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System Restore Process in Windows Xp

Written by oneself on 5:36 AM

By:Arun

The System Restore feature of Microsoft® Windows® XP (the operating system previously known as Microsoft® Whistler) enables administrators to restore their PCs, in the event of a problem, to a previous state without losing personal data files (such as Word documents, drawings, or e-mail). System Restore actively monitors system file changes and some application file changes to record or store previous versions before the changes occurred. With System Restore, users never have to think about taking system snapshots as it automatically creates easily identifiable restore points, which allow users to revert the system back to a previous time. Restore points are created at the time of significant system events (such as application or driver install) and periodically (every day). Additionally, users can create and name their own restore points at any time. System Restore has an automatic restore point space-management feature that purges the oldest restore points to make room for new ones, so that a rolling safety net is always kept under the user, enabling the user to recover from recent undesirable changes.

If users experience system failure or another significant problem, they can use System Restore from SafeMode or Normal Mode to go back to a previous system state, restoring optimal system functionality. System Restore will not revert user data or document files, so restoring will not cause users to lose their work, mail, or even browsing history and favorites

Detail

System Restore is enabled by default and will run upon the successful completion of either the Windows XP Professional or Home version installation. System Restore uses 400mb or 12% of the Hard Drive (whichever is greater) by default. It requires a minimum of 200 MB of space available on the system partition. If there are not 200 MBs available, System Restore will install disabled and will enable itself automatically once the required disk space is created.

Design Overview

System Restore monitors a core set of system and application files, recording and sometimes copying states of these files before changes are made. Monitored files include those that are not in excluded directories (My Documents) and that do not have known data file extensions (such as .doc). System Restore automatically creates restore points; no user intervention is required. To create a restore point, System Restore takes a full snapshot of the registry and some dynamic system files. For a list of file extension types, which are included (monitored and restored), refer to the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK.

To restore a system, System Restore reverts file changes done to monitored files, recapturing the file state at the time of the selected restore point. It then replaces the current registry with the “snapshotted” one, which coincides with the selected restore point. Some security and dynamic rights and authentication information from the current registry is then copied to the restored registry. The next sections will discuss in-depth how this feature works. To achieve the desired behavior after a restore, application developers should answer the following:

Do key application binaries to be protected by System Restore contain extensions consistent with those included in the portion of the System Restore Monitored File Extensions list in the Platform SDK?

Are user-editable files, or intended personal data files (for example, .pdf, .xls, .htm) named in such a way that they will not be monitored as included extension types? For example, have you named a file extension .ini that a user can modify as a personal data file? If so, this will impede the perception of your product’s performance, as well as cause the user to lose work as a result of a restore. (See the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK.)

Is there key information stored in the registry which, following a restore, will prevent users access to their personal data files or their application? If so, is there a mechanism by which the user can again download or install an application without having to pay for it again? Or have you specified the registry keys where this information is stored in the registry under hklm->system->currentcontrolset->control->backuprestore->KeysNotToRestore? If the information also resides in files, have you ensured System Restore will not restore these files by calling out hklm->system->currentcontrolset->control->backuprestore->filesnottobackup?

For backup utilities, does it check the files specified in NTFilesnottobackup and, if listed, not back them up? System Restore datastores should not be backed up and are specified in NTFilesnottobackup. System Restore only monitors on first write, so when backing up files, using the operation “open to backup” will not cause additional overhead from System Restore.

Does the backup utility have undo functionality in the event of a cancelled or failed recovery? If not, calling the System Restore API (14-Recovery) will ensure users have a restore point immediately before a recovery so that users can revert an undesirable or cancelled recovery. (See SRSetRestorePoint in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK.)

Automatically Created Restore Points

Restore points are created to allow users to choose previous system states. Each restore point gathers the necessary information needed to restore to a precisely chosen system state. They are created before key changes are made to the system. Since these restore points are automatic, users don’t even have to think about creating manual restore points (unless they choose to). The following topics describe the triggers that cause this feature to create a restore point.

Event-triggered restore points

System Restore will automatically create a restore point before the following events:

Application installations (provided the application utilizes a current installer that is System Restore RestorePT.API compliant). In the event the application causes harm to the user’s system, choosing a restore point before the application was installed allows the user to roll the system state back to the time before the installation of the application, if needed.

AutoUpdate installation. The Auto/Industry Update feature of Windows XP provides an easier way for users to download critical Microsoft Windows® updates in an unobtrusive way. Once the update is downloaded, the user is presented with the opportunity to install the update on the user’s system. When the user chooses to install the update, the System Restore feature will create a restore point before the actual installation of the update begins. If the user restores after files are downloaded but before the installation of the update occurs, the downloaded files will not be removed by the restore operation.

Restore operation. If a user, for example, accidentally chooses the wrong system state to restore back to, the user can, by choosing a restore point before this operation, undo the restore operation. The user can then choose the correct restore point. The restore operation itself will create a restore point for undo purposes.

Microsoft Backup Utility Recovery. Before Microsoft Backup Utility performs a backup recovery, System Restore will create a restore point. In the event the recovery is cancelled or leaves the system in an undesirable state, users can use this restore point to revert the system to the point before the recovery started.

Unsigned driver installation. Unsigned device driver installations are detected by the INF installer of Windows. Before the installation proceeds, a restore point is created so in the event the installation results in a harmful impact to the system, users can restore to the point immediately before the unsigned driver installation.

Manual Restore points. At any time, users (administrator/owner users only) may create and name an on-demand restore point. This is useful to create a “checkpoint” to return to preceding a particularly risky change, before a shared system is left to other users, or at a particular state the user perceives to be optimal.

What's Restored and What's Not

Restored

Registry

Profiles (local only—roaming user profiles not impacted by restore)
COM+ DB
WFP.dll cache
WMI DB
IIS Metabase
Files with extensions listed in the portion of the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK

Not Restored

DRM settings
SAM hives (does not restore passwords)
WPA settings (Windows authentication information is not restored)
Specific directories/files listed in the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK
Any file with an extension not listed as in the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK
Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore (hklm->system->controlset001->control->backuprestore->filesnottobackup and keysnottorestore)
User-created data stored in the user profile
Contents of redirected folders

For more details on this topic please go to www.wintechhelp.com

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

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Troubleshooting Laptop Computers

Written by oneself on 4:27 AM

By: Victor Epand

I turn on my laptop and it loads to the login screen. I have Windows XP Professional and the laptop is a Satelite M35X-S109 from Toshiba. When I login about less than 1 minute the computer freezes. I tried to turn the computer on and off, but it frezzes. I think I had somthing to do when i downloaded virus protection from sbc dsl.

Try rebooting and using "Safe Mode", this is accessible by pressing the F8 key repeatedly before Windows starts to load (you know you have it right when a menu pops up that asks if you want to load windows or run in safe mode along with a few other options), choose Safe Mode (not safe mode command prompt only or safe mode with Networking Support). The touch pad (or trackball) will probably not work and the screen will look funny. Go into the control panel and remove that software and reboot. That may fix it, if not while in safe mode run system restore (Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore) and choose a date prior to installing that software.

I own a Sony Vaio Laptop and I am having CD drive problems. I insert a CD and now it doesn't recognise it being inserted on the computer. Have tried multiple CDs, checked My Computer numerous times and still nothing.

You've probably been told already, but a CD lens cleaner can work wonders. You might also try a blast of Spray air in the side. If there's a hair or dust on the lens it will not be able to "see" the Disc. Other than this, the laser may be out of alignment.

The screen display has turned from landscape to portrait and I am having to turn my head to wiew the screen.

Sounds like the display settings got changed. Right click an empty spot on your desktop and choose properties from the menu that opens. This will open the display properties window. Somewhere in there should be a setting for screen rotation or similar worded setting that will allow you to change the orientation.

I have a Gateway laptop that's just barely a year old. The other day, I went to turn it on, and nothing happened! It was working fine prior to that day. Someone said that it could be a surge problem. Any ideas?

You could try to remove the battery and try getting it to work on AC power alone. If that works then try plugging the battery in and turning it back on. If it doesn't work with the battery and works without it then I suspect the battery may be defective. Modern laptop batteries have circuits inside to tell the computer how much charge they have. Batteries are the weakest link on all notebooks. If it doesn't work even on AC power with no battery, then get a multimeter and check the output of the adapter and compare it with the specs printed on it. It should be no lower than .1 volts from the specified range, for example, if it says 14.2 volts and you measure 13.5 then there is a good change it's bad.

Article Source: http://www.kokkada.com

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for www.BuyRAM.info/ , a computer memory Super Store. BuyRAM.info carries an excellent selection of computer memory, notebook memory, and digital camera memory for every type of computer, notebook, and digital camera on the market. Click Here to Search for System Memory by selecting the make and model of your system.

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Reloading Windows XP

Written by oneself on 8:24 PM

By Bill Nadraszky

If you have been running Windows XP for a couple of years or more you may find that it is not running quite as quickly and smoothly as it was when you did your first install. I am constantly 'evaluating' software and uninstalling and reinstalling beta software on my computer and have always gradually become more and more disappointed after nine months to a year with the performance of my PC. So I regularly do a backup and reinstall all my software, including Windows.

Please note that this is completely different than doing the standard things to troubleshoot and fix individual problems such as system errors or application errors. These things are better fixed by using a system Restore which is a great new feature to Windows XP

For anyone that has reinstalled their operating system a few times the process seems pretty straightforward as they have found all of the gotchas the first few times. I have lost mail and contacts but not much else over the years by following (or not following) a system to reload my operating system and software. This purpose of this guide is to give you a checklist to follow so that a reloading of Windows goes smoothly the first time.

The steps are as follows:

1. Backup all data
2. Document your current system drivers and software
3. Delete the Windows and profile directories
4. Reload Window
5. Reload software and data.
6. Get some sleep

1. Backup data.

There are two methods of the process of reloading your operating system. The first is to just delete the system files and the second is to backup the files to CD or DVD and then format the hard drive completely, my preference is to delete the system folders and work from there as the actual formatting is not needed as much now as it was in the past.

It is very important to be sure to get a backup of all of your data. My current practice is to create a folder in the Root of the C: drive called "backup for reload" and copy all of my files in there. The first few times that I reloaded my machine I either saved all of the data to another hard drive so I could format my main drive or I would just create a folder to save my data in that was in the root of the C: drive and just deleted the Windows directory. One thing to be aware of is that a new install of Windows is going to delete your current profile where your data is kept, you will be warned in the install and I am warning you here as well!

First of all Windows likes to keep all of your documents in your "My Documents" folder and even though the icon is on the desktop the folder is actually in the following location: c:documents and settings . The documents and settings folder is quite important as it does have all of the files that are associated with you as a user. Other folders in documents and settings are "Favorites" "Application Data" and "Local Settings".

If you use Outlook Express for your mail you will want to back up its folders. Open up Outlook Express and go to tools to options to maintenance and there is a button called "Store Folder" this will tell you where the folder is that holds all of your mail, usually located in

c:--> documents and settings(logon name)--> local settings--> Application Data--> Identities<>--> Microsoft--> Outlook Express". Hard to find spot but important.

If you are using Outlook for your mail and contacts my policy has always been to search for all .pst files on your PC this will give you your main as well as archive folders and maybe even some long lost mail from before.

I also do a search and put the following in the search box *.doc;*.xls;*.ppt;*. mdb;*.pub this will search for all office documents on the PC, when I get the result I only backup the files that are not in my documents and settings for my name or in the my documents folder.

How big is your “Backup and Reload” folder now that you have all of your data in it? Can you back it up to a CD? Or two, or a DVD? This would be a nice time to do that save to a CD so that in the event of a catastrophic failure of your hard drive you can go back and reload your data later.

2. Document your current system drivers and software

So often when I am working on a computer I find that after a format and reload of Windows that I am missing a network card driver or a video driver. Before you turn off the computer to format it or delete the system files make sure that you have a copy of all of the drivers, realistically the only drivers that seem to change are the video drivers. What other drivers might you need? Well If you have the CD that came with the motherboard then you will probably only need to download the sound card, video, monitor, modem drivers and you can find the type of hardware by right clicking on the my computer and going to properties and then depending on your version of Windows look for the device manager. I do not tend to format my drive I only delete the Windows directory and the Documents and settings directory when I do a reload so I can then find the files later still sitting on the hard drive. My preference is to create a folder called mydrivers in the root of the C: drive so that after you reload Windows you will have a central place to go to find the drivers. Now just go out and download the drivers that you need.

3. Delete the Windows and profile directories

Now, this is where you have to take a deep breath before you get started as when we delete files we are not going to be able to get them back. When I delete files on the computer before I reinstall Windows I do not delete all of the files or format the drive. The only way that you can delete what you want is to use some kind of a boot disk that does not load Windows from your hard drive. I use the Ultimate Windows Boot CD and after I boot the drive up I move some data instead of deleting. More often than not I will have missed some important file so I create a “backup” folder that contains all of my data. I drop my current “Documents and Settings” folder into this backup folder and then also any applications from the “Program Files’ folder that may have some of their own files. This would include databases like Act or Maximiser and Tax software or book keeping software like Quicken. Most of the data files for applications are kept in the “My Documents” folder.

In the install of Windows you will need to have at least 2 gigs of free space so make sure that you have freed up enough space to do the install

When I am deleting folders I am most interested in deleting the” Documents and Settings” and “Windows” folders, as this is where you will find user settings as well as the registry both good and bad. If you are really aggressive you can also include the “Program Files” folder so that after you have reloaded Windows you can have the default settings for each application. I also delete any files that are sitting in the root of the C: drive.

4. Reloading Windows

Now that you have deleted the unneeded files and directories you will have to give yourself an operating system to reload all of your software into. I prefer Windows XP now although if you have a bit of an older computer Windows 2000 will probably be fine and takes less system resources.

Just a note here, Windows 98 is a bad choice and there are a few reasons why. Windows 98 is not supported anymore by Microsoft so it does not have any new security fixes or drivers being written for it. One other issue is that the underlying file system that Windows 98 supports is FAT32, if you are loading Windows 2000 or XP you will likely want to take advantage of NTFS but the only good way to do this with a fresh load is to format your machine, this will delete all of the data that you have on your PC now. If you are moving from Windows 98 there will be a spot in the install asking if you would like to format or convert the drive to NTFS, I would avoid this as you can convert after you have switched your PC to Windows XP in Disk Management from the Computer management application in Windows.

The rest of the install should go smoothly and after you have finished you will have a nice new clean install of Windows with only the recycle bin on the desktop and no applications. Perhaps the desktop is only 256 colors or the size is not quite right but this is where you will fix that problem by reloading your drivers. Go to start and right click on the “MY Computer” icon and select properties, go to the hardware tab, now find the device manager and anything with an exclamation point or a red X will need a new driver. Right click on the icon, select update driver and walk through finding your drivers. If you can not find the driver in the lookup then you may have to go back to the mydrivers folder and run the executables for the drivers which may quicken the process of loading new drivers.

5. Reload Software and Data

Now the slow torturous part of the Windows install begins. I always do this reloading of Windows because my computer has gradually slowed down from all of the software that I have loaded up and pledge never to do again, I have proven time and time again that I don’t live up to the pledge. The only software that I load first is Office XP and setup my personal settings and mail folders from Outlook (check around for this documentation as it varies with your version of Office) and I also install my commonly used utilities. I keep my software install disks close by and just load software as I need it over the next few days.

6. Get Some Sleep

Congratulations. This process is very long and occasionally we do lose data that was missed in the backup but after you are done you have a computer that is at least as good as the day you started using it. There are fewer errors, less hiccups and the computer is fast and responsive. Although it takes a long time I am more than willing to do it as long as I cleared some time beforehand as the difference in working with the computer for some time after is a real treat.

Bill Nadraszky is a Computer support specialist that has worked with various versions of Windows for 15 years. You can get up to date information on computer support at Desktop tech tips

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Nadraszky

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