System Restore Windows 10 Style

Windows 10 has a lot of great features. System Restore has been part of Windows since Windows ME. In Windows 10, System Restore has taken a back seat to other recovery  methods. We are guessing Microsoft would rather have you use one of the newer features like System Reset to restore you computer. But that’s like using an elephant gun to kill a rat sometimes. You may not need to wipe out Windows and reinstall it using System Reset – which allows you to wipe out Windows, keep your personal files and folders (but not your desktop programs) and reinstall Windows, or chose to wipe out everything and reinstall Windows.  But a lot of times you don’t need an octopus to screw in a light bulb, you can do it with one arm/

If things are going wrong with your Windows 10 computer, and a reboot doesn’t help, your first choice should be System Restore. System Restore is the best way to wipe out changes to your computer that may be causing problems without wiping out all of your desktop programs. So why doesn’t Microsoft make System Restore easier to find and to use on Windows 10? We don’t know, call uncle Bill and find out – and when you get the answer write us and let us know and we’ll let everyone else know what uncle Bill said.

OK down to business.

First of all you might find that System Restore isn’t working (isn’t turned on) on your Windows 10 PC. So you better check first and if it isn’t turned on, turn it on.

It’s always good to start at the beginning right?

Open File Explorer by clicking the File icon on your Windows 10 Taskbar or click the start button, the click “Run”and type explorer.exe and press enter. When File Explorer opens, right click “This PC” (it will be in the left pane) and click on “Properties”  from the menu that appears. See the screenshot below:

In System Properties you’ll see a menu in left pane with four items. Find “System protection” and click on it (see below):

The following dialog will appear the the System Protection tab should be pre-selected. If it is not, click on the System Protection tab. Then click on the Configure button near the bottom. See the picture below:

Tick the circle next to “Turn on system protection” (if it’s not selected already). Slide the max usage arrow from 2% to 10% depending on the size of  your hard drive. Don’t go over 10%. If you have a 1 TB hard drive 2-5% should be plenty. If you have 320 to 500 GB drive 5-10% should be fine.

After you’ve done the above, click “Apply”/ “OK”.

Click on the Create button on the main dialog (inside the lower red box in the image below). A Create a restore point dialog will appear. Give your new restore point a name (Hint: Windows will always append the date to the name you provide so you don’t have to use a date in the name.) Now click the “Create” button on the “Create a restore point” dialog (see below):

Windows will start creating a restore point with the name you gave it above.

When it’s done creating the restore point, click OK.

Now that you have created a restore point, Windows will automatically create system restore points at intervals it decides – it will use up to the maximum space you allowed for System Restore when you set it up.

But what if you need to restore your computer using your restore point(s)? Press the Windows Key plus the “R” key (or right-click the start button and choose “Run”). In the run dialog type RSTRUI and press enter.

I had just completed a System Restore yesterday morning. My first option is to undo that restore operation. But I want to choose a different restore point. So I tick the circle next to “Choose a different restore point.” and click “Next >”.

I just recently turned on System Restore on this user profile so I only have 2 choices (below). If you have had System Restore turned on for a while, you’ll probably have a few more choices listed here. In order to see all the restore points you have, tick the box at the bottom next to “Show more restore points”.

Click on the restore point you want to use to highlight it, then click “Next >”

The next dialog asks you to confirm your choice. It also allows you to see what programs will be affected by the restore. The only programs what will be affected will be programs that you installed between the restore point you choose and the date you do the restore.

When you’ve confirmed the restore point, and optionally, checked to see what programs may  be affected – you’re ready to go. Click Finish.

You have one more chance to cancel the System Restore. If you chose to continue with it you can’t stop it – it will continue to run until the restore is complete. A System Restore usually takes from 10 minutes to 30 minutes – but it can take longer. You must let it finish though it appears nothing is happening. Turning off your computer or rebooting during a restore is an invitation to disaster.

You may still not be out of the woods, though. System Restore is a great (and easy) way to restore you computer to an earlier time should something you install cause major problems. But it’s not a panacea for all computer troubles, and sometimes restore will complete and you’ll get a message that the System Restore was unsuccessful. If you do get that message and you have other restore points available, you can try running restore again using a different restore point.

Give System Restore a try before resorting to System Reset. With System Restore you will preserve all your personal files and all of your programs that were installed prior to the restore date you choose.

Well now, all this work has done made me thirsty. Hey EB! Bring me a beer…NOW!