My brother stumbled on this disturbing item which caused a number of others to chime in that this apparently is not an unusual problem.
I did a clean install of Win7 about 3 1/2 weeks ago and have had no problems. 2 days ago I discovered that no system restore points were available. After spending many hours researching the issue, I’ve taken the following steps but none have helped:
1. Completely uninstalled AVG and installed Microsoft Security Essentials.
2. Tried turning off System Restore, rebooting, turning it back on.
3. Checked the SR schedule in Task Scheduler, all seems fine. It creates restore points just fine, it just won’t keep them on reboot.
4. Scanned computer thoroughly with three different anti-malware programs, no problems found.
5. Did a sfc /scannnow, no problems reported.
One guy contacted Microsoft with this rather bizarre answer and (not unexpected) request for money to research their problem:
Microsoft thought this might have something to do with my domain it but would not troubleshoot it for me without paying the fee, which I cannot afford.
Posted using a Mac
#30
hahaha good one, almost had me there 🙂
#31, maybe not the ipad per say, but something simple like that. What do most people use their home computers for. Now, what serves them better, a overly complex Windows systems with DLL, registry, anti virus, folders, directories, ect, or the simple model of buying an app, launch it, it works. You tell me what most people want.
How hard would it be to create a “Pure” Win 7 for the “best” OS tht MS can create AND THEN have an “option” to load it up with “Legacy Edition” that supports all these “old” programs?
Should be “simple” if its just drivers and .dll’s?
To that end, I often wonder how fairly new programs don’t work with my new Win7/64. Why won’t they install in “32 bit mode?” I’m thinking of “Search GT” a very fast free little app that searches the hard drives for file/folder names. Works great in XP–won’t load in Win7/64. Did MS do this “on purpose” or is there a technical problem not worth working on?
(#33) Bobbo,
Most likely a 16-bit application. W7 dropped support for 16-bit applications. The kludge workaround is to run the app in a XP virtual machine.
OBTW, typing “Name:{filename}” in the W7 search box is the equivalent indexed quick search of filenames only. Works just like the old ‘find’ but faster.
Thanks bb. At least 16 bit makes sense but the program came out well into the age of 32 bit.
Yes, even in Win XP the native search routine was so slow I didn’t use it. The one in Win7 is far superior and actually “useful” but SearchGT was even better/faster.
Sadly, both programs “miss” files. I like to run both if I think I really do have the file and just can’t find it—easy to happen when running 10 hard drives (by external drives).
Actually, another free program “Visual CD” works on Win7/64. It is slow (1-2 min for 10 hard drives) but does catch all the files. Just have to update the data base on the drives that change often.
People actually use system restore points? I normally disable that feature right away. It’s next to useless when you actually have to troubleshoot something and most power users have no need for it.
@ #33/#34/#35
They didn’t technically drop support for 16-bit applications. It’s a hardware issue, you can’t use the CPU’s 16-bit instruction set and x86-64 instruction set at the same time, so you’ll run into the same problem on non-Windows OS’s. x86-64 is one place where Windows blows just about every other OS away. Getting things like flash working on 64-bit Ubuntu was a pain in the ass last I checked.
As for Bobbo’s software, you really can’t blame Microsoft for not maintaining backwards compatibility with every possible app, especially something that integrates deeply into the OS like that search app. Vista was a major update that dramatically improved security and entailed a lot of changes and the NTFS filesystem has been updated. 7 and presumably the next few versions of Windows will build on that base, just like XP/2000/98 built on 95. If a developer can’t be bothered to spend a little bit of time every few years to make sure their app is compatible with the latest version of the OS then they’re a shitty developer and don’t deserve your money.
Also, CD indexing software? Really? Why not just copy all those CD’s over to an external hard drive and use Windows 7’s libraries functionality to index everything?
Thanks Somebody==good to get some learning here.
Every CD indexing software I have seen will also index an entire hard drive. Visual CD allows one to search all my hard drives–even the ones that are not connected at the time. Sweet.
I do use Win7 search for my “active” hard drives but I index them as well for the files that for some reason Win 7 fails to find. Win 7 will take 20-30 secs whereas Search GT did it instantly.
No big deal unless you try to search multiple names 2 minutes before the show is on tv again–record it or not?
“Visual CD allows one to search all my hard drives–even the ones that are not connected at the time. Sweet.”
Libraries do that to. Its a pretty nifty feature if you’ve got stuff stored on multiple external drives and network locations.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Libraries-frequently-asked-questions
Oops, I misread you. The drive does need to be connected in order to actually see/search the contents in a library, but it still does a good job simplifying collections spread over several drives.
How much data do you have? You can get a 1.5 TB drive for ~$90, 2TB for ~$140. That plus an external USB/eSATA enclosure seems like a small price to pay for quick access to whatever you’re storing on DVDs. That or build yourself a NAS box, its a fun project.
Somebody else…in the last three months I have fixed five Win XP PCs with a great deal of help from restore points. One recent machine with a scareware problem was a PITA because the user had them turned off.
Sombebody–I’ve got 6.8 Terabytes. Mostly recorded TV thru the Firewire (CapVHS). another thing Win7/64 won’t do so I have an XP in my lan to do that then I transfer files around for editing and storage. Using Visual CD lets me examime my data base on Win XP as well. I like to stay away from MS as much as easily possible.
I always make a manual restore point before installing any software. It has certainly helped me save a few system rebuilds==not in the past 3 years though as I also have multiple anti-virus softwares in place. Don’t know if I need all those layers and it may be a coincidence no more major corruptions have taken place. OS? AVG? Router AV? Scottie? Anti-Auto Scripting? Crap Cleaner? 4-5 more. Gives me something to do every Sunday.
Post 33-41, crap like this is why Windows in its present iteration is on the way out for consumers. More complex then it needs to be. The apps model will rule the home market, trust me.
#36
Agreed, I’ve always turned off system restore immediately as I’ve found it noticeably slows windows down (and eats hard disk space at the same time).
It’s actually untrue that 16-bit support was dropped in the compatibility mode of x86_64. 16-bit Protected Mode programs (Something written for Win3.1 for example) are supported in hardware, but not the OS. In contrast, 16-bit real mode programs aren’t supported.
Oh yer all just a bunch of M$ haters. Now where did I hear that before?
Problems with Win7 ? HA! Where is your MS god now? Just kidding. I’ve noticed that XP (which I use) creates a restore point every time a Windows security or application patch is installed. And likely every time anything else is installed, like Adobe Flash 10. But just in case it’s not. I always do a manual RP. Just to be sure I’ve got one or two recovery points to go back to, before whatever it is screwed things up.
This works 99.9% of the time. But I still think there are some installs of MS wares, that override restore points. So one can’t undo them, so easily. Like Service Pack 3.
As for Win7 erasing past RPs. This sounds like it might be DRM protection. Just a guess. But M$ might be trying to prevent “removal” of dated keys (or cookies), in the registry (or wherever they’re hidden). By using System Restore to delete them from the PC, and get more trail time of the ware or service. This might apply to some sort of media downloading service, that stores a key to limit the service time. Which is where DRM protection comes into play. M$ could be preventing multiple use of System Restore, to gain more service time. So you get to use SR once, and that’s all you get after it’s successful.
If this is true, I’d say that sucks! Because the first RP tried, might not fix the problem. I’ve had occasions, when I had to go back more than one RP. I’d say one should be able to have at least six past usable RPs, before any of them get erased.
But it’s also just possible that your System Restore is trying to restore too much. If everything is on the C drive, and the file indexing service is on. Then one RP could be massive. And it’s trying to restore every file held on that drive. Even large media files. If that’s the case, one RP could be using all your allocated drive space. I’d turn off the indexing service. And use a 2nd drive or partition, to hold long term media.
If you set a restore point before installing software, it is easy to get rid of it if it doesn’t work out. Restore is good for that use.
As there is nothing like it in the Machines where you can only use the software if the maker first sucked Jobs dick to get permission to use his machine (you didn’t think it was yours did you?)
Reading this blog it is interesting how many big mouths have no idea what a computer is used for other than playing online. Terribyte drives to store porn video is where most seem to be here. While those who actually use a computer as a computer are shouted down by the bunch that would buy horse shit in a bag if Jobs put an Apple on the bag and called iShit.
#46
As I said earlier,
“Always easy to blame the OS base solely on ignorance alone.”
The good and bad thing about blogs is that anyone can voice their opinion(s), no matter how little they know about the subject of field of study. I try my very best to avoid becoming one of these types of aholes (bobbo for example). If I don’t know enough, I stfu…simple. If I do and I read more idiotic opinions rather than a fruitful discussion then do as Einstein would and ignore them.
Windows is cheap and affordable for everyone,
Mac support and hardware both are expensive
and linux Os is cheap but the support is far expensive then both Mac and Windows. So choose whatever you want. or wait for 128 Bit Windows OS
When I do really deep maintenance on my three systems, I also delete old restore points and their data. I don’t see the big deal.
Have you tried doing it in the safe mode? Check which services are set to manual or disabled.
haha…i typed M$ for Microsoft…haha…I posted from a mac