System restore vs System Recovery

[bayskater]

Hi,
This may be a hopeless cause, but here goes.

My daughter uses WinXP and she was having a lot of weird problems with her
computer. She thinks it started awhile back when she downloaded IE 7 but not
sure. She had heard of System Restore to revert back to a previous time and
thought she'd try it.
She was unable to boot up successfully, but during the boot process there
was a link using F11, I believe, to " System Recovery". She thought the two
terms were for the same thing. When she proceeded with the System Recovery
she apparently set her computer back to where it was when it was new. She
found that her WORD program was gone etc..

Today I had her look into the "System Recovery" feature and there were no
recovery points.

Is there any way that the System Recovery that she did can be undone?

(her WORD program is no longer listed in add/remove programs, just the trial
program that was on the computer when she bought it.

Seems hopeless, but I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks, ... Fred

 

[DL]

You cannot undo the system recovery.

You can only recover data from backups & reinstall applications that werent
origonally installed. eg Word / Office or whatever.
Remember to uninstall any trial version prior to installing full version.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

This may be a hopeless cause, but here goes.

My daughter uses WinXP and she was having a lot of weird problems
with her computer. She thinks it started awhile back when she
downloaded IE 7 but not sure. She had heard of System Restore to
revert back to a previous time and thought she'd try it.
She was unable to boot up successfully, but during the boot process
there was a link using F11, I believe, to " System Recovery". She
thought the two terms were for the same thing. When she proceeded
with the System Recovery she apparently set her computer back to
where it was when it was new. She found that her WORD program was
gone etc..
Today I had her look into the "System Recovery" feature and there
were no recovery points.

Is there any way that the System Recovery that she did can be
undone?
(her WORD program is no longer listed in add/remove programs, just
the trial program that was on the computer when she bought it.

Seems hopeless, but I just thought I'd ask.

System Recovery - provided by the manufacturer of the computer - usually OEM
computers - and can be done in a destructive or non-destructive manner,
albeit easier and more common for the manufacturer to provide *just* the
destructive manner. Sounds like your daughter did the destructive recovery
and what that would essentially do is format and install the software as it
would have been the day it was shipped form the factory. Anything that was
on the computer (installed after that day, created after that day) is
generally erased. If your daughter registered the copy of Word that was on
the computer somehow - she should have saved (externally) the code she got
to register it. If she installed the software (additional software -
anything) after the shipping of the computer - she will have to install it
again.

System Restore only protects system necessary files. Word is not a system
necessary application. Not to mention that recovering back to day one
overwrites EVERYTHING.

 

[bayskater]

System Recovery - provided by the manufacturer of the computer - usually
OEM computers - and can be done in a destructive or non-destructive
manner, albeit easier and more common for the manufacturer to provide
*just* the destructive manner. Sounds like your daughter did the
destructive recovery and what that would essentially do is format and
install the software as it would have been the day it was shipped form the
factory. Anything that was on the computer (installed after that day,
created after that day) is generally erased. If your daughter registered
the copy of Word that was on the computer somehow - she should have saved
(externally) the code she got to register it. If she installed the
software (additional software - anything) after the shipping of the
computer - she will have to install it again.

System Restore only protects system necessary files. Word is not a system
necessary application. Not to mention that recovering back to day one
overwrites EVERYTHING.

Thanks, Shenan and DL

 

[Poprivet]

Hi,
This may be a hopeless cause, but here goes. ....
thought the two terms were for the same thing. When she proceeded
with the System Recovery she apparently set her computer back to
where it was when it was new. She found that her WORD program was
gone etc..

Restore Points: REstores the SYSTEM files to a previous date and time,
without affecting any files or installed programs except it might make
reinstalling of recently installed programs necessary. Think of it as going
back to an old Registry.

Today I had her look into the "System Recovery" feature and there
were no recovery points.

Correct. System Recovery puts everything back to how it was when the
computer was shipped.

Is there any way that the System Recovery that she did can be undone?

No, it can not be undone. Everything that's been added to the computer
since she got it has to be re-added (installed) again. e.g. Word, etc..

(her WORD program is no longer listed in add/remove programs, just
the trial program that was on the computer when she bought it.

Seems hopeless, but I just thought I'd ask.

No, not hopeless. Just programs that have to be reinstalled now. Just go
ahead and install them again. All will work again. Or should <g>.

HTH

Pop`

 

[Bert Kinney]

Here are the instructions for running System Restore for future use.

All About System Restore in WinXP
http://bertk.mvps.org/

Here is a description of System Restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html

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