Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

System Restore

Mar 11, 2004 5:16PM PST

No matter what check point I choose, System Restore does not restore my system to a previous point. Any advice?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:System Restore
Mar 11, 2004 5:53PM PST

If you have ran a spyware program, such as spybot,and removed any files from previous restore points.....it will no longer restore to those points.

Might I ask why you want to restore your system?

- Collapse -
Re:System Restore
Mar 11, 2004 8:51PM PST

I know the frustration about System Restore. You'll read thread after thread about this FRAGILE feature of Windows ME. The following is a collection of notes about fixing System Restore and what might interfere with System Restore (SR.)

To people trying to surf safely, firewall software such as Zone Alarm has stopped restore points from being created. If you've added such recently, disable such and see if the restore points are working again. Report this to the vendors/makers/authors so they will fix it.

Let's cover a few items?

1. The September 8, 2001 patch.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q290700">
MS KB Q 290700 - "Checkpoints That You Create After September 8,2001 Do Not Restore Your Computer"


2. A rather LENGTHY article with many links and more articles on fixing System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q306768"> Troubleshooting System Restore in Windows Millennium Edition

The information in this article applies to: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
This article was previously published under Q306768

3. How to use the SCANREG /RESTORE in Windows ME

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/trouble/INDEX.HTM"> Look down the page here

4. PARASITES. These can no longer be tolerated. Let me state that your antivirus does not detect/remove all PARASITES! I consider SPYWARE, ADWARE, VIRUS and TROJANS to be lumped into a category I call parasites. Symantec has yet to WAKE UP! to the spyware/adware parasite issue.

Parasite removal programs.


http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6132-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=1313&start=0 notes the five scanning tools and removal tools that are fairly safe. If one does encounter an issue, its always been damage done by the MALWARE. The most common issue being Layered Service Provider replacement which you can use LSPFIX (Hint: use http://www.google.com to find).

The thread has follow on discussions about new links if you don't want to use Google to find an item.

5. The new menace. KAZAA borne virus. A big uptick over the last month of machines showed up with KAZAA and some trojan/virus that I think was brought in with KAZAA. The upshot of all this work was to remove the PARASITES, along with KAZAA and hope the machine would stabilize (most did.) A few were quite damaged so the OS was reinstalled.

Bob

PS. All the tools are free.
PPS. If the OS is not Windows ME, take time to post in the OS Forum that matches.