Undo for your whole computer!

Shhh! don’t tell Derek I’m giving away the secrets.

Do you ever wish there was an undo button for your entire computer like there is in word. I hear people say all the time “My computer was working perfectly yesterday and today it won’t…..” Well I am hear to tell you that there is an “Undo” button for the computer called System Restore but it doesn’t quite do what you might think. Say you saved an important file to your C: drive yesterday (which I know that you wouldn’t because for most people the c: drive does not get backed up) and then you deleted it today. System Restore would not help us here. However, if you installed a new program and your Word or Excel now freezes every time you open it, then this is good job for System Restore. System Restore is located Under, All programs > Accessories > System Tools, and it allows you to choose a date to restore your computer to. It is very important to know that while System Restore may seem like the magic wand to solve all of your computer problems; there are some cautions.

1. System Restore doesn’t change data- this could be good or bad. Good because you will not loose data, and Bad because it will not restore any data.
2. System Restore will restore your computer to the exact time you picked, so if you have uninstalled a program or made any changes you want to keep on your computer you should be careful to choose a restore point that is after that time. If on Monday the 10th you installed Word 2003 and on Tuesday the 18th you install Adobe, but now you are having trouble with Office and want to go back to before you installed Word on the 10th, beware that you will loose Adobe as well if you choose a restore point from the 9th.
3. System Restore could restore a virus. Before you remove a virus, you should turn off System Restore that why you cannot accidentally restore your computer to the time when you had a virus.
4. Have fun, system restore also has an option for “undo my last restore”

For more information on System Restore, please go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

Paula Crowell
Service Manager
HLP Associates, Inc.
www.hlp.net