System restore and UAC and Windows Defender and Windows Firewall and Internet Explorer and Media Features and Tablet PC Components are the first thing I disable when I install Windows. I use Acronis True Image to create an image of Windows after I have updated it and configured it to my liking, then I install all my apps using Revo Uninstaller!
I have almost the same practice (except leaving IE and FW on). Using Acronis TI instead of System restore, also.
I have it ON but don't use it. I really can't see how this feature turned ON can cause any harm or bloat or whatever. Sure, it might take some space on HD but that's pretty small and can be deleted from time to time if needed.
Sure, I leave it on too, and let it do it's thing, but I would never rely on it to recover from any problems....
I use it on Win7 only (it never worked for me in XP) as a quick rollback tool. So far never needed to use it in Win7 (then again I tend to leave the same software on and use a VM for playing/experimenting). Too many people do not understand the limitations. System restore cannot be use for backup purposes as you cannot guarantee the system will retain your restore points and system restore will create snapshots of your system configuration regaurdless of the integritity of the system and flush out known working restore points for them. System restore for XP was too limited due to limitations on file types and locations that were monitored made is pretty much useless to rely on. My experience was that if an uninstall/reinstall would not work, neither would system restore. It is possible, though rare, for the other drive backup/recovery tools that use VSS to conflict or cause problems with system restore.
The only good system restore is an image of the OS. I always turn it off, although it is good to have it on if you don't back up your system regularly.
I used it once a while back (Win7) did what it says on the tin and restored my system back to full working order.....nice.
I've always had it off in XP but with W7 I figured I have a lot of room for restore points and I don't see the harm that could be done, so I enabled it. IIRC, having system restore turned on can interfere with malware removal process, and I think that is why I turned it off in XP.
Nope, I make regular system backups that can be completely restored or simply mounted if I just need to grab a file I didn't want shadow volume copies
System Restore is the first thing i disable when i format my PC. I have tried using it a few times and it has only worked once. Almost every single time it has some kind of problem, so i consider it CRAP! And i feel it does a half arsed job. It does not even restores the system properly like an imaging software, it just undo some changes in the system files but leaves all the other things there.
i turned it off a long time ago. it proves itself unreliable and restoring an image only takes 3 minutes on my machine.
I though i was the only one experiencing issues with System Restore, it always shows some kind of problem when trying to restore a restore point.
Never its just a crap method which satisfy a user that it stored its computer in old position but the only thing its do is remove the desktop icon of the software which you want to uninstall from your pc
Ok here is a simple way of doing it DO AT YOUR OWN RISK I suggest to make a image of your system before you do this also this is for Windows XP go to services and find System Restore Service double click on it a new box will open look for service name this is what it is named in the registry, write this down I think it is srservice I have already deleted it from all my machines so I can't look it up then stop the service then in the dropdown box disable the service click appy, click ok close services box to delete services; Click Start | Run and type regedit in the Open: line. Click OK. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services Scroll down the left pane, locate the service name, right click it and select Delete. Reboot the system """"remember to make a system image first""" this will work with other trash in windows too like the "security center" and can do even a better job if you use resource hacker but that is more than i will go into here
