I have Windows XP Home SP3 on my 6 year old computer that has been working
quite well todate. I discovered today that my System Restore program does
not seem to work correctly. When I set my own restore point it works OK but
the restore points it automatically creates itself every day do not work.
What could be wrong with this and how can this be rectified.
Does not work correctly mean you looked in the RP calendar and see
some days where there is no RP or checkpoint?
XP would like to create an automatic RP every 24 hours, but it may not
for lots of reasons. You could go days and days without one but that
does not mean there is a problem.
The usual culprit is that the system is not idle long enough for a RP
to be made. You could have some background processes running (scans,
defrags, email, RSS feeds, scheduled tasks, etc.) that keep the system
busy and reset that idle timer.
Making a RP by hand, some program updates, a program installation,
etc. that creates a RP also resets the 24 hour "I need to make a
restore point" clock.
For me, I turn my system on, do what I gotta do and turn it off or
keep doing things all day long and there is hardly ever enough idle
time to create a automatic RP. For my system, I need to be idle for
20 minutes but that hardly ever happens to me. Any CPU activity that
consume 10% CPU time will reset the idle timer. So you need to be
sure your system is really idle.
I can go days without an automatic checkpoint if I keep doing things -
browsing Internet, email, reading silly forums like this, etc.
If I let my system just sit turned on and idle long enough and no RP
has been made in the last 24 hours (by any method) and XP thinks it is
time, a checkpoint will always be made. Works every time. If not, my
system would need repair.
Of course, the automatic method must work or you have an issue.
Make sure there has been no RP in the last 24 hours, close down all
your applications, browser, email, etc and let the system sit for an
hour. The system will create a checkpoint automatically if it thinks
it is time to do so and the system is idle (this may not be what you
think though). If not, you need to be able to explain why not, or fix
it.
