MSE Settings System Restore

[jsmoline]

Hello,
It's me again. I looked at my hard drive and had about 41 gigs used out of 160. I did a disk cleanup and cleared system restore points in other options. That knocked it down to about 38.5 gigs. The other cleanup items were minimal. Does MSE load up the drive by creating restore points? I'm thinking that I should uncheck create restore points in MSE. Would anyone agree with that? Now I wonder what else creates restore points that I'm unaware of. Any thoughts on this????? I like system restore, but I'm aware of what goes on on this pc as I am the one that does most of the downloading. I know enough to keep those restore points until all is well. Thanks for any advice,
John

 

[whs]

A little while ago I made a writeup about restore points (shadows). Rather than retyping a new sermon, I will let you read that and if you have any further questions, please ask.

PS: This is not something particular to MSe per se.

With each install and uninstall, Windows writes a shadow (restore point) of about 250MB to 1GB - plus one is written each day in Vista and each week in Windows7. For that purpose Vista reserves 15% of your OS disk partition and allocates/uses it as needed. The allocation in Windows7 is variable from 3 to 15% depending on the size of your C-disk.

Find Command Prompt (in All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), right click on it and Open as Administrator. Into the little black window type VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE and hit ENTER. It will show 3 numbers:
Allocated - that is the amount that it has grabbed from your OS partition at this time
Used - this is the amount currently used
Maximum - this is the ultimate amount it will allocate and use

Once you reach "maximum", it will reuse the space deleting the oldest shadows for the storage of the newest shadows. With e.g. a 200GB OS partition you should expect a maximum of 30GBs that are reserved for the system and that you cannot use. If your OS partition is larger or smaller, the shadowstorage will be accordingly (always 15% max.in Vista but variable in Windows7) But the restore points (shadows) are required the day you need to do a system restore.
The easiest way to change the shadowstorage is with this cmd command: (for the case where you want to set it to the minimum which is 300GB)
Vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=300MB
If you want to set it to e.g. 20GB, the command would look like this:
Vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=20GB
Never forget GB or MB behind the MaxSize number because then the system will assume bytes and you will get an error.
Note: In Windows7 you can also set it in System Protection, but you have to be a good scout to find it. The cmd way is faster – just paste the command into cmd and adjust the last number to your liking. You have to, of course, also adjust the drive letter if you apply it to other than C.

 

[Corrine]

Hi, jsmoline.

Personally, I think that creating a System Restore point is one of the advantages of MSE over other antivirus programs. Note the description:

When you select this option, Microsoft Security Essentials will create a system restore point on your computer on a daily basis before cleaning your computer.

Thus, prior to a scan, a new restore point will be made. Considering what we have seen by other vendors in the way of false/positives, I see this as a positive feature, particularly since Windows 7 has a much more robust System Restore than Windows XP and Windows Vista.

 

[jsmoline]

I agree with that. If I keep my system clean,make sure any downloads are ok, and keep system restore point checked in MSE, why keep all the past restore points? Seems like if it keeps creating restore points, and I delete old ones, I would save space and always have a restore point to go back to. I know that seems like a lot of work but it's pretty easy.

 

[whs]

I agree with that. If I keep my system clean,make sure any downloads are ok, and keep system restore point checked in MSE, why keep all the past restore points? Seems like if it keeps creating restore points, and I delete old ones, I would save space and always have a restore point to go back to. I know that seems like a lot of work but it's pretty easy.

1. If you keep only 1 or a few restore points you may not be able to go back to before the point in time when the problem first occurred. Very often one only becomes aware of a problem days or even weeks after it started.

2. Another problem is that system restore does not always work perfectly as it may refuse to restore from certain restore points but not from others

3. Restore points are also handy for recovering lost files. Either with "Previous version" or with Shadow Explorer.

4. You may save space if you keep a minimum amount of restore points. But do you really have a better and more important use for that space.

5. I prefer imaging over the use of restore points. But that is a completely different scenario.

 

[polarbear]

I agree with that. If I keep my system clean,make sure any downloads are ok, and keep system restore point checked in MSE, why keep all the past restore points? Seems like if it keeps creating restore points, and I delete old ones, I would save space and always have a restore point to go back to. I know that seems like a lot of work but it's pretty easy.

1. If you keep only 1 or a few restore points you may not be able to go back to before the point in time when the problem first occurred. Very often one only becomes aware of a problem days or even weeks after it started.

2. Another problem is that system restore does not always work perfectly as it may refuse to restore from certain restore points but not from others

3. Restore points are also handy for recovering lost files. Either with "Previous version" or with Shadow Explorer.

4. You may save space if you keep a minimum amount of restore points. But do you really have a better and more important use for that space.

5. I prefer imaging over the use of restore points. But that is a completely different scenario.

I live by #5... GL

 

[IggyAZ]

Hello,
It's me again. I looked at my hard drive and had about 41 gigs used out of 160. I did a disk cleanup and cleared system restore points in other options. That knocked it down to about 38.5 gigs. The other cleanup items were minimal. Does MSE load up the drive by creating restore points? I'm thinking that I should uncheck create restore points in MSE. Would anyone agree with that? Now I wonder what else creates restore points that I'm unaware of. Any thoughts on this????? I like system restore, but I'm aware of what goes on on this pc as I am the one that does most of the downloading. I know enough to keep those restore points until all is well. Thanks for any advice,
John

I have reduced the size allowed for my total space used for restore points.
If I have 3 or 4 is fine with me. I also go in every month or so or just before a full image backup delete all restore points the create a new one that I always call FIRST.

 

[jsmoline]

All advice taken. Is there a way to reduce restore points without command? Seems like in XP I could just pull down a slider and reduce this. All these operating systems are running together.

 

[whs]

The command is the easiest. But there is a slider also. Go to Start > Properties > advanced system settings (in the left pane on top) > System Protection tab > and one other button that I do not remember because I am in Vista right now. I think it is also "Advanced" - not sure though.

 

[jsmoline]

In XP you go to start, accessories, system tools, system restore, and system restore settings. There you will find the slider. I'll see if that works in W 7.

 

[whs]

In XP you go to start, accessories, system tools, system restore, and system restore settings. There you will find the slider. I'll see if that works in W 7.

If you follow the path I posted above you will get there. I am only not sure of the last button which may be "advanced" or "settings". But I am sure you'll see. It's time I install Win7 on this box so that I can check better - LOL.