System Restore

user1010 · Jan 16, 2026

PerpetualCycle said:
I click an icon. It takes < 40 seconds to do a full image backup of my system, including compression, 256 bit encryption, and a verification pass.

What solution do you use more specifically?

Transcendence72 · Jan 19, 2026

badrobot said:
I use it every time I am installing a new program or update just in case.
I once had a guest for a few nights and let him use my PC. I created a restore point before he started using my PC. I did a system restore when he left.

Why not give him a guest account? Windows has an inbuilt guest account that is disabled by default. It can be enabled and then given. Once the guest leaves, just delete everything under c:\users\guest and disable the account.
Rinse and repeat.

In this sense Mac OSX is so much better.

badrobot · Jan 19, 2026

Transcendence72 said:
Why not give him a guest account? Windows has an inbuilt guest account that is disabled by default. It can be enabled and then given. Once the guest leaves, just delete everything under c:\users\guest and disable the account.
Rinse and repeat.

In this sense Mac OSX is so much better.

no need. It will be the same, I will have to restore and get rid of everything he did there anyway.

Stigg · Tuesday at 2:17 AM

Does anyone still use System Restore?
Was it a successful restoration?

EB2XR6 · Tuesday at 4:47 AM

Stigg said:
Does anyone still use System Restore?
Was it a successful restoration?

If you are using a third party Antivirus Software it may cause issues.
I generally use a repair install I find it works better.

Shambles Bank · Tuesday at 5:41 AM

Stigg said:
Does anyone still use System Restore?
Was it a successful restoration?

I used a system restore recently after updating my BIOS for the 2023 Certificates because for some reason, I had problems with the Microsoft sign in pin page. The system restore worked perfectly and of course didn't in any way affect my BIOS update. I did however then do a Reset this PC and downloaded a fresh copy of W11 Pro from the cloud and that honestly works an absolute treat. Yes, there's the aggro of having to export all my bookmarks to HTML and sync my Brave Browser with another machine and of course you lose all the Apps you may have added and then have to reinstall them.

dalchina · Tuesday at 6:49 AM

Yes. I have a restore point created daily on schedule, on Win 10 and 11.

And hte whole value is that, compared with restoring an entire partition, personal data is not affected- and you can even scan to see what will be affected by using a restore point.

As such, for me, SR and imaging are entirely, usefully and necessarily complementary. A matter of having the right tool for the job in hand.

That said, yes, sometimes restoring fails and a couple of times over the years, fails for some weeks- then starts working again (see the appstaging issue early in this thread). But when it works, in the right situations, it's a boon.

badrobot · Tuesday at 7:09 AM

user1010 said:
I don't know how much work/time you put on those image backups and how smooth it is but I don't reinstall that often and when I do I can do it manually.

You usually do an image of a fresh system with all your programs installed which will take between 10 & 20 mins. If you run into a problem (virus infection, etc.), image restoration will take up to 30mins max (usually takes me 10mins) compared to an hour of clean OS installation plus a whole day of tweaking and re-installing your programs.

user1010 · Tuesday at 2:24 PM

I have system restore points activated. Have not tested/restored anything yet. In case of something happens.

dalchina · Tuesday at 2:52 PM

Bear in mind that Windows creates restore points rather erratically if left to itself- put another way, when you really need one you may find the last was created a while back, not when you'd like it to have been. And of course certain 3rd party programs are written so as to created a restore point before completing an action.

user1010 · 2026-06-03T02:59:43-0400

dalchina said:
Bear in mind that Windows creates restore points rather erratically if left to itself- put another way, when you really need one you may find the last was created a while back, not when you'd like it to have been. And of course certain 3rd party programs are written so as to created a restore point before completing an action.

What exactly is it 'restore points' restore?

dalchina · 2026-06-03T03:04:45-0400

Thank you for your reply.

Changes since the restore point was created. Updates, system files, drivers, programs, Essentially SR monitors a list of file types.

See the 3rd para here:

System Restore Windows 10

How to Do a System Restore in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Note: there may be an equivalent elevenforum tutorial - I just haven't taken the time to look for you as I knew of this one.

PerpetualCycle · 2026-06-03T04:44:34-0400

user1010 said:
What solution do you use more specifically?

macium X from nvme to nvme, then less frequently copy one to external 6 TB HDD. Without the verification pass, it take around 20s.

I use macrium on the command line an have a shortcut to it which I can launch from the desktop context menu or the task bar.

user1010 · 2026-06-03T05:16:11-0400

dalchina said:
Thank you for your reply.

Changes since the restore point was created. Updates, system files, drivers, programs, Essentially SR monitors a list of file types.

See the 3rd para here:

System Restore Windows 10

How to Do a System Restore in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Note: there may be an equivalent elevenforum tutorial - I just haven't taken the time to look for you as I knew of this one.

So not stored files like pictures and videos on C drive?

dalchina · 2026-06-03T05:46:48-0400

System Restore neither backs up, secures nor modifies personal data.

If you looked at the file type list via the link I gave you, you could have confirmed that.

Google would also have informed you of that. Try searching thus:

The one type of personal file that could be caught would be script files where the file type is in the list I indicated.

SIW2 · 2026-06-03T06:20:40-0400

user1010 said:
So not stored files like pictures and videos on C drive?

In the shadowcopy.

you can easily test .

create a text file on your desktop

create a restore point

delete the text file from your desktop.

look in the shadowcopy for it.

to see the contents of your shadowcopies and copy stuff out you can either link to them with a simple batch file

or an easy to use litle portable program is very handy

ShadowCopyView - Shadow copy viewer for Windows 10/8/7/Vista

Simple tool for Windows 10/8/7/Vista that lists the snapshots of your hard drive created by the Volume Shadow Copy service of Windows

www.nirsoft.net

for example

FDretired · 2026-06-03T06:30:46-0400

dalchina said:
Bear in mind that Windows creates restore points rather erratically if left to itself- put another way, when you really need one you may find the last was created a while back, not when you'd like it to have been. And of course certain 3rd party programs are written so as to created a restore point before completing an action.

Revouninstaller does it.

Uninstall Software, Remove programs easily - Revo Uninstaller Pro

Clean removal of any program from your PC. Uninstall and remove programs and software in Windows with Revo Uninstaller Pro easily!

www.revouninstaller.com

I prefer using Geek which does not do that.

Geek Uninstaller - the best FREE uninstaller

Efficient and Fast, Small and Portable. 100% Free

geekuninstaller.com

Fabler2 · 2026-06-03T06:38:04-0400

FDretired said:
Revouninstaller does it.

Uninstall Software, Remove programs easily - Revo Uninstaller Pro

Clean removal of any program from your PC. Uninstall and remove programs and software in Windows with Revo Uninstaller Pro easily!

www.revouninstaller.com

I prefer using Geek which does not do that.

Geek Uninstaller - the best FREE uninstaller

Efficient and Fast, Small and Portable. 100% Free

geekuninstaller.com

Check Revo settings,

FDretired · 2026-06-03T06:52:07-0400

Fabler2 said:
Check Revo settings,

View attachment 173289

Thank you

badrobot · 2026-06-03T07:49:37-0400

user1010 said:
What exactly is it 'restore points' restore?

It is like a "bookmark".
Before you install a software or windows update, it's always a good habit to create a restore point prior to installing. If the software/update creates a problem or making your PC slow, restore it to the "restore point" that you created and it will go back to the same exact state before you installed the software/update like nothing happened.

System Restore

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