Windows Restore points gone missing

[KA9JLM]

Does any one know the windows registry tweaks that keeps the Windows Restore points from going missing ?

I have seen it many times on Windows Vista machines, and it is very irritating.

Seems to happen more on machines not connected to the internet for some reason.

I am thinking licensing, even tho all hardware and software is legit.


I am starting to think that windows vista sucks.

[AF6LJ]

Restore points that usually go missing have to do with the amount of disk space you have dedicated for storing restore information.

[K9ZMD]

My XP (SP3) machine suffered mysteriously from occasionally vanishing restore points - all of them, all at once - for a period of weeks. Out of curiosity, I began checking on the restore points several times a day. That's when I noticed that the restore points only vanished after the scheduled time for my daily antivirus scan . . . but they didn't disappear every day that the antivirus scan occurred. Very odd.

A simple experiment proved that an unscheduled antivirus scan had no effect on the restore points, but still the correlation was troubling. I kept poking around until I noticed that the restore points disappeared every single day that my scheduled antivirus update was delayed to the point that update was still in progress when the scheduled antivirus scan attempted to start. Bingo.

Although I have no idea why this clash of update and scan would wipe out all my system restore points, I can report that the whole thing cleared up once I set a 3 hour time buffer between the scheduled update and the scheduled scan.

On edit: I mentioned this to my wife just now. She got a funny look on her face, then told me that her laptop crashed every time she attempted to run a manual antivirus scan immediately after doing a manual antivirus update. To keep that from happening, she now only starts a scan when a half hour or so has passed since doing an update. Similar clash, but different effect, and also different antivirus programs. I use the MS freebie, and she uses Avast.

[KA9JLM]

Restore points that usually go missing have to do with the amount of disk space you have dedicated for storing restore information.

I knew that low disk space can be a problem, Also after 30 days they could get auto deleted.

But I have 400 Gig free, and just made a manual restore point days ago, and verified it was there.
I suspect it is there, just that it does not show up for restore use.

As for XP SP3, That is why I run XP SP2 on my XP machines.

XP SP3 is as screwy as Vista.


I guess it is nothing that Fdisk cant fix.

[KF6NFW]

check for other types of malware. I use a decent AV, and normally don't have issues, but every now and then I catch a virus that hasn't been noted yet. This usually wipes all restore points.

As for being wiped out after 30 days, that is a new one for me, as I still have restore points that are 6 months or older.

Yes XP SP3 is an absolute joke. since I was forced to upgrade to it, my system acts just like Vista, hardly ever!

I would suggest doing some root scans, as I have found a lot of malware likes to go right for the registry. I now do boot scans twice a week because of this, but since I changed AV, I have had mostly no problems.

[M6BYN]

heres a link that might help

http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/win...cally-deleted/

[KLONDIKEMIKE]

Restore points are unreliable and slow your system. Other FREE alternatives are available without the negatives. For example, ERUNT is a good registry backup utility.

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

[AF6LJ]

I knew that low disk space can be a problem, Also after 30 days they could get auto deleted.

But I have 400 Gig free, and just made a manual restore point days ago, and verified it was there.
I suspect it is there, just that it does not show up for restore use.

As for XP SP3, That is why I run XP SP2 on my XP machines.

XP SP3 is as screwy as Vista.


I guess it is nothing that Fdisk cant fix.

With a drive that large I would allocate 20 Gigs or so for restore points.
Also the link in M6BYM's post is helpful.

[KA9JLM]

heres a link that might help

http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/win...cally-deleted/

That does have some useful information.

Thank You for sharing.

[G0CWA]

I am starting to think that windows vista sucks.

I had the same problems with both XP and Vista, to name but a few. So far the only reliable solution was to up-grade to Windows 7, although not as user friendly at a system level it appears far more stable. One very useful utility I found on the net was a thing called "God Mode" just search the net. This allows you access to all the system commands easily without having to go through all the nested menus.

Just a quick thought have you got the Backup and Restore option configured to only keep the last XXX restore points, if for example you have only told it to remember the last 5 every time you make a new restore point windows automatically deletes the "6th". Also as others have said the amount of available disk space can also be a factor..

I rescently bought a network drive where all my PC backups are stored giving a totally stand alone back up system, not a cheap solution but it is reliable even if your PC dies completely.

As for virus checking try both

Malware bytes and ad-aware both have a downloadable freeware version for home personal use and have detected contamination missed by some of the commercially available packages. on my and friends systems.

However I would suggest that you use a well known commercial package as a main line of defence and use the freebies as a second line of defence, but only ever have one active at any given time because it is not unknown for them to interact and allow nasties through or even give system problems.

Hope this helps Nick G0CWA