System Protection Windows 10

[Norton]

Something to think about.

System Protection (Create a restore point or restore from previous restore points) is a great feature and has been with us since 1983. The Windows Restore feature has basically remained unchanged for 33 years. The program works away silently in the background doing it's job that it was designed to do, It protect users from an unexpected disaster from corrupt files, incompatible downloads...My question is, has have you attempted to perform a restore from a previous restore point since installing Windows 10? I did yesterday and to my dismay it didn't do a restore from an automatic restore or manual restore points. I had to do a clean install of Windows 10 yesterday because the protection program " Windows failed to restore to a previous date" I have yet to try (restore) it again as I'm still in shock from yesterday's crash.

 

[Trouble]

I've only used it a few times with Windows 10 and not once through the Operating System.
Because the systems that I was attempting to repair were unbootable, I used the Advanced Troubleshooting options after booting from the installation media to perform a system restore from there.
I have to admit, to the best of my recollection right now, I believe that the success rate was pretty high 3 out of 4 or 5 out of 6 maybe.
Nothing like the old XP days when the failure rate was much higher, at least in my experience it was. I doubt that it rose to 25% and realistically was probably closer to 10%. I got so tired of seeing "cannot restore" that I think I finally gave up even trying to use it. I figured I must be doing something wrong.
It just seems a bit more reliable in Windows 10 than perhaps in earlier versions of Windows, in my experience.
Your mileage may of course vary.

 

[Norton]

It let me down when I need it the most. I would imagine there are users out there that haven't re-enabled it since the Windows 10 upgrade. Won't they be in for a shock.

 

[Joann]

It let me down when I need it the most. I would imagine there are users out there that haven't re-enabled it since the Windows 10 upgrade. Won't they be in for a shock.

Actually, I did a "Reset This PC" from the Troubleshooting screen (don't know what they call it) after getting a troublesome virus I just could not get rid of on my laptop (pop ups left and right and could not control them). Anyway, it worked fine. I was actually going to go back to 7 with my old Recovery disks and start over figuring that was the only alternative. Was surprised when the Reset feature kicked in instead, although glad I didn't have to back to square one. What a pain that would have been.

 

[Trouble]

I would imagine there are users out there that haven't re-enabled it since the Windows 10 upgrade. Won't they be in for a shock.

I was under the impression that, if System Protection (System Restore) was already enabled and configured on the existing OS, that the upgrade maintained that setting.
I know, with having done multiple clean installs of the latest Preview Builds recently, that it is OFF by default under those circumstances and I will never understand why that is the default setting.
My feelings are that, it should be on by default and if the user wants to turn it off, then that should be his or her decision to make at the appropriate time.

 

[Norton]

It certainly was an unethical move by MS. I always make a manual restore point when changes are made or before a thorough cleaning, that's how I found out it was disabled by default. Why would MS not inform users in the notification area.?

 

[ram1220]

I haven't had the need to do a system restore yet with Win 10. But system restore on my old Win 7 hard drive failed a few years ago. Since then I have used Aomei bBackupper. I do a full back up of the disk once per month as well as differential back ups during the month. I don't trust restore in Windows anymore.

 

[Cajunswabbie]

I would say System Restore Point in Windows 10 is broken. I've enabled System Restore and Windows 10 does not set a System Restore Point. I went into Task Scheduler and scheduled a System Restore Point. Windows still did not set a System Restore Point. Luckily I can manually set System Restore Points, so I downloaded a free scheduler to notify me every so often to set a System Restore Point. The only time Windows sets a System Restore Point is when it updates. Then it wipes out all other System Restore Points. I also use Macrium Reflect to backup the OS every so often.

 

[Norton]

Seems strange that an update would delete your restore points, how much disk space do you have allotted to restore? 10GB should hold about 15 restore points. But that won't solve any issues if you can't reliably restore to an earlier date. Maybe this is a glitch in Win 10? I certainly agree that regular backups or imaging on an external drive is the best line of defence

 

[Cajunswabbie]

Seems strange that an update would delete your restore points, how much disk space do you have allotted to restore? 10GB should hold about 15 restore points. But that won't solve any issues if you can't reliably restore to an earlier date. Maybe this is a glitch in Win 10? I certainly agree that regular backups or imaging on an external drive is the best line of defence

I have 10% (93.10 GB) on 1 TB HD. Right now I am using 4.68 GB of the 93.10 GB allotted. The restore points I manually make, I can restore back to that time. I just cannot get Windows 10 to automatically create a restore point at any time except when it updates. Like others have said “System Restore is hit and miss.” As long as I use Macrium Reflect to backup the OS everything should be alright.

 

[Norton]

I prefer making my own manual restore points

I haven't had the need to do a system restore yet with Win 10. But system restore on my old Win 7 hard drive failed a few years ago. Since then I have used Aomei bBackupper. I do a full back up of the disk once per month as well as differential back ups during the month. I don't trust restore in Windows anymore.

I read the reviews on AOMEI it has excellent 5 star reviews from reliable PC program reviewers. I decided to download it and take a look at it. It certainly live up to its rave reviews. AOMEI Backupper is certainly a slick program that does it's job well. I'm really impressed with it's ability to do full, incremental or differential backups, Also I like its ability to allow users to schedule daily, weekly, monthly...scheduled backup start times. It's far superior than MS backup file history program. Going forward I'll certainly be using AOMEI for my daily back up files.
Thanks for the heads up. I also create regular system images using Acronis.

 

[JamesH]

I've been a bit weary of WSR ever since Windows 8. Reason being that many different things that it's supposed to restore from are (somewhat brilliantly) searching for WSR as a service and it's restore points. Even other Windows services like defrag now can wipe your entire restore point collection. Scary stuff.

I handle IT for my small town, and in the last few years many have transitioned over to Comodo Time Machine or Rollback Rx after many clients were having issues with WSR and its restore points.

Microsoft seems adamant on forgetting WSR, I mean they disabled it by default for Win 10! They don't seem to really think about it nor care. There's tech out there that shows the instant restore idea works, but MS hasn't adapted their basic service to the needs of the modern machine, either out of a lack of interest or other factors.

 

[Norton]

After my last failure to restore that resulted in a complete install I've lost all faith in the program. It's sad that you have to keep your fingers crossed in hopes that it works when it's your last resort. I thought MS would have picked up on the restore problem by now. And the search engine I still miss the Beagle hound dog in windows,he could sniff out any file.LOL

 

[JamesH]

After my last failure to restore that resulted in a complete install I've lost all faith in the program. It's sad that you have to keep your fingers crossed in hopes that it works when it's your last resort. I thought MS would have picked up on the restore problem by now. And the search engine I still miss the Beagle hound dog in windows,he could sniff out any file.LOL

I was at a trade show last year, and I was getting the low down on a bunch of programs, but I remember the sales speal about Rollback Rx as being originally a beefed up WSR, and it was proposed to MS as such, but MS didn't see the point in pouring time and $$$ into it so they passed, some of the people who worked on it then turned their proposed product into a 3rd party product.

I love MS and MS products, but I think sometimes they don't care, especially nowadays where it seems like most people are using 3rd party alternatives to most of their services. It's like, why bother when some company already has a better WSR out there.

Eventually MS will be like "Oh don't bother making the OS, someone's already made it"

 

[jmccleary50]

I use system restore a lot and in seldom gives me any problems. I set configuration to on and usage to 10%.
If I had to swear at it or swear by it i'd swear by it

 

[Norton]

I was disappointed when it failed me last month due to a failed update. I had to do a clean install because I had no access to my USB external HD. I still don't have any faith in the program. But I still do create a manual restore point as I have always done before I do a thorough HD clean up with hope that it will be there when, and if I need it.
I honestly believe that MS is aware of the Restore problem and that's why they turned it off by default. That's what blows me away.