Getting rid of corrupted restore points in XP Home

hamhox · Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 58

Customers HP desktop running XPHome: cust called saying she had lost print capability. When I tried to install the printer S/W, got errmsg "Unable to install because Print Spooler Service not started". I went into Services app, tried to start Spooler Svc, got errmsg "unable to start service: dependency or group failed to start". No install media available, so I restored to a point some 6 weeks earlier, where Etrust/PestPatrol kept popping up with errmsg:"Can't run (whatever) because database file doesn't exist". This popped up every 3 to 5 seconds while I went into the control panel app to uninstall the crapware. It took about 10 minutes to get past this (machine running VERY slowly due to only 256MB RAM, other as-yet-unknown probs) and finally the printer resumed working. OK now to the question: Prior to the exercise above I had made a couple of restore points which must certainly be corrupt, and I'd like to know how to delete them. Actually I'd like to delete ALL prior restore points and then do a cleanup w/EasyCleaner then defrag & create new Restore Point.
Thanks

Hox

mommabear · Joined: Feb 20, 2003 Posts: 6319

The easiest way to delete all restore points is to go into System Restore and turn it off:

My Computer, Properties, System Restore Tab, Turn off System Restore

Reboot.

Do your clean up after that. Once clean up is done, turn System Restore back on. It'll make an automatic restore point when you do.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

THAT WORKS FOR ME!

HI Mommabear!

Doc

mommabear · Joined: Feb 20, 2003 Posts: 6319

HI back at ya, Doc! Wink

essbebe · Joined: Dec 13, 2007 Posts: 84

I follow this procedure.
Start/My computer/ C: properties disk clean up
select More options
Delete all old SR points except the latest. ( after ensuring system worked
for a week properly).
Disabling SR is not advisable.Customer can be advised to use this procedure. to free disk space in Hard disk.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Being an old computer tech, I have more options than the average Joe.
I keep my XP drive in FAT-32 mode, so all files are easily accessible from my Ghost boot floppy. Before doing my weekly, or bi-weekly, Ghost backup, I run a batch file from that boot disk to remove all restore points, delete my Pagefile and also delete all my temp files, and other garbage files. SO, all the old garbage is GONE before I do my backups.

On the other side of the coin, I run a little VBScript on every boot, to force a new restore point, so I always have a fresh one if I need one.
I've found that most computers DO NOT make a daily restore point. A new restore point is only made on an EVENT of some kind, like installing a new program or uninstalling an old one.

If I run a little program called NTFS4DOS from my Ghost boot disk, I can also do the same things on my Vista drive formatted in NTFS.

Restore Points are great to do a little backup to an earlier time, when there's been a little Oooops! But for the really big AWShitz, you need to have a full backup Image of your C: drive. Just like restore points need to be current, so does the Backup Image File.
You just loose TOO much, having to restore a backup that's months old.
Heaven forbid that you have to reformat the HD and start over. Crying or Very sad

Cheers and Happy Computing!
The Doctor

mommabear · Joined: Feb 20, 2003 Posts: 6319

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Again, Mommabear "Gets IT".

Across the internet and on technical forums everywhere, that's the preferred method to eliminate restore points that are corrupt or may contain viruses, trojans, spyware and whatnot. (unknown problems)

Turn OFF System Restore, Reboot and then turn it back ON to make a new restore point. The problems are GONE!

If you have one of those PC's that only make a restore point every week or two, then force a new restore point on every boot up by putting a little script in the startup folder, to be run on every boot.

If anyone really wants that script, I'll gladly post it on my site where you can download it. For some strange reason, it will not work for Vista.

I provide it for every one of my computer customers, running windows XP.

Cheers Mates!
The Doctor

hamhox · Joined: Oct 21, 2006 Posts: 58

Many thanks all. Now I know what to do next time I go to that customers site.

egards

Hox

ANTOINE · Joined: Jul 11, 2008 Posts: 1