System Restore Archives - Page 2 of 3

How to ensure that System Restore is turned on in Windows 10

Posted on July 23, 2021

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Have you updated your PC to Windows 10 from an earlier version of Windows at some time in the past?

If so, there’s a very good chance that the System Restore utility was turned off during the update process.

What’s more, I’ve seen plenty of PCs that came from the factory with Windows 10 that had the System Restore utility disabled.

As you probably know, System Restore is a powerful tool that can help you get your Windows machine back into working order if something ever goes haywire with your Windows installation.

When turned on, System Restore (usually) makes it easy to roll your Windows installation back to a previous (working) state if something ever goes wrong during a program installation or some other serious issue arises.

In other words, this awesome tool can really can get you out of rather serious jams. [Read more…]

Q&A: I installed a really old game and it messed up my son’s computer. How can I fix it?

Posted on October 9, 2020

Question from Stuart K.: I was cleaning out my closet yesterday morning and I found an old game disc with “Age Of Empires” on it.

I remember that I loved playing that game when I was a kid so I installed it on my son’s ASUS ROG gaming PC (with Windows 10).

The game played just like I remember and I didn’t notice any problems with anything else. Everything seemed to work fine so I shut the computer down.

My son used the computer for a few minutes and then shut it down when he got ready to leave for school.

This morning when he turned it on he noticed that the screen resolution was wrong and the screen was flickering really bad. He shut it down and restarted it and got the same result.

He asked me to help him get it straightened out, but so far I’m not having any luck.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Is there any way to do a System Restore when Windows won’t boot at all?

Posted on July 19, 2015

Question from Brenda Y.: I have a BIG problem Rick, and I really need your help. My computer (Lenovo desktop w/ Windows 7) was installing updates last night when it just shut off. It does that sometimes when my heat pump turns on.

Anyway, when I turned it back on it refused to boot up all the way into Windows. It’ll start, then hang up after the Windows logo is displayed. I even tried booting it into Safe Mode but it gets stuck there too.

I’d like to try to do a System Restore, but I can’t because the computer won’t boot up at all. Is there any way to do a System Restore manually without having to actually have Windows loaded?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to use System Restore to remove a bad Windows Update when your PC won’t boot up

Posted on March 19, 2015

A few days ago I wrote a post about a bad Windows Update that was causing many Windows 7 PCs to go into a reboot loop. Inexplicably, Microsoft has yet to release a fix for the issue.

As I explained in that post, if your PC already has the bad update installed and it’s stuck in a reboot loop, you can probably use the System Restore utility to roll back your Windows installation to a point in time before the bad update was installed. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I get my PC to boot up after Windows Update failed?

Posted on February 17, 2015

Question from Sierra F.: Rick, I’m in trouble and I need your help!

My computer was installing Windows Updates when the power flickered off and back on. It happened so quickly that the computer didn’t even shut down, but it somehow aborted the update process and an error on the screen said the update wasn’t successful.

I tried to install the updates again, but it said no updates were available. I then tried to restart the PC, but it hangs up about half way through the boot process. Please, please, please tell me how to fix this without reinstalling Windows 7? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]