system restore

[ahhskeeter]

I recently tried to find a system restore point on my computer to roll back to.  I went through about 4 or 5 dates and still no changes have been made to your computer the o.s. claimed.  I looked on the destop and after these attempts I noticed duplicate shortcut icons scattered about on my desktop.  Then I went to my start bar opened that up several duplicates in there to as well as the control pannel!  This created such a mess and would take days to fix manually by draging each one to the recycle bin.
I am in need of some help does anyone know how to fix it easily?
scott

[street1 (RIP)]

 Welcome to Computerhope ahhskeeter.

First backup important information.

Have you tried a repair install?

Which windows do you have?

[ahhskeeter]

Thanks for the welcome I came to learn more...  I have Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 2.
No I have not tried Repair Install thats a good Idea wont that delete my photos video's and such i took so long to download?
have you ever heard of this system restore problem its stupid that a operating system would do this c'mon it says no changes have been made thats a lie.....  It left behind tons of duplicate shortcuts!!!
what a headache!
is there any cleaners I know ccleaner dident work and I know i dont want to use a duplicate removal program when it will effect the registry I know not to mess with the registry....
scott thanks for all your responses here I have a headache...

[GX1_Man]

It sounds like you have other problems as well. What made you want the restore in the first place? You also have no backup strategy. All hard drives die eventually, taking whatever was on them also. At that point all of the precious data that youdidn't have time to backup is gone forever. Something to think about.

[ahhskeeter]

Ok I thought I had automatic system restore and that it would automaticly create restore points I guess not then huh....  The reason for the system restore to begin with was because I have a web cam that drivers got messed up on I installed a faulty driver and uninstall dident work everytime i tried the correct driver there after it said webcam malfunctioned or something.  Just a big headache but I do have a burner and blank discs should i just save my pictures and stuff to cd recorables with my burner?
thanks guys your awesome been a big help so far
scott

[GX1_Man]

I would bakup the data before we start trying to salvage your system, or just formatting and reinstalling Windows.  

[ahhskeeter]

Ok I will burn all the stuff I wanna keep... here is a image of what im dealing with here its crazy how many short cuts are here why is there no program that can delete these duplicates?

I heard when you do that repair windows that you can move stuff to c:/ as long as its not in your my documents folder yu should be ok? Is that true?
btw thanks big time for your responses so far....
scott

[ahhskeeter]

here is my control pannel do you think there is other duplicate shortcuts i have not discovered elsewhere too?

[patio]

I think it's about time for a format and a clean install of XP...

[ahhskeeter]

Guess, I got to reformat something I did'ent want to have to do guess there is not a solution to the problem.....
thats too bad........
scott

[GX1_Man]

You can save your data first. You should think about an imaging program such as Acronis True Image. It will be the best $25 you ever spend and will make reinstalls like this a painless 20 minute procedure rather than hours and hours, reactivation, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832200204

$25 Delivered!!!!

[ahhskeeter]

Thanks
this should be the end of my problems I will reinstall!!!
thats all folks....