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By George Norman

Added on 30 Oct 2009(496 Views)

By default, the Microsoft developed Windows Operating system will create a System Restore point from time to time – assuming of course you did not disable the feature yourself. You can override the default by creating custom System Restore points each and every time you perform a task that might put the stability of your system in jeopardy – like for example when you install a new software application.

The great thing about System Restore is that it can backup system settings and previous versions of files. If anything were to go wrong and your computer would stop working properly, you can restore Windows 7 to a previous moment in time, a moment when everything worked. The thing is that backing up all this data takes up disk space. You can reclaim that disk space by deleting old system restore points.

Here are the steps you must follow to achieve this goal:

Step 1. Right click My Computer -> from the dropdown menu select Properties.
Before you do this you should minimize all open windows and running applications. Or you could close all open windows and shut down all running applications, which to my mind is better than simply minimizing them.

Step 2. In the menu that appears, click the System protection link.

Step 3. The System Properties window will appear. Locate and click the System Protection tab.

Step 4. Select a disk from the Protection Settings section.
Let’s use a specific disk to understand this better. Let’s select the system disk, C:

Step 5. The System Protection for Local Disk (C:) window will appear -> at the bottom of the window there’s a piece of text that says Delete all restore points (this includes system settings and previous versions of files). Next to this text there’s a Delete button. Click it. Confirm your actions if prompted to.

Here’s another way to clean up old System Restore points:

Step 1. Launch Disk Cleanup.
Run Disk cleanup as administrator to skip Step 2.

Step 2. Click Clean up system files to open Disk Cleanup in administrator mode.

Step 3. Click the More Options tab -> in the System Restore and Shadow Copies section click Clean up.

Tips and warnings

• After doing all this you should create a new System Restore point. Find out how to do this by following the step-by-step instructions provided in this tutorial.
• You can manage the amount of disk space that System Restore uses – see how here.

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Tags: Microsoft, Windows 7, System Restore, Disk space

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