restore points deleted etc

[tns1]

Win7pro,

Suddenly I find all my restore points deleted, the system protection settings are still there, but the disk allocation is set to 0, and as a suspicious coincidence I cannot download updates. All of this was working properly just a few days ago, so I am looking for the root cause. The system has not been used enough to have a fragmented page file, and malware scans show nothing. Even if I had wanted to do all this, I don't believe there is a single legitimate utility that would do it.

 

[torchwood]

First thing that springs to mind.
Have you just installed any kind of Optimizer program, or swapped Anti-virus.

Roy

 

[tns1]

Not that I can think of. I may have run the disk cleanup, but it does not show any option to remove restore points.

 

[Layback Bear]

Computer type PC/Desktop
OS xp 32

Are these specs correct

 

[derekimo]

Computer type PC/Desktop
OS xp 32

Are these specs correct

Probably are, the first line in the OP does state 7 Pro though.

Win7pro,

Suddenly I find all my restore points deleted, the system protection settings are still there, but the disk allocation is set to 0, and as a suspicious coincidence I cannot download updates. All of this was working properly just a few days ago, so I am looking for the root cause. The system has not been used enough to have a fragmented page file, and malware scans show nothing. Even if I had wanted to do all this, I don't believe there is a single legitimate utility that would do it.

 

[Layback Bear]

I did miss that first line.
Therefore my question was a dumb question for the problem at hand.
I will go away.

 

[tns1]

This is a 7pro box with an ssd. I did recently activate 10pro on this box but it was on a separate hd which I swapped back for the ssd. I don't see how a swap like this could mess up the original install but I mention it anyway.

Every time drives are swapped, it does a chkdsk, but these were clean.

 

[torchwood]

AHA,
W10 turns OFF system restore by default, although for some strange reason they dont tell anyone.
Now if you then restored back to W7, its possible that the default was dissabled on W7.

Roy

 

[DavidE]

Ah,
And the OP has XP in specs.
Dual boot with XP can delete W7 restore points:
System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete

 

[tns1]

Disks were swapped: only one hd on the system at a time. The upgrade was done on a clone of the orig 7pro. No rollback. The only way I see that the orig 7 pro could be mucked up is if windows updates handles a win10 activated box differently even if it is still running 7, such as intensionally adding quirks to make the experience less desirable. That or a virus. Or?

The orig hd is dual boot with Linux, but i hope that shouldn't matter.

 

[DavidE]

Every time drives are swapped, it does a chkdsk, but these were clean.

If you fast startup enabled in Win 10, disable it and see if that makes a difference.
Having fast startup enabled can cause the chkdsk on a dual boot PC.
Fast Startup - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

[tns1]

Despite trying many different things, I have found no answers. I will move this to the Updates and Activation topic since that is the main issue.