A few days ago I posted an article regarding the use of System Restore in Windows. I had a broken program which I surmised was due to a software program I had downloaded and installed earlier in the day. To summarize I used System Restore the next day to return my computer to the state it was in prior to the installation of the software.

Several of the comments questioned why I did not simply uninstall the software that I had installed. There were several reasons for this decision. One of them was the fact that I was not sure that it was that particular program that had caused the problem. Also, having uninstalled many programs in the past I have found many of them do not remove all of the files and folders that they originally install. For me the decision was based on expediency. It was bad enough that Outlook would not work with Word as its editor but the last thing I wanted to do was to uninstall the program, still have the problem and hunt for .dlls and who knows what else that was left behind. I was not familiar with the software or the vendor so I opted for the fastest and most complete method to rid my computer of all parts of the program.

On another day, in a different mood I may very well have opted to uninstall the program first, but System Restore was my choice this time.

There was also a comment asking what the offending software was. I really hate to mention it as I have no proof that it caused the problems. It could have been a combination of the way my computer is set up and the software combined. I will just mention that it had something to do with printing to any printer over the Net. There are other people that are using the program successfully so as with anything else, what works for one may not work for all.

There was a mention of Acronis software for imaging and I cannot speak highly enough of the products from that company. I use them all the time and wouldn’t be without them.

So, that’s the skinny!

[tags]windows, system restore, software, acronis, printing[/tags]