system restore say can't restore

[Guest]

Hi,

I recently installed a couple of programs that slowed down my computer
rather badly. (The programs were System Mechanic and Registry Mechanic;
perhaps I ran them wrongly, anyway that's besides the point).

I've tried to restore my computer to a point before installing these
programs but after system restore runs it comes up with the message, "System
restore can't resotre to the point selected... No changes have been made" (or
something to that effect: which I interpret as system restore can't restore
to that point and thus as a consequence it has not made any changes to my
system.

Now why is it doing this? Why doesn't it restore it to a point before I
installed these programs that obviously did something wrong to my rregistry
and affected programs like Microsoft such that it now runs more slowly?
Should I uninstall these new progams BEFORE running system restore?

any ideas useful.

My computer is a 2 year old dell 8400, running XP Home, SP2, plenty of RAM
1.5mb (all installed and working correctllyl or at least was doing so before
I installed those new programs), powerful CPU

 

[Donny Broome]

Sytem Restore is a joke. Disable it, and move on. If you're truly interested
in a system backup tool, take a look at Norton Ghost.

Additionally, System Restore is a resource hog, a disk space hog and a
hiding place for viruses.


--

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

One or the other, or perhaps both, corrupted either the restore points or
the index. In any case, it's damaged and you will not be able to use this
tool until you stop and restart it. Unfortunately, the catch-22 here is that
doing so deletes all existing restore points, so you won't be able to use it
to repair the damage. The lesson here is to avoid general registry and
system cleaners, they often do more damage than good.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

In addition to Rick excellent information, it is always best to
uninstall any application installed after the restore point being used.
Any application installed after the restore point you are reverting to
may not function. What happens is, System Restore only removes monitored
files for the installed applications and the remaining files are left
behind. This can cause the application not to function. And in some
cases, can also cause the uninstall and reinstall process of the
partially removed application to fail.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Rick and Bert for your advice.

Yes, I guess I will stay away from registry cleaners in the future. But why,
oh why do they sell them to the public if they are such a risk?

 

[Plato]

I've tried to restore my computer to a point before installing these
programs but after system restore runs it comes up with the message, "System
restore can't resotre to the point selected... No changes have been made" (or
something to that effect: which I interpret as system restore can't restore
to that point and thus as a consequence it has not made any changes to my
system.

Now why is it doing this? Why doesn't it restore it to a point before I

http://www.bootdisk.com/xptop20.htm
Item #15

 

[dave xnet]

Thanks Rick and Bert for your advice.

Not sure if you've uninstalled the apps yet, but most of these
kind of apps take a snapshot of the changes they make;
you may be able to undo the damage by using the apps
own features.

After that uninstall them.
Dave

 

[Guest]

Thanks Dave and Plato. I'll check out your suggestions.

My main problem seems to be with microsoft word which is loading docs very
slowly. Ive been thinking maybe all I need to do is to uninstall and then
reinstall Microsoft Office. Do you think that could do the trick?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Simple answer: $

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Ken Blake]

Sytem Restore is a joke. Disable it, and move on. If you're truly
interested in a system backup tool, take a look at Norton Ghost.

System Restore is not a cure for all problems, and is certainly not a
substitute for a backup. But it is a very useful feature, one that has
gotten me and many others out of trouble many times.

To even suggest that it could be used as a backup program shows that you
have no idea of what it does.

Additionally, System Restore is a resource hog, a disk space hog and a
hiding place for viruses.

It uses any resources only briefly once a day, uses only as much disk space
as you tell it to use, and is no more a hiding place for viruses than a
Norton Ghost (or any other) backup.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Because they can! <g>

 

[Bert Kinney]

There should be a repair option via add/remove programs.

 

[Guest]

Or "Detect & Repair" from the Help menu of any Office app.

Julian

 

[Bert Kinney]

Yes, some versions of Office have that option also.