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For many users of the recently released Microsoft Windows Vista it has been a rocky and strenuous change. The system presents a familiar appearance while boasting a set of remarkable new features. Though these features may attract many users, the same issues of any Windows system still exist and repel those who are uncomfortable with the new and flashy O/S. Luckily for those users, Microsoft has included a slightly upgraded version of the familiar System restore, which was originally introduced in Windows Millennium in 2000.

System Restore is a function included in the System Protection feature of Windows Vista. This feature allows the user a combination of file backups and restore points to give the illusion of a complete system rollback to a user. The Shadow Copy feature is only available in Vista's business or Ultimate editions. To access this feature a user can open the control panel from the start menu and open the system icon. For those familiar with Windows XP this menu will look remarkably similar with the exception of the new System Protection tab which now replaces System Restore. From this menu the user has the ability to either back up their documents or registry files, or to replace their existing files with an older backup. For those who are worried about making a mistake with their backups, Windows conveniently creates a restore and backup point every time you roll your system back to a previous date.

System Restore offers an extremely familiar and simple wizard function, which leads the user through configuring the features options. As easy as it may be, Restore has several limitations for it's use and requires a minimum of 300MB of free storage space for each one of the drives that will be backed up. It will only work on drives with at least one gig of memory. The feature may use up to 15% of the total disk space, and keeps restore points until this space is filled. When the feature has used all available memory it begins removing files in a first in first out manner, deleting the oldest restore points first.

Once a User has navigated to the System protection tab the user has the option to launch the restore wizard or to create a new restore point. When the Create button has been pushed a window will appear asking the user to enter a new name for the restore point, and then leads to a screen informing the user that the point has successfully been created. If a user later wants to return to that restore point they may click the System Restore button in the same menu. This button loads a screen which suggests a date to restore to or gives the option to choose a specific date.

If the suggested date is selected a window will appear requesting confirmation of the restore date and then another informing you that once the restore is started it can not be undone. Similar screens are used if the user chooses their own date but a screen showing available dates is shown before the confirmation. The computer will then display a screen wide message that states that the files are being restored. When the process is complete it will restart the computer and display a message informing the user that it is complete.

System restore offers the protection of a backup of the system registry in case of trouble, and is not intended to restore a users personal information. Restore points are created automatically any time a new driver, update, or program has been installed. With this protection a user can easily protect their system from damage on their system while exploring the new Vista O/S.

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