Enabling System Restore to protect your Windows XP system
Irrespective of how many security measures you might take, it is impossible to prevent your PC from getting infected for a very long time. Thus, it is well advised to enable System Restore as it allows you to revert to a previous PC setting that is better than the current (infected) one.
This article will show you how to enable System Restore on your XP system.
- Navigate to Start -> My Computer, and right-click on My Computer.
- Select Properties from the context menu that is shown.
- In the System Properties dialog that opens up, go to the System Restore tab.
- Deselect the option for Turn off System Restore on all drives.
- Click on Apply.
- Click on OK.
However, there might be a littler snag – the System Restore tab might not show up in the System Properties dialog above. To remedy this, execute the following steps (but these instructions are valid only for Windows XP Professional editions).
- Open the Run prompt from Start -> Run, and enter gpedit.msc.
- In the left-hand panel, navigate to the following tree branch:
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> System Restore - On the right-hand side, double-click on System Restore.
- Select the option for Turn off System Restore.
- Set the Turn off Configuration option to Disable.
- Now, navigate to Start -> My Computer and right-click on it, and then select Manage.
- Go to Services and Applications -> Services.
- Locate the System Restore Service, and double-click on it.
- In the new window that opens, go to the General tab and use the dropdown menu to select for the Automatic option.
- Also, click on Start to enable the service.
- Again, go back to the Group Policy Editor (as in Step 1), and select Turn off System Restore and the Turn off Configuration as Not Configured.
- Exit the Group Policy Editor.
- Restart your PC.
- This time, you can use the steps in the first section to start System Restore.