XP & Win7
I use System Restore (aka Restore Points, System Check Points) almost daily
I even add it to the Start Menu on systems I own and others I maintain.
I find that, I don't need to manage the Restore Points, but if I want a quick look I use CCleaner,
which I always have to hand for its cleaning functions
As the CCleaner screenshot shows
Before I test run anything I think could possibly be harmful or leave residues, I
create a backup point This usually takes <15 seconds,
and name it so as to log what was installed when ('a.' is shorthand for 'ante' 'before')
I typically only have it 'Monitoring' my C: drive
and I have the capacity set to Max (12%) of the drive capacity
As I regularly create and restore back to 'Restore Points'
I have a high degree of confidence of it working when a real major (ie virus) issue arises
(like lifeboat drills effectively detect holes in wood)
Also when an out of DiskSpace situation arises I can consider taking the step of
stopping the monitoring on a drive and getting 12% back as a last resort
Very rarely, like twice in a decade, I have had restores fail (Virus each time)
and have had to roll back down the sets until one worked.
Once one of these restores has succeeded and we are past where the poison set in
I have cleared them all by turning off Monitoring on the drive and rebooting
Then turning back on and starting monitoring again, and creating and restoring from fresh Initial restore point
One small warning:
After a system restore, on the 'Restoration Complete' screen there is sometimes a small additional field
Some folders were renamed to preserve their files. To view the list ofrenamed folders, click the link below
[Renamed files/folders]
Its easy 'click-through' and overlook this step but a quick look at these (and a screen capture maybe) may be a clue to any problems
Years ago I thought I read that there was some sort of problem with deleting RestorePoints.
I don't believe that to be true, but I avoid doing it anyway. (Who knows- it may be true under some rare circumstance but that could be where I'm at - Maybe I'm superstitious or paranoid
)
A Big Plus of course is it can be run from BOOT in "Safe Mode with Command Prompt"
then run C:\Windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
I know my usage is excessive
but for most users it is a lot of security automatically done with minimal effort and overhead.
So yes I'm a fan of System Restore and Restore Points
I recommend using it