| Computers, Microsoft Windows XP Tips |
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Microsoft Windows XP Tips – Recover Your Hard
Drive Using System Restore
It’s late in the evening and you’re at home, using your computer to
update a document you need for work the next day. You make your
final changes, save the document, and submit it to print. You turn to
the printer, only to find nothing there. You print the document again,
and again get nothing. Thinking that maybe there’s something wrong
with the printer connection, you decide to reboot your computer. But
you’re getting error messages that you’ve never seen before. After
clicking on two or three dozen “Okay" buttons, your computer finally
starts booting up again, and you sigh in relief. Until you start getting
error messages stating that certain files are out of date or can’t be
located. Eventually your computer comes back up, but it seems that
everything has gone wonky. Programs load with errors, or don’t load
at all. Utilities that worked fine last night lock up when you try to
launch them, including your virus-scanning software. In short,
something’s very, very wrong.
Drive Using System Restore
It’s late in the evening and you’re at home, using your computer to
update a document you need for work the next day. You make your
final changes, save the document, and submit it to print. You turn to
the printer, only to find nothing there. You print the document again,
and again get nothing. Thinking that maybe there’s something wrong
with the printer connection, you decide to reboot your computer. But
you’re getting error messages that you’ve never seen before. After
clicking on two or three dozen “Okay" buttons, your computer finally
starts booting up again, and you sigh in relief. Until you start getting
error messages stating that certain files are out of date or can’t be
located. Eventually your computer comes back up, but it seems that
everything has gone wonky. Programs load with errors, or don’t load
at all. Utilities that worked fine last night lock up when you try to
launch them, including your virus-scanning software. In short,
something’s very, very wrong.
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Ordinarily this would mean taking your computer into a repair site and have a tech look at it to determine the problem. The fix
could be as simple as running a few utilities on the computer, or as complex as rebuilding the hard drive from scratch. Even
the simpler solution can be expensive. But if you are running Windows XP as your operating system, you may not need to go
into a blind panic. A utility included with Windows XP called System Restore allows you to recover your hard drive from a
previous point in time. In effect, you’re turning back the clock to a point in the past where your computer was working
properly.
Give Me a Reason
Why would you restore your computer to, say, yesterday afternoon’s settings? There are plenty of reasons why you might
want, or need, to do so. The incident described above could be caused by a virus that got through your computer’s firewall
and installed itself on your computer. Remember the new game you installed on your computer late last night? It could have
overwritten system files in the operating system, replacing them with older files, or deleting required files altogether. Maybe
somebody got a little trigger-happy with the mouse when selecting files to erase from the system, deleting required system
files. Then there’s always the possibility of an “act of God", like a power outage or power surge, which may have corrupted
system data on the computer.
Convinced? Good. So how does System Restore work? Let’s take a look.
Start at the Beginning
When Windows XP is installed on a computer system, the System Restore utility is turned on by default, so you don’t have to
do anything to start the process. System Restore also automatically creates “restore points", points in time you can select for
restoring your computer. They’re usually created when a new program is installed, or updates to the existing system are
implemented (generally through the Internet). Good news. Unfortunately Windows XP isn’t consistent about the frequency of
creating these restore points. You might go two or three days before an incident occurs where the operating system feels it’s
necessary to create a restore point. Not-so-good news. However, you can go in yourself and manually create a restore point
any time you want, say, just before you install a new program. If you’ll do this on a regular basis, even once a day, you’ll
have a good number of points from which to restore if you ever need to.
A Good Recovery Place
You may want to create a restore point of your own, or need to find a restore point to recover your system. In either case,
you start the same way. In the menu bar at the bottom of the desktop, click on Start, then Help and Support (the blue
question mark icon). Under “Pick a Task" in the right column of the window that appears on your screen, select the option
marked Undo changes to your computer with System Restore. This launches the System Restore utility, bringing it up in a
new window.
If you want to create a new restore point, select the second option in the menu and click Next. You can enter an appropriate
description for this restore point, and then click on Create. Windows XP automatically attaches your description and the date
and time from your computer system to the restore point and adds it to the calendar list. Click on Close and that’s it – you’ve
created a restore point. You can go on with your work (or play) now.
When You Need Some Restoration
If you need to restore your system to an earlier date and time, in the System Restore menu select the first option in the menu
and click Next. You can use the calendar on the left side of the window and the restore points described on the right side of
the window to pick the particular restore point you wish to use. Once you’ve selected the desired restore point, click on Next,
and then Next again to start the restore process. Don’t power down your computer during this process, as you could end up
with some serious issues if the restore process doesn’t complete properly. (Helpful hint: Don’t do a restore if there’s a
possibility you might have a power outage, such as during a thunderstorm!) Once the restore is done, the computer reboots,
you log in, and there you are – your system is the way it was at the date and time of the selected restore point.
Helpful Hints
You’ll avoid a lot of grief if you follow a few guidelines when using System Restore.
Regularly create manual restore points. It only takes a few minutes to create a restore point. Even if you only do this once or
twice a week, it gives you that many more options to choose from when you need to select a restore point.
ALWAYS create a restore point before adding anything new to your computer! Whether you’re adding a new printer,
installing a second hard drive, or upgrading your favorite software program, create a restore point before starting the
process. If anything happens and problems develop, you can restore your computer to the way it was before the installation
started.
Save important data before starting a restore. Remember that anything that has changed on your computer between the
time of the restore point and the time you begin the restore will be reset to the way it was at the time of the restore point. If
your restore point is from ten days ago, every program and data file you have added to your computer in that ten-day period
will be gone. Files that were on the computer at the time of the restore point and that you have deleted since then will be
back on the computer after the restore. So if you have files on the computer that you want to keep, copy them to diskette or
RAM stick, or burn to a CD, before you start the restore process.
Not Bad for a Freebie
There are commercial programs available, such as Norton’s Go-Back, that perform this function much more smoothly and
have many more features. But if you don’t want to pay the $50 price tag for Go-Back, or don’t expect to have to recover your
computer on a regular basis, then XP’s System Restore utility will work just fine for you – and may end up saving you both
time and money in computer repair costs!
Danny Davids has worked in the computer industry for 25 years. He has provided end-user support, training, and network administration services
in arenas as diverse as the service bureau, health, education, communication, manufacturing, and consulting industries. He currently works as a
network administrator for a government agency. He is an accomplished songwriter, and is working with a production company on a proposal for
a children's educational television program. He is married and has two adult children.
could be as simple as running a few utilities on the computer, or as complex as rebuilding the hard drive from scratch. Even
the simpler solution can be expensive. But if you are running Windows XP as your operating system, you may not need to go
into a blind panic. A utility included with Windows XP called System Restore allows you to recover your hard drive from a
previous point in time. In effect, you’re turning back the clock to a point in the past where your computer was working
properly.
Give Me a Reason
Why would you restore your computer to, say, yesterday afternoon’s settings? There are plenty of reasons why you might
want, or need, to do so. The incident described above could be caused by a virus that got through your computer’s firewall
and installed itself on your computer. Remember the new game you installed on your computer late last night? It could have
overwritten system files in the operating system, replacing them with older files, or deleting required files altogether. Maybe
somebody got a little trigger-happy with the mouse when selecting files to erase from the system, deleting required system
files. Then there’s always the possibility of an “act of God", like a power outage or power surge, which may have corrupted
system data on the computer.
Convinced? Good. So how does System Restore work? Let’s take a look.
Start at the Beginning
When Windows XP is installed on a computer system, the System Restore utility is turned on by default, so you don’t have to
do anything to start the process. System Restore also automatically creates “restore points", points in time you can select for
restoring your computer. They’re usually created when a new program is installed, or updates to the existing system are
implemented (generally through the Internet). Good news. Unfortunately Windows XP isn’t consistent about the frequency of
creating these restore points. You might go two or three days before an incident occurs where the operating system feels it’s
necessary to create a restore point. Not-so-good news. However, you can go in yourself and manually create a restore point
any time you want, say, just before you install a new program. If you’ll do this on a regular basis, even once a day, you’ll
have a good number of points from which to restore if you ever need to.
A Good Recovery Place
You may want to create a restore point of your own, or need to find a restore point to recover your system. In either case,
you start the same way. In the menu bar at the bottom of the desktop, click on Start, then Help and Support (the blue
question mark icon). Under “Pick a Task" in the right column of the window that appears on your screen, select the option
marked Undo changes to your computer with System Restore. This launches the System Restore utility, bringing it up in a
new window.
If you want to create a new restore point, select the second option in the menu and click Next. You can enter an appropriate
description for this restore point, and then click on Create. Windows XP automatically attaches your description and the date
and time from your computer system to the restore point and adds it to the calendar list. Click on Close and that’s it – you’ve
created a restore point. You can go on with your work (or play) now.
When You Need Some Restoration
If you need to restore your system to an earlier date and time, in the System Restore menu select the first option in the menu
and click Next. You can use the calendar on the left side of the window and the restore points described on the right side of
the window to pick the particular restore point you wish to use. Once you’ve selected the desired restore point, click on Next,
and then Next again to start the restore process. Don’t power down your computer during this process, as you could end up
with some serious issues if the restore process doesn’t complete properly. (Helpful hint: Don’t do a restore if there’s a
possibility you might have a power outage, such as during a thunderstorm!) Once the restore is done, the computer reboots,
you log in, and there you are – your system is the way it was at the date and time of the selected restore point.
Helpful Hints
You’ll avoid a lot of grief if you follow a few guidelines when using System Restore.
Regularly create manual restore points. It only takes a few minutes to create a restore point. Even if you only do this once or
twice a week, it gives you that many more options to choose from when you need to select a restore point.
ALWAYS create a restore point before adding anything new to your computer! Whether you’re adding a new printer,
installing a second hard drive, or upgrading your favorite software program, create a restore point before starting the
process. If anything happens and problems develop, you can restore your computer to the way it was before the installation
started.
Save important data before starting a restore. Remember that anything that has changed on your computer between the
time of the restore point and the time you begin the restore will be reset to the way it was at the time of the restore point. If
your restore point is from ten days ago, every program and data file you have added to your computer in that ten-day period
will be gone. Files that were on the computer at the time of the restore point and that you have deleted since then will be
back on the computer after the restore. So if you have files on the computer that you want to keep, copy them to diskette or
RAM stick, or burn to a CD, before you start the restore process.
Not Bad for a Freebie
There are commercial programs available, such as Norton’s Go-Back, that perform this function much more smoothly and
have many more features. But if you don’t want to pay the $50 price tag for Go-Back, or don’t expect to have to recover your
computer on a regular basis, then XP’s System Restore utility will work just fine for you – and may end up saving you both
time and money in computer repair costs!
Danny Davids has worked in the computer industry for 25 years. He has provided end-user support, training, and network administration services
in arenas as diverse as the service bureau, health, education, communication, manufacturing, and consulting industries. He currently works as a
network administrator for a government agency. He is an accomplished songwriter, and is working with a production company on a proposal for
a children's educational television program. He is married and has two adult children.