# Windows System Restore question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 17, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158 "2008-11-17T19:12:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/1 "2008-11-17T19:12:35Z")

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Windows has found a new way to exhibit its bloated crappiness- it refuses to restore itself to any of the System Restore Checkpoints in November or October (I didn’t have time to check earlier than that). What would cause this behavior?

Thanks in advance for any light that you can shed on this irritating problem.

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**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/2 "2008-11-17T20:28:39Z")

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Make sure your system time and date are set correctly.

Also, what is the exact message you get when trying to restore?

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/3 "2008-11-17T21:16:43Z")

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What does it say in the logs? Do you get any error messages at all? Are you using XP or Vista?

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/4 "2008-11-17T23:34:11Z")

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XP.

The message says Restore is unable to restore to that date. System date ad time are correct.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/5 "2008-11-18T00:26:09Z")

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That happened to me recently after I installed McAfee. Any date prior to that installation wouldn’t work. Have you installed any programs lately that may have affected restore points?

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**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/6 "2008-11-18T03:06:48Z")

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Go into “Safe Mode” first, then try to do System Restore. This has always worked for me in the past with that exact same error message. Dunno why that happens.

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-system-restore-question/473158/7 "2008-11-18T14:52:18Z")

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Bingo **flex727** , you nailed it. Thank you very much.