I have been using System Restore for over 15 years and it has been a life saver! In my experience with System Restore, if I keep an eye on my Restore Points and make sure that they are there when needed, I won't have any problems. Always make sure your drive is "Protected" and your "Restore Points" are ready to go... Just my two cents... Stay safe... Rico
Great video Brian, as usual. I watch your videos almost every morning. I gave up on system restore long ago. For me it always comes back with an unable to complete. So, I use a disk image program that used to be great and still works but I'm a bit unhappy with it lately. Acronis. It still works but is incredibly slow compared to 10 years ago. I'd like to know which full disk imaging program you would recommend. At any rate, keep up the good content.
Back-Up is the best way for my Lenovo as it does it daily to Cloud or USB as a restore is the last option,also an ISO-Image when first bought and never used it but handy to have incase of any major threats. Windows 10 is not really been my fav O-S with chomium edge browser ''but work's'' i have a Laptop By Lenovo that's in some bios mode of Legacy & UEFI Fix that i want back as updated it with a 2Tb space and a good reliable laptop but from bios it's going to a shop as it's out of my mean's to fix as i only know so much and this is a massive minefield...Thanks For Another Great Video 🔟/ 🔟
You are absolutely correct. This is why cloning, or making a disk image is much better. Also, this is why I prefer to keep my user folder on another drive and make a backup of the user profile.
NIce one ! Have you done a video about the "Previous Versions" option in a folders properties for Windows 10? I have used it before at work but now I cannot get it to work on my home PC?
Back in the days of Windows98SE I installed Norton GoBack and that worked brilliantly. Okay, it slowed the PC whilst it continually created a complete backup of everything but no matter if it crashed, or the operating system was messed up or you installed junk that didn't work you could simply select a moment in time and GoBack would put your machine back exactly as it was - even days or weeks previous and no need to re-install Windows. Pity it is no longer available.
Im old school and prefer the old Move main files, backup appdata and cherry pick the folders. Then straight up fresh install. Only problem is you have to manually setup your machine again to how you like it i.e all the settings ect.
when i do a system restore i do it from safe mode. then after the system reboots into safe mode again, ill change the system configuration settings to boot normally.
I have disabled sys restore on every pc I've seen since it was created back in Windows ME, I think I've seen it work successfully maybe 20-30 times in 20yrs so by default I now have a data farm of drive images of every configured clean pc install I have done for customers, but also tell them to do a regular fortnightly or more backup image at home with the same software as I use just to be safe & the next time I see that pc I delete the previous image & image again for my customers it just a service I provide it's the way I do business & it also saves a lot of heartache & time when someone makes a total mess of their system.
I recently had to use it when windows update failed with the 21H1 update. There was no roll back available through settings panel on update and update kept telling me to download and install. Could not rectify problem so I used restore point to the most recent and recommended point just before the update. Thankfully it worked, ran test trouble shoot update to confirm it works. I now have the current version properly installed.
System Restore is for backing up MS system files and applications, including those you installed as well as the Registry. It's not supposed to backup data files, which should be left alone. I've found it very reliable if your system goes AWOL, as long as you observe the following. Don't use SRPs older than a month. Don't retain more than 2 SRPs. Always run an AV scan and remove any malware before making an SRP. Always restore an SRP from an external boot, ie using WinRE.
I use it daily on many systems. It's not a "backup", never was, its a "cleaning cloth" to cleanup a spill. Veeam Agent (free) is great to make regular images of the entire system, or just critical files.
Remember GoBack? This is a copy of that, but GoBack installed on the boot sector, just hit the spacebar to "Go Back to a previous state. Nisoft has a lot of useful tools.
Tim just did a good video on CPU problems when it comes to mounting them in a motherboard I found "system restore" is not end all be all of fixing you computers I think backup of your registry is a better option and using the DISM and SFC commands Now and days it's real easy to just do cloud backups Posted on Facebook Bye for now Cheers
your absolutely spot on - its not reliable - and too much of a liability for the reasons you expressed, I too have seen the shortcomings over the years on many end users machines, there are too many frequent changes that go on these days to make it worth while for me - I make sure its disabled as well as shadow copies on my personal systems - as I have no use for them and dont like the overhead they introduce, I've used a regular backup regime since I had my 1st hard disk and scsi controller back in the early 90's - its what i am used to and for me its far more reliable - many things have changes over the years but I still keep the last 3 backups in GFS fashion - its never failed -
Whatcha Guy, Some time ago you did a video about changing one's DNS server & you mentioned the free program DNS Benchmark. Could you do a video about how to read the charts & interprete the results? While I appreciate that Steve Gibson went through the trouble to design this program & offer it for free, the instructions are way too long & convoluted to understand.
I don't like to use just system restore. I use Acronis backups and windows 10 backup. I usually delete all but the latest system restore point Time Machine on mac is very reliable and great for moving to a new machine don't know why windows don't have something similar these days
When I found out about system restore, I used it to create a backup. Whenever I got a virus, system restore failed to restore from that restore point each and every time. That's cause the restore point got corrupted. I had lost some data, but not highly important at that time. If the system restore was successful in restoring the computer to that state, since I used it back when windows 7 and hard drives were a thing, the computer was sluggish afterwards vs doing a clean install of windows. And yes... After restoring from that restore point I set the hard drive to defrag but with no luck.
Windows' System Restore application has best served me and my computer, when a component of Windows now just ain't performing well but, earlier today it did. Or perhaps I did something on my computer that I want reversed. I have never used System Restore to purge my computer of any type of Malware, that's the job of a dedicated anti-virus program. The problem I have with System Restore is that certain activities trigger Restore Points and I have them, while during other large blocks of time, no restore points at all are made and thus there are none preserved. System Restore may report being corrupt, or report that it failed to restore my computer! Using a freshly downloaded Windows ESD-USB, I format and install Windows, on C: drive. Then, immediately thereafter, from my User folder, I relocate the OS created folders of importance to me, to F: drive. Much software normally destined for C: is installed in D: drive, thus not lost when nuking for Windows. Nothing is as good as Nuking, nothing! In F:, the OS's security permissions throughout, are limited to SYSTEM having, read & execute, to all. In F:\Reserve, my internal backup directory, SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE and TrustedInstaller, permissions are Deny, Full Control, to all. In External Backup, U: drive, SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, and TrustedInstaller, have Deny Full Control to all! After the implementation of the aforementioned security permissions, data under my control has not been violated again!
My windows 10 has big problems every time I do a update. Sometimes it takes 15 hours and still won't complete update. I restore it so it works again. I'm 66 and not very computer savvy. It works for me
I turn system restore off. What I do after a fresh install of Windows, I install my apps and fully update Windows. Then I make an ISO and burn it to a DVD. Then any time I have a problem with Windows, I wipe the main drive and reinstall Windows from the ISO. For backups, I have two 2TB M.2 NVMe drives in RAID 1.
l have used it a quite few times with about 80% success rate, mainly in the days before windows 10, l have found that timeshift on linux has a 100% success rate, so l dont mind tinkering with my linux systems, but l try not to tinker with windows
Can anyone recommend a more reliable snapshot or system restore alternative?? He's right this is so unreliable it's ridiculous. Never works even if one file has changed it won't restore the remaining restore point. And usually drive backups are days old. I need something that can restore the way it was before. I tried rollback RX but that can shut your whole computer down if it corrupts and some folks have to uninstall before they make backups then reinstall program. That particular piece of software ruined by laptop years ago. It scared me away. I hope it's improved because it really was good but when it crashes it crashed big time. Ridiculous.
Hello re your survey, I now use a rasp pi 4 for my daily work horse that is access to mail, browsing, entertainment. Windows PC for games, Ubuntu PC for various VMs. But then I am a Unix Administrator.
Hello mate. System restore really useful, but it doesn't work when I need it it just throws an error. When I doesn't need system restore it works. Funny windows 😂
Windows XP = Very Reliable (If you could log in. But you could also perform a repair install if you can't log in.) Windows 7 = Reliable Windows 8/8.1 = Reliable Windows 10 [All Builds] = WTF Microsoft
I have been using System Restore for over 15 years and it has been a life saver! In my experience with System Restore, if I keep an eye on my Restore Points and make sure that they are there when needed, I won't have any problems. Always make sure your drive is "Protected" and your "Restore Points" are ready to go... Just my two cents... Stay safe... Rico
System restore usually works well to fix issues related to software corruption or application-related error messages.
I agree, nothing beats a good external drive to save a system backup configuration.
Great video Brian, as usual. I watch your videos almost every morning. I gave up on system restore long ago. For me it always comes back with an unable to complete. So, I use a disk image program that used to be great and still works but I'm a bit unhappy with it lately. Acronis. It still works but is incredibly slow compared to 10 years ago. I'd like to know which full disk imaging program you would recommend. At any rate, keep up the good content.
nirsoft's people have excelent tools to repair issues in windows,good video,thanks.
Back-Up is the best way for my Lenovo as it does it daily to Cloud or USB as a restore is the last option,also an ISO-Image when first bought and never used it but handy to have incase of any major threats. Windows 10 is not really been my fav O-S with chomium edge browser ''but work's'' i have a Laptop By Lenovo that's in some bios mode of Legacy & UEFI Fix that i want back as updated it with a 2Tb space and a good reliable laptop but from bios it's going to a shop as it's out of my mean's to fix as i only know so much and this is a massive minefield...Thanks For Another Great Video 🔟/ 🔟
With Acronis TI 2018, can backup external NAS 2TB drive to another USB 3 external HDD 4TB, incremental...?
You are absolutely correct. This is why cloning, or making a disk image is much better. Also, this is why I prefer to keep my user folder on another drive and make a backup of the user profile.
Thanks for sharing
@@Britec09 why my pc deletes my restore points?how to stop of deleting?
@@manuellopes1269 you need to increase the amount of disk space, in order to have more restore points.
@@williamlinington9166 you mean i need get more space or create more size in respore point option?
more size in restore point option.
@@manuellopes1269
Gratis walkthrou
Thanks for sharing 😀
NIce one !
Have you done a video about the "Previous Versions" option in a folders properties for Windows 10?
I have used it before at work but now I cannot get it to work on my home PC?
Can you please help me , my router re-start after I connect to my laptop what should I do
Back in the days of Windows98SE I installed Norton GoBack and that worked brilliantly. Okay, it slowed the PC whilst it continually created a complete backup of everything but no matter if it crashed, or the operating system was messed up or you installed junk that didn't work you could simply select a moment in time and GoBack would put your machine back exactly as it was - even days or weeks previous and no need to re-install Windows. Pity it is no longer available.
Im old school and prefer the old Move main files, backup appdata and cherry pick the folders. Then straight up fresh install. Only problem is you have to manually setup your machine again to how you like it i.e all the settings ect.
Macrium Reflect Free. Used it for years and it has saved my butt many times.
Macrium Reflect Free is awesome software
when i do a system restore i do it from safe mode. then after the system reboots into safe mode again, ill change the system configuration settings to boot normally.
I have disabled sys restore on every pc I've seen since it was created back in Windows ME,
I think I've seen it work successfully maybe 20-30 times in 20yrs so by default I now have a data farm of drive images of every configured clean pc install I have done for customers,
but also tell them to do a regular fortnightly or more backup image at home with the same software as I use just to be safe & the next time I see that pc I delete the previous image & image again for my customers it just a service I provide it's the way I do business & it also saves a lot of heartache & time when someone makes a total mess of their system.
I recently had to use it when windows update failed with the 21H1 update. There was no roll back available through settings panel on update and update kept telling me to download and install.
Could not rectify problem so I used restore point to the most recent and recommended point just before the update. Thankfully it worked, ran test trouble shoot update to confirm it works. I now have the current version properly installed.
Winver said I had correct version but WU said installation failed.
All my data is on my USB drive and I have used System Restore many many times without any problems.
Thanks for that.
You're welcome
System Restore is for backing up MS system files and applications, including those you installed as well as the Registry. It's not supposed to backup data files, which should be left alone. I've found it very reliable if your system goes AWOL, as long as you observe the following. Don't use SRPs older than a month. Don't retain more than 2 SRPs. Always run an AV scan and remove any malware before making an SRP. Always restore an SRP from an external boot, ie using WinRE.
I use it daily on many systems. It's not a "backup", never was, its a "cleaning cloth" to cleanup a spill. Veeam Agent (free) is great to make regular images of the entire system, or just critical files.
Remember GoBack? This is a copy of that, but GoBack installed on the boot sector, just hit the spacebar to "Go Back to a previous state.
Nisoft has a lot of useful tools.
Norton GoBack, I remember.
Tim just did a good video on CPU problems when it comes to mounting them in a motherboard I found "system restore" is not end all be all of fixing you computers I think backup of your registry is a better option and using the DISM and SFC commands Now and days it's real easy to just do cloud backups Posted on Facebook Bye for now Cheers
yeah i agree
your absolutely spot on - its not reliable - and too much of a liability for the reasons you expressed, I too have seen the shortcomings over the years on many end users machines, there are too many frequent changes that go on these days to make it worth while for me - I make sure its disabled as well as shadow copies on my personal systems - as I have no use for them and dont like the overhead they introduce, I've used a regular backup regime since I had my 1st hard disk and scsi controller back in the early 90's - its what i am used to and for me its far more reliable - many things have changes over the years but I still keep the last 3 backups in GFS fashion - its never failed -
Is there a good free app for backing up?
I wish I knew how to make a ghost image. (To a 50GB Blu-Ray I have the drive and discs, just don't know how to do it)
Whatcha Guy, Some time ago you did a video about changing one's DNS server & you mentioned the free program DNS Benchmark. Could you do a video about how to read the charts & interprete the results? While I appreciate that Steve Gibson went through the trouble to design this program & offer it for free, the instructions are way too long & convoluted to understand.
I don't like to use just system restore.
I use Acronis backups and windows 10 backup.
I usually delete all but the latest system restore point
Time Machine on mac is very reliable and great for moving to a new machine don't know why windows don't have something similar these days
i am sticking with Windows 7..and no i dont do banking or anything that involves my personal data on it
When I found out about system restore, I used it to create a backup. Whenever I got a virus, system restore failed to restore from that restore point each and every time. That's cause the restore point got corrupted.
I had lost some data, but not highly important at that time.
If the system restore was successful in restoring the computer to that state, since I used it back when windows 7 and hard drives were a thing, the computer was sluggish afterwards vs doing a clean install of windows.
And yes... After restoring from that restore point I set the hard drive to defrag but with no luck.
Windows' System Restore application has best served me and my computer, when a component of Windows now just ain't performing well but, earlier today it did. Or perhaps I did something on my computer that I want reversed. I have never used System Restore to purge my computer of any type of Malware, that's the job of a dedicated anti-virus program.
The problem I have with System Restore is that certain activities trigger Restore Points and I have them, while during other large blocks of time, no restore points at all are made and thus there are none preserved. System Restore may report being corrupt, or report that it failed to restore my computer!
Using a freshly downloaded Windows ESD-USB, I format and install Windows, on C: drive. Then, immediately thereafter, from my User folder, I relocate the OS created folders of importance to me, to F: drive. Much software normally destined for C: is installed in D: drive, thus not lost when nuking for Windows. Nothing is as good as Nuking, nothing! In F:, the OS's security permissions throughout, are limited to SYSTEM having, read & execute, to all. In F:\Reserve, my internal backup directory, SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE and TrustedInstaller, permissions are Deny, Full Control, to all. In External Backup, U: drive, SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, and TrustedInstaller, have Deny Full Control to all! After the implementation of the aforementioned security permissions, data under my control has not been violated again!
You can schedule a basic batch file to create system restore points.
My windows 10 has big problems every time I do a update. Sometimes it takes 15 hours and still won't complete update. I restore it so it works again. I'm 66 and not very computer savvy. It works for me
I turn system restore off. What I do after a fresh install of Windows, I install my apps and fully update Windows. Then I make an ISO and burn it to a DVD. Then any time I have a problem with Windows, I wipe the main drive and reinstall Windows from the ISO. For backups, I have two 2TB M.2 NVMe drives in RAID 1.
Great video, personal I dont use it
I have not used it in years.
👍👍👍
Wonder if OneDrive is better?
Does this deletes my apps?
I can't remember System Restore EVER working for me.
l have used it a quite few times with about 80% success rate, mainly in the days before windows 10, l have found that timeshift on linux has a 100% success rate, so l dont mind tinkering with my linux systems, but l try not to tinker with windows
Can anyone recommend a more reliable snapshot or system restore alternative?? He's right this is so unreliable it's ridiculous. Never works even if one file has changed it won't restore the remaining restore point. And usually drive backups are days old. I need something that can restore the way it was before. I tried rollback RX but that can shut your whole computer down if it corrupts and some folks have to uninstall before they make backups then reinstall program. That particular piece of software ruined by laptop years ago. It scared me away. I hope it's improved because it really was good but when it crashes it crashed big time. Ridiculous.
In the days of Win XP System Restore got me out of the poo quite often but now I wouldn't rely on it..
I've had both sides of the coin with it...it has help me in the past but a few weeks back it killed my laptop it had to be taken in and sorted out
Yeah, it can cause problems.
My cons of it is Some file restore will gone when I'm back checking of it again
Hello re your survey, I now use a rasp pi 4 for my daily work horse that is access to mail, browsing, entertainment. Windows PC for games, Ubuntu PC for various VMs. But then I am a Unix Administrator.
System Restore has NEVER worked right for me and I have methodically and repeatedly tried to use it over the years.
Hello mate.
System restore really useful, but it doesn't work when I need it it just throws an error.
When I doesn't need system restore it works.
Funny windows 😂
Thanks for the info
Should mention that system restore should be manually turned on in Windows 10 as it is off by default. Hopefully they address that in Windows 11 🤣
If you watched the whole video Mr Tim, you would of heard me say its off by default lol
You sound like Jason Statham 😅
Ah nevermind, I was hours away from using it completely wrong.
System restore has been a pile of junk for a very long time now, about a year after it first launched actually.
It is not a reliable way of restoring windows.
Windows XP = Very Reliable (If you could log in. But you could also perform a repair install if you can't log in.)
Windows 7 = Reliable
Windows 8/8.1 = Reliable
Windows 10 [All Builds] = WTF Microsoft