On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 09:28:01 -0500, Meat Plow wrote:



System restore is usually is a fairly worthless feature. It only takes a backup
of the main registry file and a few files in the windows directory. If dynamic
link libraries (DLLs) for an appliaction (like ie7!) have changed then going to
to a previous registry will frequently damage a system beyond repair.

Well MSDN and MS Tech Net says otherwise
and of course, microsoft would be the first to tell you if system restore
was ineffective. Wanna buy a bridge?

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378870.aspx
That doesn't help if system file isn't in a monitored directory.

System Restore is a last ditch effort before a reinstall and I've read
both good and bad about it. Having never used it myself I have no actual
experience. I keep a spare hard drive with an image of my operating system
I do have direct experience especially with clients who tried it and ended
up with a system that no longer boots.

If a new version of software (like IE7!) puts a new version of its settings
in the registry, and you restore to a point where you have old settings in
the registry (IE7 still installed, but IE6 settings in the registry), you're
asking for serious problems.

It truly is a last ditch effort. I don't recomend using system restore on
any system that still boots. Use it from the F8 startup menu on a system
that doesn't boot as you have nothing to lose.