Using System Restore to Save Yourself from Formatting Your Hard Drive

It is the most annoying thing when one day you use your computer and nothing seems to work fine. Program freezes, files get corrupted or internet doesn't work. You called the customer support or some friends you know who's very much familiar with computer and still didn't solve the problem.

There could be one to many things why this happens, you probably came across with spy- wares or dangerous ad-wares or even virus when you were working on that computer last time, but whatever the reason is, your only main concern is to get it up and running so you can go on with your work.

You tried everything and the only hope you can think of now is to format your computer. Formatting is the last and ultimate solution you should resort into. You just don't format a computer like your deleting a file. You need to back up all your software data, personal documents, pictures, other folders you may feel important, and of course you got to look for those original installation disk for your devices such as printers, scanners or any other device hooked up in your computer, these are called drivers. If your computer came with original recovery disks then you need that too, recovery disks are usually bundled with your branded computer system, such as HP, Dell, Gateway or any other leading computer manufacturer and if you have them, its as easy as putting the CD recovery disks and running it, it will do the rest of the process for you.

If your recovery disk is gone or you didn't have one then this is what this article is for. Your only savior is to go back to the most recent settings that worked, in other words yesterday's settings. Microsoft provides an effective way to somehow backup your computer settings and configuration, this is called System Restore. System Restore has the ability to create a restore point wherein every once a week or two depending on how often you install or uninstall updates and programs. The following steps will walk you through the process of setting up your restore point and how to go back if you need it.

Start by going to Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools, and then open System Restore.

On the right side panel it will give you an option to Create Restore point or Restore my computer to an earlier time.

Choose Create Restore Point, and then put your description, hit next then put in the date you want to go back to, then hit "Create" and that's it. You just save yourself on formatting your computer in the future.

Guil Tabasa is a consultant for Altertek Solutions; he has been in the consulting business for more than 7 years now. He has helped small and medium businesses add value to their business that directly contributes to their revenue. You can email Guil