18 - Recovery
Returning to an earlier system snapshot
Microsoft System Restore periodically takes a 'snapshot' of your
system settings and saves them as restore points. In most cases of
hard-to-resolve software problems, you can return to one of these
restore points to get your system running again.
Windows automatically creates an additional restore point each day,
and also each time you install software or device drivers.
Note
For more information about using Microsoft System Restore, from Start, type
'Help' and then click Help and Support in the list of apps. Type 'Windows
system restore' in the Search Help box, then press Enter.
Returning to a restore point
1. From Start, type 'Control Panel' and then click Control Panel in the
list of apps.
2. Click System and Security > Action Center, then click Recovery
at the bottom of the window.
3. Click Open System Restore, then Next.
4. Click the latest restore point (at a time when your system worked
correctly), click Next, then Finish.
5. A confirmation window appears; click Yes. Your system is restored
using the restore point you specified. This process may take several
minutes, and may restart your computer.
Returning your system to its factory condition
If your computer experiences problems that are not recoverable by
other methods, you may need to reinstall everything to return your
system to its factory condition. You can recover from either your hard
drive or the recovery backup you have created.
• If you can still run Windows and have the system recovery DVDs
that came with your computer,
page
22.
• If you can still run Windows and have not deleted the recovery
partition,
see Recovering from Windows on page
see Recovering your system on
19.