A pop-up message came out when I started my computer yesterday morning, indicating that I have a new update. Without any delay and any checking of which type of updating, I clicked the (ok) button and my computer started to update automatically in a few seconds. Need to restart the computer if the updating could be working! another message came out. OK, no problem, I just clicked the (ok) button again and was waiting for another few seconds. What happened? I stared at my computer screen. My goodness, my virus protection software could not be in function, two of my favorite icons (volume and connection) disappeared from taskbar, and even worse, the opened window (either for files or internet) did not come back to taskbar area as a taskbar button when I clicked (minimize-), but disappeared also. When I opened a new file or internet page, the old one (for example, a video) was still working but I could not find them where they are on screen including taskbar area.

In such a case, I could not carry out my work anymore. Then I tried all possible ways to solve the problems, including resetting taskbar, customizing my icons and changing internet options setting, but all the means were not functional. Finally I had to pick up my phone and called my fiend. He advised me why not to try system restore. Oh, yes, I had not tried it yet since I seldom use it and know some new installations would be lost. Without other choice at that moment, I had to take my fiend advice and do it. It was really a miracle! My computer came back to the original condition except malfunction of anti-virus software and losing of some new installations. Just clicking Rollback to the previous databases for anti-virus software and reinstalling the lost softwares, I got my computer to work properly again.

It is really waste of my few hours to solve the above incident problems! Taking this lesson, I now practise to create a restore point before any updating and after new software installation. If something happens, I just use the system restore to restore my computer to an earlier restore point. It is that simple! With the restore system, I will be more confidant about my work in future!

The steps for creating a restore point are as follows:

Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore - Tick the Create a restore point - Next (give a file name) - Create (Screen will shown: New restore point: Saturday 14 2008 time file name)

The restore process is given below:

Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore - Tick the Restore my computer to an earlier time - Next (choose a date and time. The calendar inside displays in bold all of the dates that have restore points available.) - next (The compute will complete the restore process automatically.)

I would love to know if you have ever been in this situation or simply tell me your thoughts about this or how to solve the problem.