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I am currently blogging about my Windows 7 Deployment experience. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Well here is my 1^st Windows 7 post and I thought I’d share a bit of info about the Win 7 restore tool which I have found very useful – especially during this initial testing period.

System Restore   

I have noticed a really effective update to the System Restore tool in Windows 7.

What is System Restore?
System Restore uses restore points to return your system files and settings to an earlier point in time without affecting personal files. Restore points are created automatically every week, and just before significant system events, such as the installation of a program or device driver.

From my side, maintaining and supporting internal systems at Data#3 is a key element in my daily work.

Occasionally, users may experience reliability problems.
For example, we often release updates to the network from WSUS (Windows Server Update Services). The file/s might be lower version sets or an application may be overwritten files with incompatible versions.

These types of incidents can occur and potentially cripple systems, slowly incapacitating the OS from the inside out, eventually leading to a partial or total system crash.

To add fuel to the fire, a basic uninstall for an update or application may not always reverse every change made. It may leave behind legacy file remnents.

System Restore – Vista
In Windows Vista included Windows System Restore to store “snapshots” of the system on the local hard drive.

This could be done on a regular basis or at a time when system updates are being performed.

If you wanted to roll-back system changes made after the update, System Restore would reverse everything including other system changes totally unrelated to the specific problem.

The specific items mentioned could be:

·         Applications and drivers that were installed after the System Restore point would be removed

·         Applications and drivers removed after the System Restore point would be restored

This made life hard for the IT professionals such as myself to determine which components would be affected by restoring to a System Restore point.

Network users would get upset as some of their applications were no longer available.

System Restore – Windows 7
In Windows 7, I can now view an exact list software changes (based on applications listed in Add/Remove Programs) before rolling Windows 7 back to an earlier state. This to me is an awesome feature update from Microsoft.

By offering a more complete explanation of a System Restore outcome, such as removing an application that should be preserved, I can choose a different restore point or make certain to reinstall the application afterward.

Below are a few screenshots of the new tools interface - I hope you found this information useful.

 Thanks Dave