nickster Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 I have XP Pro Is there a way to safely delete older system restore items? If so, how do I tell which are older that have been superceded by more recent restore points?I have a feeling just looking at the creation or last modification date in Windows Explorer isn't the best way.Keeping them all wisn't causing any problem, just extra scan timeBTW, how do I set the flag so they appear in windows Explorer?Superantispyware usually lists a few items detected as being in these items.Plus, scanning of these by SAS, Adaware, etc. adds time to the scanning processBTW, I have plenty of free spce, so that is not an issue. 143.75 GB hard drive with 115 GB freeI run SAS, Adaware (i like it), AVG Antirootkit (free version), A-squared antivirus (free version), IObit defrag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 7, 2007 Report Share Posted November 7, 2007 If you are happy with the way your system is running, there is no point in keeping old restore points.The way to remove System Restore items is to turn the facility off and reboot. This will delete all restore points and you can then turn it on again and create a new restore point manually.To turn off system Restore, open it (Control Panel -> System -> System Restore) tick "Turn off System Restore". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 I think pops is right, you can't delete individual files that are stored in restore points. Neither, I'm sure can you delete individual restore points. You have to delete them all. But don't take this as an annoyance, this exists because some really malicious viruses and malware (such as the browser hijacker "about:blank") will keep re-installing themselves so long as they remain even in a restore point. If you find that a malicious file keeps re-installing itself from your Restore Point files even after you've deleted it from your current configuration with your anti-virus or anti-malware program, then the simplest way to (hopefully) get rid of it completely is to delete all you Restore Points in Safe Mode, with only your basic systems running. See you computer manual about how to boot into Safe Mode; then just restart and immediately make a new restore point. Then you have what should be a clean Restore Point to go back to if things go wrong again.To delete all Restore Points, first boot up into Safe Mode then go to System Restore from All Programs-Performance & Maintenance-System-System Restore. Check the box to turn off System Restore. Immmediately shut down and restart. Then go back to the System Restore Menu, UNcheck the turn off System Restore. Shut down and re-start again. Then make a new Restore Point before doing anything else. To re-assure yourself that all this is quite legitimate see the Help file that goes with System Restore which confirms all this.You might argue that all this is a bit drastic. Well, it is, but not as drastic as having to re-format your entire hard disk and all the bother that entails!Good luck friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted November 8, 2007 Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 nickster, I forgot to add that you can reduce the amount of space allocated to System Restore if you think it's taking up too much memory on your HD. This has the effect of reducing the backlog of Restore Points kept on you computer. To find this facility go to the same System Restore menu mentioned earlier and you'll see a button labelled Settings. This will take you to another menu with a slider enabling you to decrease/increase the percentage of space allocated to System Restore on each disk or partition separately. You might think, for example, that you don't need as many Restore Points for data or back-up partitions as you do for your main Windows System files (which makes sense, if you think about it!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickster Posted November 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2007 I think pops is right, you can't delete individual files that are stored in restore points. Neither, I'm sure can you delete individual restore points. You have to delete them all. But don't take this as an annoyance, this exists because some really malicious viruses and malware (such as the browser hijacker "about:blank") will keep re-installing themselves so long as they remain even in a restore point. If you find that a malicious file keeps re-installing itself from your Restore Point files even after you've deleted it from your current configuration with your anti-virus or anti-malware program, then the simplest way to (hopefully) get rid of it completely is to delete all you Restore Points in Safe Mode, with only your basic systems running. See you computer manual about how to boot into Safe Mode; then just restart and immediately make a new restore point. Then you have what should be a clean Restore Point to go back to if things go wrong again.To delete all Restore Points, first boot up into Safe Mode then go to System Restore from All Programs-Performance & Maintenance-System-System Restore. Check the box to turn off System Restore. Immmediately shut down and restart. Then go back to the System Restore Menu, UNcheck the turn off System Restore. Shut down and re-start again. Then make a new Restore Point before doing anything else. To re-assure yourself that all this is quite legitimate see the Help file that goes with System Restore which confirms all this.You might argue that all this is a bit drastic. Well, it is, but not as drastic as having to re-format your entire hard disk and all the bother that entails!Good luck friend. Thank you all for assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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