Windows

System Restore — NO Respect!

Posted by on May 1, 2007 | 7 Comments

Not much is written about Windows System Restore anymore, so I thought I would bring it out for a bow. Every now and then it comes in quite handy.

Yesterday I decided to install some software I had downloaded from the Web. I installed it and all seemed well. The program performed as advertised and I didn’t give it another thought. Later in the day I opened up Outlook and wanted to send an email to a pal. I clicked on NEW and got… nothing but an hourglass. I thought it was a fluke so I ended the task through Task Manager and then opened up Outlook once again. Same result with the added attraction of a pop-up advising me that Outlook was opening Word to use as my email editor. So now I had an hourglass and a pop-up box. Needless to say, there was still no new email window. I decided to punt, opened Outlook Express, and sent my email. I then did my end task routine and shut down my computer for the night.

While trying to sleep I kept thinking about this strange behavior and after about an hour of tossing and turning I had a EUREKA moment. Gee, could it possibly have something to do with that software I installed?

Upon rising this morning I decided to act on that last thought of the night before, and after starting up my laptop, I headed straight for System Restore. I had a restore point that I had made prior to the installation of the software from the Web and I went back to that point.

Lo and behold, software gone, problem gone. Once again I was reminded how much I take System Restore for granted. Oh, and that software I downloaded… never on my computers again!

[tags]windows, system restore, software, outlook, download[/tags]

  • marc klink

    It works until it doesn’t…I’ve only had about 50% success with it, usually it shows restore points that should be available, but for some reason after 3-4 minutes of chugging, says its gonna give up on this project. Other times it goes as planned, so who knows. I am fairly sure it has to do with the number of changes I make on my machine, and the fact that I only allocate 12% of my drive for restore space…I guess I really need 2 of the latest 1TB drives from Seagate…have to wait until someone other than a Dell customer can buy them.

  • http://www.don-guitar.com Lisa Miller

    I love System Restore! If I had my way it would be on every OS forever.

    As a new computer user I started out with XP, I never knew anything else. The sense of security this gave me was priceless. Before installing anything, I set a Restore Point and at least 4 times decided my computer didn’t ‘feel right’, it was acting funky or slowing down. I uninstalled the program-I’m a belt-and-suspenders kinda person-and then went back to the restore point. No more problem.

    You’re absolutely right, we underestimate the value of this feature.

  • Craig Terrian

    And what was that program that cause such behavior?
    Back in the Windows 95 and 98 days, I used Norton’s Ghost to restore my OS. Since Norton was sold, I’ve quit using any of their software. I’ve used a few others, but I like Acronis.

  • http://www.audioedgestudios.com Deke

    Did not just try uninstalling the program first before turning to Restore?

  • robby

    Why did you not just unistall the program?

  • Celeste

    System Restore saved my liiiiife:):)

  • SBC

    Is there a way to recover the downloaded emails in Outlook that disappear when you do a system restore or Norton Go Back?