Creating System Restore Points with XP

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Creating System Restore Points with XP

Actually, a better name for this article would be, Hindus Protectus. It is ALWAYS better to take this basic precaution to lock your system before you apply any XP tweaks! That way if things go south you can always unlock and go back to where you were before the tweak!

To make sure tweaks you apply don't turn into Nightmare on Elm Street for your system please follow these simple precautions.

- Back up all your important data. You know what? You should be doing this anyway. However, make a fresh backup using your chosen method, preferably to CD or a different hard drive than the one which contains your WinXP installation.

- Back up your registry. You can do this by going to Start>Run>Regedit, choose File>Export, select All under Export Range, then choose a directory and enter a name for the backup file. Click Save to start the backup process. Should you make any registry changes which cause problems and you're not sure what the source of problems is, you can restore your backup registry by double-clicking on this .reg file.

- A much better method than only backing up the registry is to use System Restore. Unless you're very confident with your PC, enable System Restore and create a new restore point prior to doing any tweaking. You can do this by doing the following:

1. Press the Start button and click on Help and Support. Or, click on an empty area on your desktop then press F1 to bring up Help and Support. Or open MSConfig (Start>Run>MSConfig) and click the Launch System Restore button.

2. In the Help and Support Center, click 'Performance and Maintenance'.

3. Click 'Using System Restore to undo system changes' and then click 'Run the System Restore Wizard' under the 'Pick a Task' heading.

4. In the System Restore Wizard, click Create a Restore Point and follow the prompts to save your system state in a new restore point.

5. At any time, if you wish to return your computer to the state it was in when you created the Restore Point, follow steps 1-3 above to get to the System Restore Wizard. Then click 'Restore my computer to an earlier time', and select the date on which you created the restore point you wish to return to.

Using System Restore means that even if you make a large number of changes, it's fairly easy to take your system back to the way it was before tweaking.

PLEASE, create a new restore point now before you proceed with ANY tweaks. If anything goes wrong and you're not sure what, go back to your restore point

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