SOLVED Big Mistake

[Norton]

I've got into the habit of creating a system image every Monday, I call it my image Monday.
I seem to have lost day in my head this week (old age) and forgot to create an image on my spare PC before updating. What a mistake, I paid dearly for that. I suspect one of the cumulative updates trashed my user profile. Does anyone else on here have a scheduled "Image Monday" ?

 

[Grizzly]

Well,I do not have an "Image Monday" but an "Image Saturday". That is where I usually do my images.
I especially do an Image the weekend before Update day. That way I do not loose too much even though my data are on a separate drive.

 

[T_J]

I'm lucky to take the trash out on Tuesday.

 

[davehc]

Yep. I also do it on all available computers every Monday. Got caught once this year, when it cam a little early.

 

[Wolfie]

I don't do any image back-ups, I set restore points on occasion but that is my limit. All my data (my important stuff) is backed up on other partitions/other operating systems and if push comes to shove; I would just copy anything I need back again if things go totally wrong and have to do a fresh install.

Image back-up is time consuming and may well copy a piece of malware with it when running it?.

 

[davehc]

I think that is the whole point. With normal care, you know that, periodically, your OS is "clean". I keep some of the older backups, just in case I have missed out on malware. The backup, in that respect, is also a safeguard.
Takes 10 minutes maximum with most backup programs - Time to put the coffee pot on.
I have quite a bit of software installed. A couple or so of MS products can only be reinstalled a limited number of times. The image saves on that also.
In my case, it would certainly take me a heck of a lot longer than ten minutes, if I needed to reinstall my software.
I have never used restore points and, with that lack of knowledge, would think they are also time consuming in some way?? Just my usual pessimism, but from what I constantly read on forums, they seem to , so often, go wrong.

 

[Wolfie]

A quick way of installing many of my favourite apps in one move is to use the following link (I can highly recommend it!):

https://ninite.com/

Hi Dave, I had a bad hair day when doing an image back-up, it took ages and when I tried to use it, it failed, I have never bothered since!. Just my opinion, things may well have improved since but once bitten; twice shy!.

 

[davehc]

Improved beyond measure, Wolfie. I have used Acronis for many years, and I swear it has never yet failed me. For kicks, I use Eusus (Free) on My wife's machine - Ditto results.

 

[BigFeet]

I don't do image backups. I do weekly data backups on Wednesdays. My OS is in need of a reinstall, so if it get trashed I'm reinstalling Windows anyways. Once that 's done, I'll do an image backup of the fresh install.

 

[Ian]

I've got "backup Mondays" on my desktop too (and my wife's). I'm using Acronis True Image 2017 and it works really well - I barely notice any slowdown during backup and it has saved my bacon on a couple of occasions now.

...forgot to create an image on my spare PC before updating

What a shame that the backup was needed in this instance! Is it possible to automate it using your software?

 

[Norton]

Wolfie Cumulative updates always delete my Restore points and creates a new "Critical Restore Point". That's where I always go to first. However, the Restore point that MS created "Failed"

 

[Saltgrass]

The accepted practice for doing data backups is to rotate thru 2 or 3 different backup sources. If you were doing that, you still have the prior backup to which you could fall back.

The real shame is, for some reason, your system appears to be prone to having your User Profile corrupted... Do you have any idea why that happened? There could be a log to check unless your system became unbootable...

 

[Norton]

Saltgrass I had an image of the spare PC but it was an older image and I didn't feel like taking a step backwards and going through all the updates. It's not a daily user so I only update it every couple of months to keep it current. I don't understand MS logic in deleting Restore points. I guess the answer is they don't want people to stay as is or go backwards too. I didn't loose any data (not much of importance on it anyway. I copied the data over to my local Admin account and deleted my local User profile.

 

[Saltgrass]

I don't understand MS logic in deleting Restore points. I guess the answer is they don't want people to stay as is or go backwards too.

I don't think a Restore Point was designed to move you back to an earlier build. And it probably would not work correctly after a new build was in place, so I do understand why such a step would be taken.

Wasn't it you, Norton, who mentioned they had not seen a Windows.old folder for a while... I wonder if that is the case, does it effect your build upgrades.. Reverting to a prior build uses the Windows.old folder and actually has a boot option for that.

Otherwise, I normally keep data from certain programs, like Quicken backed up often on another location.. Those types of things you don't want to loose. I also create a new Win 10 Recovery drive after a new build.

For my Windows 7 systems, my thinking regarding image backups is a little different considering the Win 7 status right now.

 

[Wolfie]

HI Norton,

did you click on "Show more restore points" in Control Panel > Recovery > Open System Restore?.

The last one I manually set on this particular rig is still showing no problem!.

@Saltgrass may well have something there with regards to deleting things from the .old folder?.

 

[Norton]

Yes I did make mention of no Windows.old folder on this PC my daily user. However this PC updated with no problems. I do currently have a $Windows.BT folder after the last 2 cumulative updates.. Restore Yes! I did click more, there was only the latest Windows Critical Update Restore Point which failed. I make regular weekly images on my main PC, data is on a separate partition which is backed up regularly one/week on external USB HD and also I back up my data on a flash drive every hour using Win File History. The next time I update the spare PC I'll be sure to create a recent image. Unfortunately that was my downfall.

 

[Wolfie]

How much space do you have allocated for your restore points?, that might have something to do with it?.

For others reading this thread, some tips here:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-system-restore-windows-10

 

[BigFeet]

System Restore fails every time on this PC. It failed in Windows 8.1 and 7 on this rig too. And yes, I disabled my AV and even uninstalled it just to test. It works most of the time on my other rigs. I finally just disabled them.

 

[Norton]

Wolfie I have 25GB allotted for Restore points. My restore points have always been deleted with cumulative critical updates.

 

[Wolfie]

Wolfie I have 25GB allotted for Restore points. My restore points have always been deleted with cumulative critical updates.

Hi Norton,

strange things are indeed afoot, I just got 11 Trojans after downloading an ISO direct from MicroScrap and even though I have several restore points; none of them work!. I am on the Linux OS on the same PC because I cannot be bothered to do a fresh install right now!.