Broadband Tech > Security > Security > wtf is wrong with my hard drive????

reply to DownTheShore

Re: wtf is wrong with my hard drive????

The MS FAQ on System Restore does not seem to be version specific, but the language used is ambiguous when it comes to when a restore point is created.

»windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind···uestions

"Restore points are created automatically every day, and just before significant system events, such as the installation of a program or device driver. You can also create a restore point manually."

The part about "just before significant system events" may explain why there would be more than one restore point in a day, but doesn't explain why there would be no restore point on a day. There's a big gap in that list you have from the 25th to the 28th of July. I wonder why that would be, because it does not seem to jibe with the FAQ.
Also, when you go there, note that the page has a comment at the top: Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.

So, the FAQ appears to be inaccurate based on your experience with Vista.
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In reality, there is no such thing as a clean human being.

It's a known problem with Vista and Win7 that daily restore points are not routinely made. Here again we see evidence that XP is still Microsoft's best OS. XP is stable and reliable and it will make a routine restore point every day (assuming the computer is on long enough with no other activity). But Vista, I get one made about once a week, and nothing I have tried gets Vista to make a routine restore point daily. Vista is not easy to adjust the size of System Restore either. That is easy to do in XP and the problems with that in Vista were corrected in Win 7.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

That may be true, but then there are many laptop computers with Vista on them and that's what the owners have to live with, pretty much. I know this from having to assist a friend in restoring his laptop with Vista, getting it up to SP2 and relatively stable.

For restore points, I guess the user could set a restore point manually each day, just in case. Most users probably would not remember to do that, but then again, I have not had to use system restore all that often, so maybe going back a couple of days would not matter, assuming that there was a restore point every time an update was made.

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In reality, there is no such thing as a clean human being.

I have MSE set to create a restore point prior to scanning (along with cking for updates). It hasn't one missed so far. This is on a Vista 64 laptop that I haven't used the Win 7 upgrade on yet.
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one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything

I used the default time (04:00AM) at first and it was not updating the MSE definitions all the time. Changed it to 06:00AM and been OK since. Creating the restore points have worked fine from the getgo.
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one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything

The only problem with my friend's laptop would be that he doesn't have it on all the time. I need to have him bring it to his office and make sure it's working In fact, that's probably part of the reason it got screwed up in the first place (barring the issues with Vista, itself, that is).

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In reality, there is no such thing as a clean human being.

reply to rcdailey
I normally create a restore point on Vista entitled "Before screwing around with anything today" when I know that I'm going to be trying out some unfamiliar or possibly hinky software, or if I'm going to be doing anything that might screw up the status quo.

I no longer trust Vista to self-create a restore point when I need one.

Another nasty trick that Vista pulls is that sometimes the prior System Restore points disappear and you wind up with a corresponding increase in HD space. I've never shut down System Restore and cleared out the restore points on my laptop, and yet it has happened a few times already in the course of my ownership that all of the prior restore points have disappeared.

I agree, XP's System Restore was much better designed. I had greater control over it, it worked as advertised, and access time was much quicker than in Vista.
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Patriotism is not waving a flag, it is living the ideals

I want to retire to the Isle of Sodor and ride the trains.

If the oil starts showing up on MY beach, I'm coming for Hayward

said by the internet :

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By default System Restore will use 12% disk space for most size drives. With larger drives the data store can get quite large, which has been know to cause problems in System Restore. Setting the data store to approximately 1 GB should be adequate.
Note: Reducing the data store size will purge the oldest restore points on a FIFO (first in first out) bases and leave as many recent restore points as the new size will allow.

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