Best way to reset win7 settings to an earlier date?

JohnnyScience · 29 Nov 2009

Ok I have not done an official backup of win7, although after I get this mess straightened out, I will be using Acronis.

Now I seemed to really messed up trying to delete Adobe Reader & Acrobat and instead of using their uninstall programs, I used Windows Install Cleaner & well, it left some things behind that is prohibiting me from doing a clean install of Acrobat.

So I was wondering if there was any type of default registry in win7 that allows me to reset the computer to an earlier date before my goof up?

Thanks.

ickymay · 29 Nov 2009

control panel \ backup and restore, then pick "recover system settings or your computer" and open System Restore, then just pick a point before you installed adobe acrobat :)

If you only use acrobat for viewing PDF can I suggest something a bit less obtrusive such as perfect pdf reader

JohnnyScience · 29 Nov 2009

ickymay said:

control panel \ backup and restore, then pick "recover system settings or your computer" and open System Restore, then just pick a point before you installed adobe acrobat :)

If you only use acrobat for viewing PDF can I suggest something a bit less obtrusive such as perfect pdf reader

Awesome, I will try that later today when I'm on that computer.

How far back does the recover point allow you to go?

Is there really any point in doing a backup with Acronis then since it has such an easy to use recovery system?

And yes I actually use acrobat to create forms & everything, so it is needed.

Thanks.

harpua · 29 Nov 2009

System Restore (btw, just type system restore in start, search for a simple way to access it) is great and very handy for fixing things when you make a mistake or when installing a program messed things up, or if you make a mistake editing the registry, but if you get infected with malware, it probably won't be able to get rid of the malware.

As far as how far back it goes, it depends on how much hard disk space you allocate to system restore. The more you allocate, the more restore points it can save. When it runs out of space, it starts over writing the oldest restore points with new ones.

It is definitely not a substitute for real back ups with something like Acronis or the Native Windows Backup utility or some other 3rd party solution (e.g. Paragon, Macrium). System Restore does not always work and it doesn't back up your data. If your hard disk self destructs, system restore won't be able to recover anything. So while it's convenient and helpful, you still need real backups.

ickymay · 29 Nov 2009

JohnnyScience said:

And yes I actually use acrobat to create forms & everything, so it is needed.

Thanks.

have you tried working in word then saving the final draft in PDF format ? , or does acrobat produce a better result ?

JohnnyScience · 29 Nov 2009

Damn it, it only seems to have a restore point of earlier today. I needed it from like a week ago. I guess I'm SOL.