The purpose of the System Restore feature is to create a snapshot of the systems configuration so that the Administrator can easily return a system back to a known good configuration. Using the system restore feature will not cause a system to lose any personal data. System Restore is designed to automatically create a restore point each time the system recognizes a significant change in the file or application structure. System Restore also has the flexibility to allow users to create their own restore points at any time.

By default, drives that have 4GB or more of free space available will require approximately 12 percent of that drives space to store the necessary restore information. Drives that have less than 4GB of free space will only require approximately 400MB of space to be available for restore information. The amount of space on the drive that is used for restore information is based on the free space available on the drive. System Restore gives the flexibility of the user to control the amount of space that System Restore uses. See: How can I adjust System Restore disk space?

1. Go to Start>> All Programs>> Accessories>> System Tools>> System Restore
2. Open System Restore and tick the Create a restore point radio box.
3. Click Next (see fig #1)
4. In the Restore point description text box, type the name of the restore point for future reference (eg: before graphics card driver update).
5. Click Create
Windows will create your Restore Point. The Restore Point can be later identified by Date, Time or the Description that you've given it.