and
..ini files, etc.. The rather stupid assumption IMO is that the author
assumed you didn't want to really uninstall but actually wanted to
upgrade or update.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Tim Meddick]

I thought any altered or deleted system files, including programs, were
also made copies of by SR into the last restore point's folder within
'System Volume Information'?


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[RB]

Thanks for the reply, that is what I alway thought. Anyhow I was very perplexed with
the whole operation since I was uninstalling Autocad 2000i using a newly downloaded
version of RevoUninstaller, a free uninstaller that has good review everywhere I look on
the net. Anyhow it left all of the Autocad files in place not to mention after the uninstall
I kept getting a relentless message about MS Office trying to configure MS FrontPage.
Don't have a clue why this was coming up but it took over my machine until finally XP
took back control and transferred me to a system restore option. Guess I should have
used the standard autocad uninstall but wanted to try out the RevoUninstaller

 

[Bill in Co.]

It's generally better (i.e. safer and simpler), to just use the normal
program's uninstaller, and only use Revo Uninstaller when the other one
fails, or is otherwise inadequate.

 

[Twayne]

Hi Tim,

You're mostly right; any system file (including executable system files)
are stored. IIRC the following data will be meaningful to you, although
I've lost where I got it from. Installed applications other than system
files however will not be reinstalled, especially anything non-Microsoft
in nature. Many uninstalls though leave a lot of chaff on the disk and
in the registry, so that if you do a Restore back to a Restore point
that includes those programs, they can "come back" as though they were
restored, too. In reality though the programs weren't uninstalled; the
files and folders remained while only the system files were cleaned of
their data.
I've had it happen myself. It seems like the non-system program was
reinstalled, but in reality only its system file contents were restored,
thereby re-enabling the program since all the needed files were still on
disk.
OTOH it can lead to confusion too; if one goes and deletes those
folders, and then Restores to a REstore Point, all of a sudden you get
registry errors because it can't find the files you deleted, but the
Restore Point holds calls to them. It can get interesting.
Wikipedia's link below is a good layman's description, IMO anyway.
Hope it helps.

According to Microsoft, the following features are restored when using
System Restore:

Windows Registry
Local Profiles
COM+ DB
WFP.dll cache
WMI DB
IIS Metabase

And, According to Microsoft, the following is not restored when using
the System Restore feature:

DRM settings
Passwords in the SAM hive
WPA settings (Windows authentication information is not restored)
Specific directories/files listed in the Monitored File Extensions list
in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK e.g. 'My Documents'
folder.
Any file types not monitored by System Restore like personal data files
(e.g. .doc, .jpg, .txt etc.)
Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore
(HKLM\System\Controlset001\Control\Backuprestore\Filesnottobackup and
Keysnottorestore) in the registry.
User-created data stored in the user profile
Contents of redirected folders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_restore

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial56.html#sysrestore

HTH,

Twayne`