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Question

Windows 7 Restore

Aug 27, 2016 11:31PM PDT

I decided to do a system restore yesterday as I had got in a bit of a tangle doing various adds/deletes. I normally have about 3 options for restore points but this time I only got 1 option, dated August 2014 ! How on earth could this have happened, given that I don't know how to change save/restore options for the OpSys? Pointers to the problem solution and also to handling the restore mechanism appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Have You Checked To Make Sure System Restore Is Enabled?
Aug 28, 2016 9:05AM PDT

Follow the basic steps in the link below to check that:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/81500-system-restore-enable-disable.html

If it's been disabled, then you don't have any restore points to use. Sorry. But if you want it enabled, do so and configure the disk space so it's sufficient to hold a number of restore points.

As to creating a new system restore point, see the link below:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/697-system-restore-point-create.html

And please be aware that a few antivirus suites such as Norton and Kaspersky can actually
"break" sys restore.. Uninstall them to see if it fixes the issue.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Windows 7 Restore
Aug 28, 2016 10:38AM PDT

Thanks for the links Grif; I'll take a look. but if restore become disabled in some mysterious way, where have the restore copies between August 2014 and today gone? I know they've been there at some time because I've seen them when toying with the idea of a restore some weeks ago and started the restore process to see what other progs would be affected. I made a restore copy when I found my last one was 2014 but it may reflect the tangle I was in when I tried before and generated the original question.

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As Mentioned, System Restore Can Get Broken
Aug 29, 2016 11:27AM PDT

Whether it be a program, such as an AV suite, that breaks it, or malware, there are a number of ways SR can be damaged or disabled. In such cases, there may have been no restore points created.. Not a good thing for those who need SR at a later date. Just in case the problem is with your specific login profile, try logging in as a different admin user, (assuming you have a secondary admin user which is always a good thing.) and see if restore points are still visible there.

Scanning for malware occasionally is a good thing.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Windows 7 Restore
Aug 29, 2016 1:06PM PDT

Thanks Grif. I already use Malwarebytes (Premium) and Skybot Search and Destroy regularly. I HAVE seen restore copies post-Aug2014 and used some of them less than 4 weeks ago but they aren't accessible now via my Gmail ID. Maybe I'll try another I have or my wife's. Just one point, how do I promote myself to admin (in general) to carry out your suggestion?

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If Your Wife's Account Is Admin, Then Use It, OR..
Aug 29, 2016 5:01PM PDT

...from any admin account, create a new one in Control Panel-User Accounts.

Or you can actually enable the hidden administrator by doing this:

Click on Start, then type: “cmd” in the Search line, then RIGHT click on “command prompt/cmd.exe” at the top of the search page, choose “Run as administrator”.
At the command prompt, type: Net user administrator /active:yes
Press the “Enter” key..
An unpassworded Administrator account will now show up on the Welcome screen when you restart the computer. (It's advised to give it a password if created.)

To disable it: Open the command window again, and type: Net user administrator /active:no
Press the “Enter” key.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Post was last edited on August 29, 2016 5:03 PM PDT