Configuring System Restore In Windows 7

System Restore is an undo function for the Windows operating system. It can be used to restore a previous version of the operating system easily which by default includes files but also system settings. This can come in handy in numerous occasions but especially if a recent change to the system, e.g. a driver or software installation, has made the computer system unstable.

The System Restore in Windows 7 allocates 4% of the drive space of the hard drive Windows is installed on automatically. While that does not sound like much it means a size of 40 Gigabytes on a 1 Terabyte hard drive. Depending on the size of the partition it is usually a good idea to either increase or decrease the allocated space for system restore. Here is how this is done:

One easy way to access the System Restore configuration is to open a Windows Explorer window, locate the Computer link in the left sidebar, right-click that link and select Properties from the context menu. This will open up the System information in the Control Panel. A click on the System Protection link in the left sidebar will open the System Properties configuration menu. A final click on System Protection will display the System Restore configuration menu.

This menu offers controls for System Restore in Windows 7. It will furthermore display the drives that are currently configured to use System Restore and those that are not. A selection of a drive and a click on the Configure button opens yet another menu that displays detailed configuration information about the hard drive. This includes the percentage that is currently allocated for System Restore, that size in Megabytes and the current usage.

The screenshot above shows the system protection settings for a drive 260 Gigabyte hard drive. System protection uses roughly 900 Megabytes on that drive currently and can allocate a maximum of 9,36 Gigabytes for restore points.

It is possible to change the percentage that Windows can allocate for system protection to free up disk space for other data. It is furthermore possible to delete previous system restore points and to change the restore settings. Windows 7 will by default save system settings and previous versions of files. This can be changed to only restore previous versions of files. Users who do not want to use system restore can also turn it off completely in the menu.