System Restore - Comments Page 7

Hello! I am wanting to restore my computer to its original factory settings. I am running windows xp on an emachine. I do not have a recovery disc, cant remember if one came with the comp or not. The system restore program in the start menu will not work for me because it only gives me the option to restore to another recent date, and I want to go all the way back to factory settings and wipe out all the crap on the comp. Should I use F8 during startup to find that option to go all the way back, instead of just a recent past date?

EDITOR'S NOTE: System Restore is not what you want -- that's a Windows feature that will back out certain changes only. It's possible that the Restore info was written to a separate partition on the hard drive. Usually there is something in the Programs list that gives you the option to do a complete Restore. You may find more help here: http://www.emachines.com/support/

well,i accidently moved my music folder to another folder then it didnt wanna open from there,so i had to system restore it to the previous day,when i did that i tried to listen to the music but a message comes up onto windows media player or any music player and says it doesnt work,but when i try the songs that wernt in that folder they work perfectly?

My son's computer goes to a blue error screen upon start up, I thought dell has a system restore by hitting "alt" f9 or something like that several times and that takes the computer back to factory settings. DOes anyone know which keys to use to do this?

My system restore won't go back further than today. 9/11. PLEASE HELP ME?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Did you turn System Restore OFF and then ON again? If so, it will delete all the restore points. It could also be that you don't have enough free disk space for more than one restore point. In any case, you can't recreate restore points from the past. If you have a virus or spyware problem, you can try my suggestions here (http://askbobrankin.com/should_i_buy_antispyware_or_antivirus_software.html) or reformat the drive and start over (http://askbobrankin.com/reformat_hard_drive_under_xp.html).

I upgraded from WXP to Windows Vista and now my office 2007 is no longer found and music, pictures as well. what do I do?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I can't see why any of your files or applications would be lost after upgrading to Vista. Did you try the Start Search feature on the Start menu?

9/27/07-- I've had a virus for about 5 days now and I get pop up after pop up. The virus is called trojan.w32.looksky.
I've tried to restore my computer to an earlier date, but this did not work. I moved all of my important information to an external hard drive so that I can restore my computer to its original factory settings by using the the restore disk. As I'm turning on my computer I input the disk and it's supposed to register then ask me if I want to reboot to its original setting but this does NOT happen. I don't know what else to do.
I've also tried installing a BullGaurd which it found 39 viruses, it removed most of them but 8 can not be deleted.
Please help me reboot my computer to its original setting.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Is your computer set to boot from CD? Check the BIOS settings.

I am running XP and was going to use system restore to restore to an earlier time. Now when I boot up, Windows XP acts like it is loading but all I get is a blank screen with a curser. Is it possible to go too far back and if it is how would I go about getting XP to load again?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Oh no... you didn't go back to the time before your computer was created, did you? That's certain to disturb the cosmic estoplasmic endodermic... Umm, sorry I got carried away with the possibilities. Can you get to Safe Mode and reverse the Restore? Hold down Ctrl when booting.

hi bob, wondering if you could help, you are my last hope!! after doing something on my computer, it will not boot up unless in safe mode. it only gets to the welcome screen and then switches off! the problem remains even aftre system restore. if i do a full system recovery, will windows XP stay on the computer? i dont care about my files that will be lost, just want my computer back. (i do not have a CD with XP )

EDITOR'S NOTE: The system recovery should revert your PC back to the "factory new" software state, so YES, you'll have Windows XP. But you will need to make sure you do Windows Update to get the security fixes.

I have been using system restore with out any problems. Just recently I restored to an earlier date and, now system restore will not even load. I checked all the settings in the "system file" and, everything seem fine. When I go to use system restore it either doesnt load at all or loads a blank box with no options. This also happens in safe mode. I don't have my windows disks. Please Help......?

EDITOR'S NOTE: What "system file" are you referring to?

System restore does not remove viruses. It may remove infected system files, but the virus will still be in the computer waiting to launch again. Research MS Support for the facts about how to use system restore for virus removal. There is more to getting rid of the virus than just a restore.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I did advise in the article to do a thorough anti-virus and anti-spyware scan before resorting to System Restore. Also, it's a little simplistic to say that "System restore does not remove viruses." It's quite possible for SR to remove a virus by rolling back damaged system files and registry changes. I'll agree that SR does not remove ALL viruses, and that it may do a partial job on others.