Roll back Windows XP, Vista, and 7 with System Restore

If you are in friendly terms with your computer, you are not scared to check new games, update the firmware drivers, and play with system settings. In most cases, you do not see any drawbacks of your activities, in some cases, the performance of your PC even improves. But, sometime, it gets really bad. You get strange and unusual warnings, you cannot access files and services, and you know that you screwed up. One of the ways to resolve the generated problems is get back to the system status, when it was working properly. And that is quite easy task for even not very experienced users.

Windows XP

Windows XP System Restore takes snapshots of your computer's configuration over time. In the event of a disastrous installation or configuration change that didn't go your way System Restore can roll back Windows' state to a working version, without affecting any of your data.

By default, Windows XP enables System Restore on all your computer's hard drives (if you have over 200 megabytes of disk space available after Windows XP is installed). To see if System Restore is turned on, in Control Panel, under Performance and Maintenance, choose System. From the System Restore tab, clear the "Turn off System Restore on all drives" checkbox. Make sure that your computer's drive - at least the one that contains your system and program files, usually the C: drive - status is listed as "Monitoring," as shown below.

System Restore tracks changes in the Windows registry, user profiles, .dll's and other internal Windows files over time. Therefore, if you have multiple drives or partitions on your computer, but only one runs Windows, it makes sense to just set System Restore to monitor the drive where your operating system and applications reside.

To run System Restore, from the Start menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, choose System Restore. From there choose whether or not you want to restore a previous state or create a new saved state, which you can name. For example, if you wanted to clean up your computer's startup by hand, you'd take a snapshot first and call it "Pre startup cleanup."

To restore your computer to a previous state, note that current documents, files and email are not affected. Choose your previous state from a calendar, as shown.

Finally, a restoration can be undone. To reverse your restoration, start up System Restore and choose "Undo my last restoration," and click next.

System Restore is not a replacement for file backup; it takes snapshots of your computer's configuration and program files, not your personal data and information.

System Restore takes system snapshots every day the computer's on during idle time, as well as before system changes, like Windows Automatic updates, driver installations, software installations and system restorations. The Microsoft web site lists specific times and instances in which System Restore snapshots are taken.

One of the main gripes against System Restore is that it can take up a lot of hard drive space. By default, System Restore is given 12% of disk space. To change that amount, right click on My Computer and choose Properties. From the System Restore Tab, adjust the disk space slider in the Settings area, as shown.

New snapshots age and overwrite old ones, so the more space you allocate to System Restore, the more restore points you'll have available in the event of a system misconfiguration.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

Windows 7 and Vista has a feature called System Restore that automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new software or drivers as well.

There are two places that you can use the system restore feature from. From within Windows, you can just type restore into the Start menu search box, and you’ll immediately see System Restore at the top of the start menu

You can also type rstrui into the search box and hit enter.

You will immediate see a screen where you can choose to roll back the system to the last restore point. You can select “Recommended restore”, and just click next, or you can choose a different restore point.

If you do choose a different restore point, you will see a list of restore points that you can choose from. Click one of them, and you will have to confirm and then restart your computer to roll the system back.

Note1: For best results, you should run System Restore from safe mode. If you receive an error while restoring, then use it from safe mode and it should work fine. To get into Safe mode, you can reboot and use the F8 key right before Windows starts up.

Note2: If you can’t even get into windows, you can boot off the installation DVD, and choose the “Repair your computer” option on the lower left hand side. Click next on the next screen, and then choose System Restore from the System Recovery dialog. It will take a few seconds to come up, and you will see the same screen that you would see in Windows. Click next, and on the next screen select the drive that your copy of Windows 7 or Vista is installed on.

Click Finish, and Windows will roll back to the previous restore point.

Restore Computer Operations with AntiFreeze

AntiFreeze offers a last recourse when you find your computer in a hung state. Because programs consume too much CPU or too much memory or too many programs have been started, your computer has become unresponsive. The mouse still moves but no programs are responding, you cannot switch to other programs or even close them. You have even tried to start the Windows Task Manager even that won’t work because it does not get enough attention from the scheduler to respond to your mouse clicks and keyboard presses. You are ready to press the reset button, instead you can press the hotkey of AntiFreeze. It will put to sleep all running programs except the most critical ones, giving you the opportunity to close down the programs which are causing problems. You may even be able to save or recover your work.

The problem

Everyone who has used a computer regularly has experienced it from time to time. You are running some very intensive tasks, running several programs simultaneously and suddenly you find that your computer does not respond to you anymore. For some reason the computer is so busy that it does not respond to your actions anymore. Your clicks and key presses are handled much later or not at all, giving you no chance to interact with the system. Your system is hanging.

Sometimes it may help waiting until the storm is over. But if after several minutes you are still waiting, and you are an experienced user you are likely to press the key combination ALT+CTRL+DELETE which allows you to fire up the task manager to see which programs are taking up all the CPU time and systems resources. At this point you may be able to recover the system and get it in a responsive state again by terminating the offending processes. If this works, then all fine. But very often the system is so busy that even the task manager will not help you. It just does not get enough processor attention to be able to handle your clicks or key presses. Then you are very likely to give up and press the reset button of your machine for a reboot.

This is where AntiFreeze offers a solution. AntiFreeze is a utility with a very small footprint, sitting in your tray, waiting for you to press the hotkey combination (ALT+CTRL+WIN+HOME by default). You should use it only in emergency situations, consider it an alternative for the reset button.

Emergency Task Manager

As soon as you press the hotkey combination of AntiFreeze, AntiFreeze will suspend most of the running programs so they stop hogging your systems resources. Then it will start a special type of task manager, very much like the standard Windows task manager except that it is designed for the particular task of letting you get the system in a responsive state again. If a program has consumed lots of CPU time it is an indication it may have been responsible for locking up your system. You can terminate the offending program by clicking the 'End Process' button.

The emergency task manager suspends most of the running programs and allows you to close down programs which are locking up your computer.

When will it work?

If your computer is hanging or becomes unresponsive because

* One or more programs are doing very intensive tasks, they consume so much processor cycles that the system becomes unresponsive

* One or more programs consume so much memory that the swapping file is heavily used, overloading the system

* Programs are running with a scheduling priority which is so high that they consume all processor resources

* Too many programs are running at the same time and they all have to compete for attention from the processor then AntiFreeze is likely to help you get your system to respond again.

If your computer is hanging or becomes unresponsive because of a hardware problem or the mouse cursor is not updated when you move it or some piece of kernel software or device driver is busy at an elevated priority level then AntiFreeze is not likely to offer you a solution. There are a few other situations in which AntiFreeze will not be able to help you out and you will still need to press the reset button and reboot to get your computer going again.

OS: Windows Vista/XP/2003 (x86 and x64).

License: Free for Personal use.

Developers’ website: http://www.resplendence.com/antifreeze

Built-in Recovery and Troubleshooting Options in Windows XP

What recovery and troubleshooting options do I have in Windows XP?

Software and hardware issues can affect the way that your system functions. Severe problems might prevent you from starting Windows XP Professional normally.

• Software problems: Installing incompatible software, incorrectly changing system configuration settings, or installing faulty device drivers can cause system instability or a Stop error.
  
• Hardware problems: Hardware that is defective, malfunctioning, incorrectly installed, or incorrectly configured can also cause instability or a Stop error.
  
• Other problems: Deleted or corrupted system files caused by problems such as user error or virus activity can cause data loss or prevent you from starting the operating system.

Any of the preceding types of problems can prevent you from starting Windows XP Professional in normal mode, causing certain applications or data to become inaccessible. Windows XP Professional provides several tools that enable you to troubleshoot startup and stability problems, and restore system and data files. the following list lists these tools according to the preferred order of use, from tools that present little or no risk to data, to those that might cause data loss. With the exception of the Automated System Recovery (ASR) restore phase, Last Known Good Configuration, and Recovery Console, the features in the table are available in safe and normal startup modes. If the following tools and features do not resolve the problem, and you upgraded your system from an earlier version of Windows, you might have the option to uninstall Windows XP Professional.

Last Known Good Configuration
A startup option to use when the system cannot start in normal or safe mode following a driver or application installation that causes a problem. By using the Last Known Good Configuration, you can recover by reversing the most recent driver and registry changes made since you last started Windows XP Professional.

Device Driver Roll Back
A Device Manager feature that allows you to replace an individual device driver with the previously installed version if the driver was updated after you installed Windows XP Professional. Device Driver Roll Back is available in normal or safe mode.

System Restore
A service for x86-based computers that actively monitors your system and records changes to the registry, to system files, and to certain application files. System Restore allows you to undo recent registry and file changes by using information previously saved in restore points. Use to restore the system to a previous state. System Restore is available in normal or safe mode.

Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel
A Control Panel feature you can use to uninstall programs. Use to temporarily uninstall software that you suspect is causing a problem. You can uninstall an application in normal or safe mode.

Safe Mode
If you are unable to start your system by using Last Known Good Configuration, Windows XP Professional provides safe mode, a startup option that disables startup programs and nonessential services to create an environment useful for troubleshooting and diagnosing problems. In safe mode, Windows XP Professional starts a minimal set of drivers that the operating system needs to function. Support for devices such as audio devices, most USB devices, and IEEE 1394 devices is disabled to reduce the variables that you need to account for when diagnosing the cause of startup problems, Stop messages, or system instability.

Recovery Console
A command-line environment that you can use to perform advanced troubleshooting operations. In addition to Last Known Good Configuration and safe mode, advanced users can use Recovery Console to attempt manual recovery operations.

Backup
A tool for saving data, such as the system state, before you troubleshoot problems, attempt workarounds, or apply updates. Backup (Ntbackup.exe) enables you to restore system settings and data if your troubleshooting attempts worsen the problem. Use in conjunction with a parallel installation to restore a system that cannot start in normal or safe modes. Backup is available in safe or normal mode.

Automated System Recovery (ASR)
A Backup (Ntbackup.exe) option to use when boot and system files become corrupt, preventing your system from starting in normal or safe modes, or using Recovery Console. This option is more desirable than formatting disks and reinstalling Windows because ASR restores system settings and critical files on the system and boot partitions.

The user interface to ASR backup is the ASR wizard in Backup, which steps you through the process of creating an ASR backup set and an ASR floppy. Windows XP Professional Setup provides the user interface to ASR restore.

Because the ASR process formats disks, consider this a last resort when using Last Known Good Configuration, Device Driver Roll Back, System Restore, or Recovery Console does not solve the problem. ASR is available in safe or normal mode.

Source: http://www.petri.co.il/recovery_and_troubleshooting_options_in_windows_xp.htm

ADRC Data Recovery Software Tools

ADRC Data Recovery Software Tools contains a software suite of data various recovery tools that supports a wide variety of drives and file systems.

The software incorporates extremely simple GUI with novice users in mind. The software zooms in to do only critical recovery functions with minimum complexity so one could recover the data easily. It gives you full control to undelete files, disk image back up, restore a backup image, copy files from hard disk with bad sectors, disk cloning, backup, edit and restore your boot parameters.

Features:

1. ADRC Data Recovery Tools - Undelete

When a file is deleted from the data media, the space that the file used to reside is marked as available or the file in question is marked "deleted". For as long as the space has not been overwritten, the data can be retrieved.

ADRC Data Recovery Tools - Undelete helps you to recover lost and deleted data from hard drives, floppy disks, basic or dynamic volumes, compressed or fragmented files. Besides hard disk drives, it also supports removable devices such as compact flash, Smart Media, Iomega Zip drives, USB drives etc…

The file recovery tool allows recovery of accidental deletion of files. It works on drives formatted in FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS file-systems. It works under all windows family operating systems such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP.

You could undelete the files even after you have cleared the recycle bin.

2. ADRC Data Recovery Tools - Copy Files

This is not a normal kind of copy function. The Copy Files tool actually recovers files from disks with physical damage such propagation of bad sectors on disk. Normal windows copy will result in system being "halt" or "hang" (the infamous CRC IO errors). In this situation, Copy Files tool could come to your rescue handy.

The program will attempt to recover every readable bits of a file and put the bits together to salvage your data. It is hopeful that in the worst case scenario, most parts of files can still be extracted even some parts are gone.

To reduce the number of tedious retries, whenever a bad sector is encountered, the program will intelligently search the neighboring sectors to determine the extent of bad blocks and mathematically calculate the number of retires needed.

It also features the "Copy Sub Folders" option which scans through the entire directory and attempts to copy everything you need.

3. ADRC Data Recovery Tools - Raw Copy

Raw Copy transfers the binary raw image from one drive directly to another. It is rather similar to the infamous "Ghost" function. You could perform a disk clone backup (or if your disk is slightly faulty) and do not want perform a file by file copy. This is really ideal if you do not want to re-install the operating system. As the transfer is done in true low level binary, you could do this for drives with an unknown file system to be cloned such as game machines, Mac disk etc. With some built in recovery features, the program will try to recover data even if it is on bad sectors to ensure all or maximum data is restored from the drive.

This is a very powerful function and must be used with care. As it is a binary dump, the original data on the target drive is no longer recoverable upon completion of process.

4. ADRC Data Recovery Tools - Image Backup / Restore

Image Backup / Restore create and write disk image files to and from hard drives and any removable media. In just one click, it performs wholesome backup and restoration of the entire drive. A common application is to create a floppy image for transfer across internet and then downloaded the image to be written back to floppy again. One can also backup a disk image for safe keeping. It is an ideal way to backup all your operating system, data and program files.

5. ADRC Data Recovery Tools - Boot Builder

The primary function of Boot builder is to allow you to import or export the boot sector of a drive (either FAT or NTFS boot sector type). In case the boot sector is damaged due to virus or system corruption, one can easily import it back. You can even custom make your own boot sector from scratch (if you know the standard parameters) to rescue a corrupted disk.

Software is absolutely free and does not require installation.

Developer’s Website: http://www.adrc.com/software/data_recovery_tools/