R
Ronc
I think some version of system restore has existed since Windows 98, yet I
never used it until a tech support call for an issue with my new Vista
computer introduced me to it. I suspect I never used it on my own, partly
because I never really needed it and partly because I often make little
tweaks to improve my system in some way (including numerous visits to
Windows Update) and the thought of "going back" seemed even more scary than
a format and reinstall because I wouldn't know what new problem might be
introduced by the process. It was also unclear whether or not going back to
a point before my last few Windows Updates would be automatically taken care
of by my next visit there, as it would be with a complete reinstall. In all
the instructions for using System Restore, I could find no statement about
its effect on the Windows Update process. Common sense would imply that if
system files were restored to older versions, the next WU scan should see
these older versions and tell me to download the update again. But that may
not be how WU works. It may simply look at a log file of which updates were
installed and if that log file is not included in the go back process then
WU would not know that several recent updates were undone. Since my first
use of system restore, I had to use it on my Vista computer again after
installing a Sprint connection manager update. The "successfully installed"
update simply broke my Sprint service entirely and uninstalling and
reinstalling several times failed to fix it. So I did a System Restore
after each attempt in order to get my service back with the
factory-installed older
version. Now I have dozens of WUs listed in my Windows Update Install log
but I'm not sure if I can believe it. I guess I have these two questions:
1) Does Windows Update scan all relevant files to see if they need to be
updated or does it merely look at the history log of Windows Installed
Updates?
2) Does System Restore include in its list of "go back" files the WU history
log?
It seems to me that any Windows Updates that were wholly or partially undone
by System Restore would be automatically detected in the next Windows Update
scan if either 1) all files are scanned or 2) if the Windows Update history
log was also restored to an earlier version. If neither is the case then
one
would have to do some work to determine which updates in the history log
were undone by System Restore and then find a way to manually redo them.
never used it until a tech support call for an issue with my new Vista
computer introduced me to it. I suspect I never used it on my own, partly
because I never really needed it and partly because I often make little
tweaks to improve my system in some way (including numerous visits to
Windows Update) and the thought of "going back" seemed even more scary than
a format and reinstall because I wouldn't know what new problem might be
introduced by the process. It was also unclear whether or not going back to
a point before my last few Windows Updates would be automatically taken care
of by my next visit there, as it would be with a complete reinstall. In all
the instructions for using System Restore, I could find no statement about
its effect on the Windows Update process. Common sense would imply that if
system files were restored to older versions, the next WU scan should see
these older versions and tell me to download the update again. But that may
not be how WU works. It may simply look at a log file of which updates were
installed and if that log file is not included in the go back process then
WU would not know that several recent updates were undone. Since my first
use of system restore, I had to use it on my Vista computer again after
installing a Sprint connection manager update. The "successfully installed"
update simply broke my Sprint service entirely and uninstalling and
reinstalling several times failed to fix it. So I did a System Restore
after each attempt in order to get my service back with the
factory-installed older
version. Now I have dozens of WUs listed in my Windows Update Install log
but I'm not sure if I can believe it. I guess I have these two questions:
1) Does Windows Update scan all relevant files to see if they need to be
updated or does it merely look at the history log of Windows Installed
Updates?
2) Does System Restore include in its list of "go back" files the WU history
log?
It seems to me that any Windows Updates that were wholly or partially undone
by System Restore would be automatically detected in the next Windows Update
scan if either 1) all files are scanned or 2) if the Windows Update history
log was also restored to an earlier version. If neither is the case then
one
would have to do some work to determine which updates in the history log
were undone by System Restore and then find a way to manually redo them.