Even on PCs running ISR software, I enabled SR. I keep only the last SR Point. I remember when some Windows Updates couldn't be installed, because ISR software had disabled SR.
No, it's not a full and complete system cleaning, neither restore. I use a disk image software. Good also snapshots restore softwares.
I disabled it. Instead, I use ERUNT, it backs up registry once a day. In my experience restoring registry solves most of problems, for the rest I have full image backups on a separate drive. Disabling SR also makes image backups smaller and I don't need to worry about losing restore points when doing a defrag.
Yes I keep SR on, on every one of my machines. I use it before each time I install security software or make major changes. SR has saved my PC a few times (Like when I installed ZoneAlarm and MSE 1 and I could not get into my machine. Then I went into SafeMode and none of them would uninstall. Or the time when I accidentally shut my PC down while it was updating Windows and it would not boot). So its been pretty valuable for me personally.
No, it just takes up resources, and uses more disk space. Its not dependable. I use Shadow Protect 4 on W7, and Acronis True Image 11 on XP.
ISR is totally crap from my point of view. I've tried using it a few times before, most of the times it worked fine. Sometimes it just won't work. BUT i hate how it leaves so many traces and they're hard to remove manually after xD
The first step I do when I install Windows is to disable System restore. Not only is it not as efficient as other 3rd party programs, its service constantly running before very application install gives you a slight performance hit. I use Acronis True Image FTW
I've got it enabled, and it has saved my Windows installation a few times from a messed up Kaspersky beta uninstallation (back when I didn't know how to remove AV programs manually). I dislike how many traces it leaves behind though.
When I attempted to use System Restore it always seemed to fail. I have ATI and Macrium Reflect images on two separate external drives. John