Many times, communicating with clients, I was convinced that the simplest and seemingly obvious solutions do not occur to us. So, most of our students in the courses have heard about special system recovery programs, some even know that such a service is included in the composition (which, by the way, I mentioned recently in the article “ Boot Management and Data Recovery in Windows XP". systems, in case of serious problems with drivers or installed programs, people panic and desire to find a “boy”, pay him a lot of money so that he returns their native, familiar ...
Meanwhile, with a reasonable approach, Windows XP and Windows Vista are equipped with everything you need to save your computer, not only without resorting to the services of dubious "specialists", but almost without wasting precious time. So, today we’ll talk about such a service as “systems”
How does System Restore work?
System Restore uses restore points to return system files and settings to a point in time without affecting personal files that the user saves to disk.
The user can create a new restore point manually, roll back to an existing point, or change the System Restore configuration. Moreover, recovery itself may be reversible. Old restore points are reset in order to keep disk space usage at a precisely defined size. For many users, this can provide restore points covering the past few weeks. Users who care about performance or disk space usage can also choose to completely disable System Restore. Files stored on disks that are not tracked by the recovery service will not be backed up and will never be restored. System Restore creates backup copies of system files of certain extensions (.exe, .dll, etc.) and saves them for further restoration and use. The Registry and most drivers are also backed up.
How to run the system restore program?
System Restore can be launched by clicking the Start button and selecting All Programs, Accessories, Utilities and System Restore.
Please note that you will need administrator permission to work: Enter the administrator password or password confirmation if prompted.
Be sure to save open files and close all programs before starting System Restore. System Restore will restart your computer.
Can I undo changes made during system restore?
Yes. Each time you use System Restore, a restore point is created before changes are made, so you can always revert to the original state if the steps you have taken have not resolved the problem. If you run System Restore while the computer is in Safe Mode, the changes made during the restore process cannot be undone. However, you will be able to run System Restore again and select another available restore point.
Reverting Changes Made by System Restore
- Start System Restore by clicking the Start buttonPicture of the Start button, and then clicking All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Restore. Administrator permission required Enter your administrator password or confirm your password if prompted.
- Click Cancel System Restore and click Next.
- Review your selections and click Finish.
What files are changed during system restore?
System Restore affects settings for system files, programs, and the Windows registry. Changes can also be made to scripts, batch files, and other types of executable files on the computer.
Note
System Restore does not affect personal files such as email, documents, or photos, so it cannot recover a deleted file. If an archive of files has been created, then these files can be restored from the archive.
Why doesn't System Restore protect FAT32 drives?
System Restore does not protect FAT32 and other FAT file system drives because these drives do not support shadow copies. Shadow copies contain information about changes to documents and system files. Shadow copies require the NTFS file system. In this version of Windows, System Restore uses shadow copies to create restore points. If system files are stored on a FAT-formatted drive, you cannot use System Restore to undo changes.
How is a restore point selected?
System Restore automatically recommends the most recent restore point created before major changes were made, such as before installing a program. You can also select from a list of restore points. Try to use a restore point that was created shortly before the date and time when the problems started to appear.
How often are restore points created?
Restore points are automatically created once a day, and also before major system events, such as installing programs or device drivers. You can also create a restore point manually.
How is a manual restore point created?
- In the left pane, select System Security Administrator Permission Required Enter your administrator password or confirm your password if prompted.
- On the System Protection tab, click New.
- In the System Protection dialog box, enter a description and click Create.
How much disk space is required for system recovery?
Saving restore points requires at least 300 megabytes (MB) of free disk space on each hard drive that has system protection enabled. System Restore can use up to 15 percent of the space on each drive. As space fills up with restore point data, System Restore will delete old restore points to make room for new ones.
System Restore does not run on drives smaller than 1 gigabyte (GB).How long do restore points last?
Restore points are kept until the disk space reserved for system recovery is full. As new restore points are created, the old ones will be deleted. If you disable system protection (the feature that creates restore points) on a drive, all restore points will be deleted from that drive. After you re-enable system protection, new restore points will be created.
Enable or disable System Restore.
System protection, the function of creating restore points, is enabled by default. It is recommended that you leave System Protection enabled for all hard drives containing important files so that you can use System Restore if necessary.
Enabling or disabling System Restore
- Open the System component by clicking the Start buttonPicture of the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel, System and Maintenance, and SYSTEM.
- In the left pane, select System Protection. Administrator Permission Required Enter the administrator password or confirm the password if prompted.
- To enable system protection for the hard drive, select the check box next to the drive icon, and then click OK.
- or -
To turn off system protection for the hard drive, clear the check box next to the drive icon, and then click OK.
The computer is running an earlier version of Windows, and after switching between versions, the restore points disappear. Why?
In this version of Windows, restore points are created differently and are not recognized by previous versions of Windows. In a dual operating system configuration, after starting an earlier version of Windows, all restore points created by that version of Windows will be deleted. After starting this version of Windows, the creation of restore points will continue automatically.
What should I do if using System Restore did not resolve the issue?
If System Restore did not resolve the issue, you can cancel the restore operation or try selecting a different restore point. If System Restore does not display a list of restore points, make sure that System Protection is turned on and that there is at least 300 MB of free space on your hard drive.
Limitations and difficulties
The limitations encountered with System Restore in Window versions prior to Windows Vista is that only tracked file types and only files from certain folders (System Restore only backs up the entire Windows Registry) can be tracked, hence unwanted installations of programs and applications and especially software updates, may not be fully restored to their original state. As a result, the impact may be negligible or virtually non-existent (other than disk space used). Unwanted moments may occur when trying to launch or uninstall such applications. By comparison, various other utilities are designed to provide much more complete reversal of system changes, including software updates. For example, when tracking all changes, Norton's GoBack or Horizon DataSys' Rollback Rx allows full file system restores from any of hundreds of daily restore points. However, frequent or continuous monitoring can also affect system performance, while System Restore points are usually created quickly and economically. In the absence of adequate free disk space (the restore points in the System Volume Information folder are relatively large), System Restore will not be able to create a restore point, so the user may find that no restore points exist when trying to restore the System.
There is no way to create a permanent point that won't be deleted after a few days when automatic points need disk space. So if the problem has not been discovered for several days, by the time it is discovered, it may be too late to restore the system to the state it was before the problem appeared.
By default, System Restore prevents other applications or users from modifying or deleting files from the directories where restore points are stored for privacy purposes. Since this backup method is quite simplistic, the result can be the archiving of malware such as computer worms and viruses. In this case, the anti-virus program will be unable to delete the infected file. The only way to remove the infection is to disable System Restore, which will result in the loss of all saved points, or simply wait for Windows to delete (old) points to make room for new ones. Moreover, if the infected set of files is restored, the result may also be the restoration of the virus.
Under Windows Vista, System Restore does not work on FAT32 drives and cannot be run on drives smaller than 1GB.
Changes made on a disk with another OS (if two or more OSes are installed on the disk) cannot be tracked. There are also incompatibilities during System Restore when you are on the same boot disk of Windows XP (or Windows Server) and Windows Vista (or later). Shadow dots on a drive are removed when older OSes access that NTFS drive. This is because previous operating systems do not recognize the new shadow copy format.
Windows System Restore uses restore points to restore system files and settings to a previous state without affecting personal files.
Restore points are created automatically on a weekly basis and before major system events such as installing a program or device driver. You can create a restore point manually.
Opening the restore function
Before opening the restore function, you must save all open files and close all programs. Immediately after you confirm the restore point, System Restore will restart your computer.
Can changes be undone?
Yes. Each time you use System Restore, a restore point is created before changes are made so that you can undo your changes if they don't fix the problem.
If System Restore is used while in Safe Mode or using the System Recovery Options menu, the restore operation will not be possible. However, you can run System Restore again and select another existing restore point.
Reverting Changes Made During System Restore
- Open the System Restore window.
- Click Cancel System Restore and click the Next button.
- Review your selections and click the Finish button.
What files are changed during system restore
System Restore affects the settings of system files, programs and the Windows registry. It can also make changes to scripts, batch files, and other types of executable files created on a computer by any account.
System Restore does not affect personal files such as email, documents, and photos, so this drug should not be used to recover a deleted file. If you backed up your files, you can restore them using it.
How to choose a restore point
Try using a restore point created just before the problem occurred. Automatically created restore point descriptions correspond to event names, such as installing a Windows update. System Restore restores the computer to the state it was in before the selected restore point was created.
How long do restore points last
Restore points are stored until the disk space allocated for the restore function is full. When new restore points are created, the old ones are deleted.
If you disable system protection (a feature that creates restore points) on a drive, all restore points are removed from it. If you turn on system protection again, new restore points will be created.
What to do if the error cannot be corrected
If System Restore fails to fix the error, you can cancel the restore operation or choose a different restore point.
If System Restore does not show available restore points, make sure that system protection is enabled and that there is less than 300 MB of free space on a drive that is 500 MB or larger, or 50 MB on a drive that is less than 300 MB. If System Restore fails to resolve problems, you can use an additional recovery method.
Good morning, afternoon or evening, my beloved readers, novice programmers and just blog guests looking for answers to questions in computer topics.
Many of you, like myself, sometimes delete files, and when they are needed, they simply are not there. However, do not despair. Today I will tell you how to recover deleted files. Moreover, not only from hard, and not only after a simple removal. It will be very interesting, I advise you to read carefully. Go.
How to get back files that were just deleted in the trash?
Everyone has experienced such a situation when important files are deleted along with unnecessary data. Returning them from the basket is quite simple. To do this, go to the basket, select the file that we need to restore. Then click on the caption above.
Or you can right-click on the file and select the appropriate item from the menu.
Remember that data is restored to the same folder from which it was previously deleted. If it does not exist for some reason, it will be created automatically, as well as all subdirectories in it, related to the file being restored.
How to get files back on phone
It also happens that a smartphone or a flash drive in it was accidentally formatted. It doesn't matter, you can recover data on your phone. I will divide this section into several typical steps. Let's start with the recovery of standard files, such as photos, music and videos. Download from from here softinka called Diskdigger. Immediately install it on your smart and open it.
Click the button above, and the program will start searching. After scanning, we will see all the files available for recovery.
After that, select them all, and save, for example, to the VKontakte wall, to the classmates album, or even to the Yandex disk.
By the way, nice video.
Now let's restore the phone book on the phone. To begin with, we sit down at the computer, go to Google and go to the account with which our smartphone is synchronized.
All contacts that have ever been involved in the mail will immediately appear. Click on the inscription additionally at the top.
Now you need to choose from what time you want to restore contacts. From 1 hour and prescription up to 30 days. We choose at our discretion.
Then restart your smartphone and wait ten minutes. After turning on the gadget itself is synchronized with the account and all contacts will be restored.
And here is a helpful video.
Data recovery from a flash drive
It happens that failures occur on the media and you have to completely format it. To recover files on a flash drive, we need the Recuva program. Download and install her from here. Then we install. As soon as the program screen appears, immediately uncheck the box on the bottom left and click cancel.
The process will take some time. If the flash drive is small and works with USB 3.0 ports, then it will take quite a bit of time. And if the media is very roomy, and works under USB 2.0. then you might as well have a cup of tea. When the analysis is over, we will see the files available for recovery.
After pressing the restore button, you will be prompted to select the folder where exactly we will restore. That is, we select the destination directory. If everything went well, we will see a sign with a report.
Here's a video for you. It will help you not get confused.
Restoring files from a computer
It also happens that you need to recover files from your computer. In this case, we need R-studio Recovery software. Let's take it from here. Install and run as administrator.
Select our logical partition and click show contents. The scanning process will start, which may take a long time.
Now you need to select the destination folder in which the files will be placed.
After that, you need to go to this folder and there will be all the necessary files. Here is a helpful video.
This method helps to get the necessary information after formatting.
Recovery after a reset
Sometimes you have to roll back the system. Therefore, after resetting to factory settings, you need to restore files, if there is no restore point, then this method will help as well as possible. Download from here hetman partition recovery software. Install it and run it. Immediately we will see the wizard window.
Now you need to decide on the scan mode. You need to choose either a quick and easy method, or a more productive one that will take a lot of time. I leave the first option.
In the horse that appears, click the done button.
Now in the interface of the software, at the bottom, we will see the process of analyzing and searching for deleted files.
We click on the deep analysis folder, and immediately we see such a window.
I uncheck archives and databases. Since I will only look for the most common files, music, photos and more.
So, the softinka found several files, and sorted them into folders by itself. We go into any of them and see the data available for recovery.
We select the first parameter, then we set the folder where we will save. Click OK and watch the recovery progress.
After that, a sign will appear with a notification that everything went fine with us. Click ready.
We go to the folder and see all the directories in which our data is.
Restoring system files
Sometimes it happens that the antivirus simply erases important files for Windows by mistake. In this case, a system rollback will help. Open the line execute and write the command there - system properties protection.
Click OK and in the window that opens, go to the system protection tab. there click on the restore button.
After that, we will have a working interface. Since the antivirus demolished our files recently, we select the restore point that the operating system itself recommends to us.
In the next step, we simply press the button ready.
As soon as everyone clicked, the system will display a message stating that the backup process is running. An image like this will appear.
An alternative option is suitable if the computer has been rebooted, but Windows does not load. In this case, just restart our machine again and press F8. A screen like this will appear where we select safe mode.
Conclusion
Now you can return the information, even from the basket if it is no longer in the basket. I tested all these methods myself, and I can assure you that they are all 100% working. I advise you to always make copies of important files and store them in a cloud space, such as Google or Yandex.
And remember that there are times when data is lost forever. This is especially true in cases where many days, or even months, have passed after the removal. In this case, it will be very problematic to extract anything from a disk or flash drive.
Well, on this I say goodbye to you. I hope this article was useful for you and will help you get back everything that you lost on your personal computer. So share it with your friends and colleagues on social networks. Also, subscribe to my blog to always receive notifications of new publications. All the best to you and see you soon, my dear readers and guests of the site.
There are cases when, after installing a program or other actions: the Windows operating system does not work correctly; programs that worked do not work; Previously running games will not launch. In this case, a very wonderful feature from Microsoft will help us, likeSystem Restore (rollback to restore point). Also, this feature can help us if your computer is infected with a ransomware banner. In this article we will tell you: how it is done, what you need to make it work.
1. If the system is operational.
On the desktop, right-click on the "computer" or "my computer" icon and select properties,
h then on the right side select system protection.
Attention! Here we can see if this component is enabled and
how it is configured.
If there is no written opposite the specified system drive included, we will not be able to restore the system, but we can enable this feature by clicking on any disk and pressing the button set up, then check the box next to restore system settings and previous versions of files, select a specific space with the slider to be used for recovery files. The more space allocated, the more restore points the system will create. So if your component is enabled, press the button recovery
E if you are satisfied recommended recovery(the date of the computer state corresponds to the time when everything worked for you), click Further, if not, then you need a tab choose another restore point and so on.
In this window, you need to check the box show other restore points and select the desired point. Selected press Further.
Click ready and wait for the end of the process (If you have a laptop or netbook, make sure the battery is well charged, if the charge is low, connect to a power source)
2. If the system does not turn on or a “ransomware banner” pops up when turned on
When booting the operating system, press the key F8, Further
computer troubleshooting and enter.
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