Windows 7 All-in-One For Dummies
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You can often repair software problems by completing a System Restore in Windows 7. Windows 7 is much less buggy than Windows Vista, but sometimes bugs in software and driver updates will cause your system problems. These system errors can include everything from the system running slowly to the system coming to a screeching stop.

If you start to notice these kinds of problems, you’ll want to manually restore your computer back to the way things were running before the recent software or driver update. In other words, to the way it was before the problems began.

  1. Save your work and then close all running programs.

    Although System Restore doesn’t bother your data files, it can mess up settings. It’s safest to just close everything.

  2. Choose Start→All Programs→Accessories→System Tools→System Restore.

        The recommended restore point isn’t always the best restore point.
    The recommended restore point isn’t always the best restore point.

    Windows 7 recommends that you restore to a recent system-generated restore point.

  3. If you’re willing to accept System Restore’s recommendation, click Next.

    System Restore presents a list of recent available restore points, shown on the left in the preceding figure.

  4. But if you want to look at other restore points, select Choose a Different Restore Point and click Next.

    Pick a restore point — and see which programs will be affected.
    Pick a restore point — and see which programs will be affected.
  5. Click a restore point and click the Scan for Affected Programs button.

    System Restore tells you what will happen when the restore occurs. Some programs and drivers might be altered and some might be deleted.

  6. If you don’t see any major problems, click Next.

    System Restore asks you to confirm your restore point and warns you that rolling back to a restore point requires a restart of the computer.

  7. Click Finish.

    True to its word, System Restore reverts to the selected restore point and restarts your computer. Give it a test drive and see if your problems have disappeared.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Woody Leonhard describes himself as a "Windows victim." Since 1992, he's been sharing the solutions to his own tech problems with millions of readers. In addition to writing several books in the For Dummies series, Woody is a Contributing Editor for Windows Secrets newsletter. He also runs his own blog at AskWoody.com.

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