fixing system restore

[Kathy_R]

could some one tell me how to fix system restore on my computer? windows xp sp2  I have turned it off , then on again to no avail. there are no restore points, and I cannot create any either. I have no idea what could have caused this to happen.
thanks, Kathy

[dl65]

Kathy_R.... Please read the following , it will explain .

If you manually turn System Restore off on the system drive, all restore points are deleted, and you receive the following warning message:
You have chosen to turn off System Restore. If you continue, all existing restore points will be deleted, and you will not be able to track and undo changes to your computer.
Do you want to turn off System Restore?
Yes No

If you manually turn System Restore off on any non-system drive, all restore points on that specific drive are deleted, and you receive the following warning message:
You have chosen to turn off System Restore on this drive. If you continue, you will not be able to track or undo harmful changes on this drive.
Do you want to turn off System Restore on this drive?
Yes No
When you turn System Restore on again on the system drive, it immediately creates a System Checkpoint. When you turn System Restore on again on a non-system drive, it does not immediately create a restore point on that drive, but monitoring resumes immediately on the drive.

What has occurred that requires the use of system restore ?

Let us know if you need more info .

dl65  

[Kathy_R]

Honestly, I do not remember disabling it in the first place. My computer was freezing up (still does) so I thought I would run sytem restore to try and fix anything that was causing the freeze ups.  There were no restore points. I am running a virus program.
I was told to turn it off by unchecking the box, then restart pc, then go back and check the box. nothing changed. It's like system restore is totally gone.

[dl65]

Kathy_R .... First of all .......In my opinion , XP with SP2 is a very stable platform . If it is freezing up ......that suggests to me that something is wrong.......It could be a non compatible bit of software or a trojan ( which your anti virus may not identify ) , It may be some malicious bit of spyware or adware ........ It may be a 3rd party driver which isnt compatible ......
Are these freezes related to any particular app or just random ?

Now as far as the advice you were given re system restore .......as soon as you turn off system restore .......ALL RESTORE POINTS are deleted ............
In other words there are none .......simply turning the pc off and then restarting it and then turning back on the system restore points ........WILL NOT MAGICALLY bring back the restore points which where there before you deleted them .......They are gone forever ....... What does happen is once you enable system restore ....It creates a check point ( a starting point if you will ) then for example .....say tomorrow , when the next check point has been created .......you would be able to revert back to that exact time and date .
Unfortunately people seem to think that system restore will fix things like viruses , trojans and other infestation of pests .........This isnt the case .........
Perhaps you could list the apps you regularly run to control ..........
Viruses .........
Spyware .......
Adware ........
Trojans.........
Hijackers .....

Again ...to the best of my limited knowledge there is no one utility out there which will look after all those pests.

We may however be able to suggest some apps which will assist you in keeping your pc running smoothly.

let us know

dl65  

[pcdoc4christ]

Kathy:

DL is right.  Also (this happened to me once) if your hard drive (or one of the logical drives on your hard drive) is running out of space, System Restore will not have enough room on the drive to store data.  This may also explain the diminished performance.  

To check if this is a possibility, double-click My Computer, right-click Local Disk (C:), choose Properties, and tell us the size of the Used Space and the size of the Free Space.

Regards,
Doc

[merlin_2]

no need for system restore........f8 on boot chose last good config........it replaces system restore......or the/reg/ sfc/scannow cmds......in the cmd prompt.....or more info here onm system restore>http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm

[Kathy_R]

On my local hard drive C  I have 22.0 GB Used  and 52.4 GB free space.

[Mac]

On my local hard drive C  I have 22.0 GB Used  and 52.4 GB free space.

Sounds like an 80Gb drive with 74.5Gb of usable space all in one partition.

You should use 512Mb of RAM or more for XP and you should be running anti-Trojan scans with AdAware SE, SpyBot SD & be using SpywareBlaster to protect your system.

It would be better to partition the drive in my experience. I have a 10Gb drive C: and place the My Documents and Email folders on the D: drive, the Music on the E: drive and use the F: drive for Archive material.

If you look at Kathy's Korner you may find tips on repairing System Restore, but the best safeguard is to have a drive image to restore to, hence the smaller C: drive recommendation.

So why the hanging? Too little RAM or a program fault? If you run the anti-Trojan scanners you'll soon see if there is a problem.

You could also try cleaning up the drive which might help.

If you run Disk-Cleanup first of all and then install and run CCLeaner you will already remove a lot of obsolete junk files.

Then, if you unhide hidden files and folders you can also delete all of the $NTUninstaller$ files and carefully remove their entries in Add-Remove programs.

Then remove the following:

The contents of the C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations folder.

The contents of the C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download , folder.

And the contents of the C:\WINDOWS\Temp folder.

To make some more room. then run chkdsk and defrag.

You might then consider using a Partition resizing program to shrink your 80Gb drive down to a reasonable size to make it easier to maintain and to image.

[Mac]

Found this on the Elder Geek's site:

Re-Enabling System Restore

One of the tips that was widely circulated on the net when XP Professional was first released involved disabling System Restore via Group Policy Editor. It certainly works, but a problem arises if you want to re-enable System Restore at a later date. There is no option to re-enable it again. To do so:

Start the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
Navigate to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/System Restore
Set Turn off System Restore and Turn off Configuration to Disable
Right click on My Computer and Select Manage
Navigate to Services and Applications/Services
Navigate to System Restore Service and double click
On the General tab set [Startup Type] to Automatic using the drop down list
Click the Start button to start the service
Close the Computer Management console
Return to System Restore in Group Policy Editor and configure both to Not Configured
Close Group Policy Editor and reboot the system.

After the reboot is complete, right click My Computer, select Properties and the tab for System Restore will have been restored. Configure it to your individual needs.

Elder Geek

[Kathy_R]

Mac, I downloaded CCLeaner, however I did not  run it.
It appears that it wants to delete almost everything.  How do I set this up so that I have not completly wiped
everything out?