Auldfart's How To Guides    XP’s System Restore Once you’ve made changes to the Registry or altered system files you’re not always going to get the desired results. There will be times when the changes you make will have an adverse effect on the smooth running of your PC. You may experience erratic behaviour, or certain items may stop functioning completely.    By using the System Restore utility in Windows XP it’s possible to go back to a given point in time when everything worked correctly. Don’t be complacent though and start thinking that you’ll never have to create a backup again.            A regular backup is the only way to compensate against the likes of complete hardware failure or the physical loss of your PC through the likes of theft and so on.             System Restore should be used when a mistake has been made in configuring Windows XP and it’s not possible or you’re unsure of how to undo the changes you’ve made.            Alternatively, you may find your PC isn’t working as it should following the installation of a new piece of hardware or a software application. System Restore can take you back to a point in time before the changes were made, enabling your to recover a fully usable system. Think of System Restore as a tool that compliments rather than replaces your back-up routine. Configure System Restore          Open System Properties, select the System Restore tab and begin configuring its settings. The utility will have earmarked about ten per cent of the free space on all available partitions set up on your system, for the purpose of storing restore point information. While this may be fine for the drive or drives that contain your important system files, it’s not so good if all you’re storing on a partition is data.       To see how much drive space has been used up by System Restore click the Settings button. You can choose which drives use System Restore and ensure that the space you need for other things isn’t wasted.          Select the drive you require and then click Settings, check the box ‘Turn off System Restore on this drive’ and click OK. You won’t be able to use this method to switch System Restore off on your main Windows XP partition.           To do this you’ll have to check the box ‘Turn off System Restore on all drives’ under the System Restore tab. Note that if you do turn it off, any existing restore points on that particular drive will be deleted. Restore point location Any Restore Points that are created either manually by you or automatically by your OS are stored under C:\System Volume Information.      You won’t be able to change the location of this folder and if you’re using an NTFS-formatted partition you won’t be able to access these folders, either.       When it comes to using System Restore you’ll want to be sure that important files aren’t lost when you take a step back in time and make use of a Restore Point.               Any items stored in the My Documents folder will be safe, but files stored elsewhere may not fare so well. To ensure that the contents of an important folder remain untouched you can make an alteration in the Registry and add its location to a list of protected items. Creating restore points          A new system restore point will be created every 24 hours if your PC is left on all the time. If you shut your PC down after you’ve finished using it then a new restore point is created if the last one is more than 24 hours old.             A restore point will also be created automatically whenever an unsigned driver is used. Unsigned doesn’t necessarily mean unsafe – it just means that a driver hasn’t been tested by Microsoft.     To reduce the risk of having to use System Restore because of such an event, open System Properties, select the Hardware tab and click Driver Signing. Under ‘What action do you want Windows to take?’, select ‘Warn’ so you can make an informed decision before one is installed.             You can access System Restore under System Tools on the All Programs menu. A ‘system checkpoint’ will create a snapshot of your system at a precise moment, defined by the time and date. Click ‘Create a restore point’ and then select Next. Give your restore point a description that you’ll recognise should you need to use it.         For example, if you’re planning to install a new item of hardware then enter something like ‘system before new graphics card’. The date and time will be added automatically. Click Create and set the restore point.           It’s all over and done with quickly and you’ll be advised that it was created successfully. Should you need to use your restore point you have two options. If your system fails completely press [F8] during Startup and choose to restore from the last good configuration. Alternatively, run System Restore and choose a point to restore from. Excluding an item from System Restore       Your Registry already contains details of files and folders that are excluded from the process. Open the Registry Editor and locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ BackupRestore \ FilesNotToBackup.         Each value that you see in the right pane is an item that’s protected. Right-click and create a new Multi-String Value. For reference purposes give this a name that you’ll recognise, for example the folder name itself.         Each value that you see in the right pane is an item that’s protected. Right-click and create a new Multi-String Value. For reference purposes give this a name that you’ll recognise, for example the folder name itself. Automatic restore point creation           Windows XP creates system restore points every 24 hours. Change this frequency to ensure that they’re made more or less often. You can’t make this change within the program itself – instead, you’ll need to make a change to the Registry.          Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ SystemRestore. In the right pane locate the DWORD entry labelled RPGlobalInterval, or create if it’s not there.      The default setting is 86,400 seconds, which equates to 24 hours. Change this figure to alter the frequency of automatic restore point creation. For example, divide by 2 for a 12-hour interval and so on.