Posts Tagged ‘system restore’

Please note: anytime your having computer issues and attempt a built in windows repair solution you may render the computer inoperable. Back up important files before attempting repair facilities. However my personal experience,  system restore has never adversely effected my systems and often solved my problem.

If your Windows 7 computer has become slow or acting strange with blue screens or other malfunctions the best initial solution is to do a system restore to a prior date, when the system was working properly.

Sometimes newly downloaded software programs or installation of new hardware with drivers causes various computer malfunctions.

Windows has a utility built in that takes a snapshot. if you will, of the operating system several times a month. These would be called ‘restore dates’ you can go back in time and reset your system back to a date it was running properly.

The advantage to this is, it does not effect any of your saved files. It will however not include software installations you installed past the date you do the restore from. This means they will have to be re-installed after the system restore if you want them. This process if much faster than re-installing your operating system. Often a quick solution to many computer problems.

1.) Click the start button and type the words ‘system restore’ in the search box.

2.) Click the highlighted phrase at the top of the pop up search window ‘ system restore’. Once the service loads, click next at the bottom of the first window. This will bring you to the restore date window ( see screen shot below ).

3.) Choose a date from the list by clicking it. If you need to move back further in time you can tick the ‘show more restore points’ tick box.

4.) Once your date is highlighted you can proceed by clicking next at the bottom.

Another handy feature is the ‘Scan for effected programs’  button, as seen on above screen shot. If there is more than one person installing things on your computer or you may have forgotten about an application you installed this will list all effected programs that will be lost after restoring the computer.

 5.) Read the information on this last wizard window carefully and click finish.  If you have recently changed your log in password, follow the directions on the ‘create a password reset disc’. 

Once you click finish, your computer will reboot and after a brief process will be restored back to the date you selected.

There is a good chance this procedure will save you from a costly computer repair.

We hope you find this information useful.